Part of all the busyness this month led me to rediscover the awesomeness of the dollar store. We planned and hosted two birthday brunches, with all that entails, in addition to munchkin appropriate goody bags for her daycare class's Valentine's celebrations.
Bucket-loads of paper plates in a variety of colours and patterns? A dollar! Disposable cutlery in packs that match the plates? A dollar! Goody bags, napkins, thank you cards, etc? Less than two dollars each!
Do you need items for goody bags? Here's a list of appropriate small child items I found at the dollar store:
- glow sticks (someone did this for a birthday earlier this year and it was a big hit. After all, to little eyes, a glow stick is nothing but a perfectly toddler sized light sabre!)
- name brand Play-Doh: our dollar store was selling it in two dollar four packs!
- old-school party noisemakers
- stickers, stickers and more stickers: all sorts of subjects and finishes, including puffy animal stickers, shiny rocketships, and branded characters
- art supplies, including crayons, finger paints and little pads of paper
- super balls
- all sorts of candy
There was a whole lot more, mostly of the small toy variety, but you get the idea. There are tons of options!
The other thing that struck me about the grocery store, while I was getting party supplies, was the abundance of different grocery and household staples. Baking soda, brand name soups, Kraft Dinner (and several KD rivals), pickles, dish soap, paper towels, etc. Since the grocery store nearest our home sells Kraft Dinner for $1.60 and it is (surprise!) a dollar at the dollar store, that is not a minor savings, for just one example.
The other major item I've been stocking up on is candy bars. The vending machine at my place of employment charges $1.50 for candy bars and $1.25 for a bag of chips. Candy bars at the dollar store go for $0.69 and chips (which, while still small, are larger than the ones in the vending machine) are $1.00. As a result, I loaded myself up and have stashed them in my desk so that I can avoid the overpriced vending machine at the office.
Woo hoo for saving money!
Do you have an awesome dollar store near you? Have you found anything awesome there?
Sadly, no. In our case, "The Dollar Store" is a misnomer. They have the usual dollar store things, but also larger items, like luggage, and even some furniture. While some things are a little cheaper, it's usually not worth a separate trip.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad yours is awesome though! :)
We have the Dollarama and Dollar Tree up here and both have neat, inexpensive products, but I love love love the Dollarama. They have items up to $3 now, and some of the $3 items are really rad. I got some books there that were $15 on Amazon, but $3 there. Got a massive Harry Potter Sticker book for $2 (I actually bought 3) and it was on Amazon for $6. Lots of cool stuff. They have really nice mugs at ours too. Oh wow I could talk for hours about it. Sometimes I just go there and walk up and down the aisles and just look.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got such an impressive score!
The one close to us is a Dollarama too! I haven't seen any books at it, but I was very distracted by the candy bar selection. I the summer they had kid sized patio chairs in bright colours, and I didn't pick one up. I'm hoping they bring them back this spring!
ReplyDeleteJessica, I'm sorry your 'dollar' store is so poop. You're welcome to visit us to go dollar store shopping anytime!