Stocking stuffers from India, all under $25

A good stocking stuffer is small, cheap enough to buy several, and something the person would not find at the mall. These sixteen gifts from the Taj Bazaar catalog all cost $24 or less and all ship from our US stock in 1–2 days, so there is no made-to-order wait before Christmas on 25 December. Each one is made in the Indian town or Old Delhi bazaar named next to it, and duties are included in the price on retail orders.

Quick list by price

Under $10: sweets from Old Delhi

Imli goli are the sticky sweet-sour tamarind balls sold from glass jars at Old Delhi paan shops, made with tamarind, jaggery, black salt and cumin. Paan mukhwas is the sweet fennel, coconut and rose petal mix offered at the door of Delhi restaurants; ours has no supari or tobacco. Lonavala chikki is a brittle of peanuts and jaggery (it contains peanuts, so check before gifting).

Under $20: for the bathroom shelf

The neem wood combs come as a wide-tooth and fine-tooth pair, hand-cut in Saharanpur. Kannauj rose water is steam-distilled from Damask roses in copper stills over a wood fire, in a 200 ml glass bottle. The sandalwood soap is three 100 g cold-process bars made near Mysuru with sandalwood oil from government-licensed sources. Mysore Sandal agarbatti are hand-rolled by women's groups around Mysuru: six boxes of 20, so one stocking can take a box and the rest go to others.

$15–$24: for the writer, the dancer and the dresser-up

The handmade paper journal is A5 with 160 pages of recycled cotton-rag paper from Sanganer under a block-printed cover; the stationery set adds 20 sheets and 10 envelopes printed with Mughal florals. Ghungroo are the brass bells, 50 to each cotton pad, that Kathak students tie on before class.

For bangles, Firozabad glass bangles come 24 to a box in sizes 2.4–2.8 and are fragile, while the lac bangle set (six, sizes 2.4–2.8) is pressed with glass stones by Manihar families in Jaipur. The gota-patti potli bags are six 6 × 8 in drawstring pouches trimmed with gold ribbon from Kinari Bazaar. They also make good wrapping for the smaller gifts on this list.

Sweets that keep

Soan papdi and sohan halwa are both best within 3 months, so order them in December rather than now. For a tea drinker, Kashmiri kahwa keeps for 12 months. More ideas in our sweets that ship guide.

Bigger gifts

For the main present under the tree, see our Christmas gifts from India, or browse every collection on the gifts page.