Every year it is the same story. The big present is sorted by mid-November, and then, somewhere around the twentieth of December, you remember the stocking. It is empty, it is enormous, and the only things in the corner shop are a satsuma and a novelty keyring shaped like a pint of lager.
If the person on the other end of that stocking is a gamer, a tabletop nerd or a lifelong film fan, you can do a lot better than a satsuma. Below are 20 stocking fillers for gamers that all cost under £10, are all officially licensed, and are all things a fan will actually keep rather than quietly regift. Most come from Fanattik, the British company behind the numbered pins, keyrings and replicas in our stocking fillers collection.
Why licensed collectibles beat novelty tat
The problem with most cheap stocking fillers is that they are made to be opened, laughed at and binned by Boxing Day. Licensed collectibles are the opposite. They are made of metal rather than plastic, many are limited runs with a number stamped on the back, and they come from the games, shows and films the person already loves. That is the whole trick: a £6 gift that says you know what they are into is worth more than a £20 gift that says you panicked in a garden centre.
Mystery pins: the best stocking fillers under £6
Mystery pins are blind boxes. Each one hides a single hard-enamel metal pin from a set, and you do not know which you have got until it is open. Most sets also hide a rare gold or metallic chase pin, which is where the fun (and the mild obsession) comes from. They are small, cheap, and perfect for a stocking because the opening is half the present.
- 1. Fallout Mystery Pin: Vault Boy, Nuka-Cola and friends, with a gold Pip-Boy to chase. The safe bet for anyone who watched the Prime Video series.
- 2. Five Nights at Freddy’s Mystery Pin: animatronics with a golden Freddy hiding in the set. Ideal for younger gamers.
- 3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mystery Pin: the brothers, their friends and their enemies, plus a golden chase pin.
- 4. Sonic the Hedgehog Mystery Pin: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman and a handful of Badniks, with a gold Sonic in the mix.
- 5. South Park Mystery Pin: the show’s most quotable lines as pins, and a gold South Park logo for the lucky.
- 6. World of Warcraft Mystery Pins: pick a side. The Horde and Alliance sets are sold separately, which is either very thoughtful or a recipe for a family argument.
- 7. Transformers Mystery Pin: Autobots and Decepticons for the eighties kid.
- 8. Dungeons & Dragons 50th Anniversary Mystery Pin: classic monsters and icons for the player who has everything except a pin of a Gelatinous Cube.
- 9. Magic: The Gathering Mystery Pin: legendary characters, plus a gold Fblthp for the deep-cut fans.
Pro tip: buy two. Doubles are inevitable, and swapping them is half the fun. You can mix and match the whole range in our mystery pin line-up.
Numbered keyrings under £8
Keyrings are the sneaky winner of any stocking. They get used every single day, they survive being dropped, and Fanattik’s are proper weighty metal with an edition number on the back, not the bendy rubber kind that falls apart in a fortnight.
- 10. South Park School Bus Keyring: Ms Crabtree’s bus, complete with passengers. Numbered from 9,995.
- 11. Jaws 50th Anniversary Keyring: the Amity Island regatta, for anyone who still will not go in the sea.
- 12. How to Train Your Dragon Night Fury Keyring: Toothless in silhouette, a nice one for younger fans and nostalgic grown-ups alike.
- 13. Avatar Cabbage Merchant Keyring: MY CABBAGES. If they get the joke, they need this.
- 14. One Piece News Coo Keyring: the newspaper-delivering seagull, for One Piece fans who have watched every episode.
- 15. Judge Dredd Badge Keyring: the Mega-City One shield, for the 2000 AD reader. They are the law.
There are plenty more where those came from in the full keyring range.
Pins and pendants under £10
If blind boxes feel like too much of a gamble, a named pin lets you pick exactly the right thing. These are all limited and numbered, and they look far more expensive than they are.
- 16. D&D Beholder Pin Badge: a many-eyed metal pin for the dice bag. Every DM needs one.
- 17. Magic: The Gathering Planeswalker Pin: the Planeswalker symbol, perfect for a Friday Night Magic regular.
- 18. TMNT 40th Anniversary Pin: a numbered anniversary pin at a pocket-money price.
- 19. The Witcher Symbol Pin: the wolf medallion, for anyone who has had Toss a Coin to Your Witcher stuck in their head since 2019.
- 20. The Lord of the Rings One Ring Necklace: silver and gold plated, numbered from 5,000, and the closest thing in this list to a proper present. Wear it round the neck, not on the finger. You know why.
Bonus pick for games night: the Fallout Playing Cards are a full Vault-Tec themed deck for around a fiver. If they are a Fallout fan, our Fallout gifts guide has plenty more.
How to pick the right stocking filler
Step 1: Work out the fandom
- Look at what they play, watch or wear. A Fallout hoodie, a Magic deck on the desk or a Sonic phone case tells you everything.
- If you genuinely do not know, the mystery pins are the safest bet: most gamers will recognise at least one of those franchises.
Step 2: Blind box or a sure thing?
- Collectors and kids: go blind box. The surprise is the point.
- The fussy one: pick a named pin, keyring or the One Ring, so there is no risk of a duplicate.
Step 3: Mix the stocking
- Two or three small things beat one medium thing. A mystery pin, a keyring and a satsuma (for tradition) is a stocking.
Step 4: Order early
- Limited editions are limited. Once a numbered run sells out, it is gone, and nobody wants to be refreshing the page on the twenty-second of December. Check Royal Mail’s last posting dates and get ahead of them.
Secret Santa gifts for gamers
Everything above doubles as a Secret Santa gift for the office gamer, the D&D group or the Magic table. Most work budgets sit at £5 to £10, which lands neatly on a mystery pin plus a keyring, or the One Ring on its own. It also beats the alternative, which is another mug.
Final thought: a good stocking filler is not about the money, it is about the nod. Get the fandom right and a fiver of enamel pin will get a bigger reaction than half the stuff under the tree.
Further reading: planning something bigger? Our Fallout gifts guide covers every budget, and the Chamber+ engraved gift card is the get-out-of-jail card for the person who has everything.
Fill the stocking
Need stocking fillers for gamers, sorted? Mystery pins, numbered keyrings, pins and collectibles under £10, from Fallout to Sonic to Dungeons & Dragons.
