Why I Love the Dollar Tree

A beautiful & talented friend of mine recently vlogged her Dollar Tree haul (you need to check out her blog & her amazing fashion sense!).

DT is quite the amazing store and I was quite thrilled that there is one fairly near our house.

Side note-when we moved out here, there was very little development, but someone amazing opted to build a SuperTarget less than 5 minutes away. That plaza has a lovely Dollar Tree, a Lowe's a few restaurants and some other stores. SuperTarget makes me happy. So does the Dollar Tree.

Anyhow, Valerie's vlog got me thinking about my favorite items at the Dollar Tree. And she was kind enough to let me know that they had gotten in a shipment of the bread I was waiting for, so it also resulted in me taking a little trip.

And then I decided to make a list. With photos. Because I can.

So, here you go, the reasons why I *love* the Dollar Tree:

#1 - Nature's Own Sandwich Rounds

If you don't read my bento blog, you probably haven't realized how obsessed I am with these breads. They come in either multi-grain or 100% whole wheat and are HFCS-free. We aren't completely HFCS-free, but I've been trying to eliminate an abundance of it, bread is a big culprit. We love them for sandwiches and as the base for mini pizzas! Plus, other stores sell them at nearly $3 per package. DT is, obviously, $1 and they are the exact same bread & expiry dates as the grocery.

#2 - HFCS Free Jam

I can barely find any jam at the regular grocery store that isn't laden with a) HFCS (as the first or second ingredient typically) or b) a million other chemicals. Even the fruit spreads aren't all that great. Yes, these have sugar and no, they aren't organic, but they'll do in a pinch. The strawberry jam, for example, has only 4 ingredients--strawberries, sugar, pectin & citric acid. I can even spell & pronounce those.

#3 Pool Toys

We have a pool. And 2 kids. We go through a lot of pool toys in a season. I'd much rather pay $1 than several dollars at another store. This year, each kid got two pairs of goggles, a pool noodle, an inner tube, a water blaster, and a mini mattress float. Just about $6/kid or $12/total. And I won't be terribly upset if something pops or deflates.

#4 Bento supplies

I've found lots of cute little odds & ends for bentos over the years. Just recently, we bought a star shaped sandwich cutter. Over the years, we've found some cute boxes, teddy bear food picks, and other items. If you actually want to start making bento lunches, there are some great inexpensive supplies to get you going.

#5 Homeschool supplies

I definitely found more things for Ben than for Faith, but I wouldn't rule out finding supplementary materials for either kid. We used a lot of preschool workbooks for Ben when he wanted to "do school with Faith". Since he was still preK this year, we did do some activities, but many times I needed him to play along and let me work with her. The workbooks were perfect because he felt like he was doing work just like she was! And he learned his addition facts, so that was an added bonus.

#6 Puzzles!

F&B are puzzle fiends and I can't keep up with how many they can do at a time. $1 beats $4-5 anyday and they always have cute ones with regular characters on them. Right now, there are tons of Princess & Frog and Toy Story ones. We need to get Ben some Toy Story!

#7 Jumbo Coloring Books

FWIW, the tiles are 12x12, so you know how big these books are. I always wanted those extra big coloring books as a kid and I always want to buy them for F&B. I just don't want to pay the actual prices for them. $1 is perfect and they were both coloring for ages when I brought these home. Something about the size makes coloring in them even better, I think.

So there you go, my top 7 Dollar Tree items! I probably should have added #8 Cards & Wrapping Paper. I never ever buy either of those items anywhere else, I'd rather pay $1 for a roll of paper and 2/$1 for cards. I can't see how it's worth it to pay more when they usually end up in the trash anyhow.

Comments

  1. We are doing the summer reading programs, too! It's so great, isn't it? I love wonderful free items!

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