Shopping
(Some of the) Best Dollar Store Gifts
Surely there are plenty of others
My grandma had a wooden hope chest, but instead of keeping memories inside, she kept gifts on hand. She stored away gifts that she’d crocheted, and she kept things to re-gift when they weren’t quite her cup of tea.
Her strategies turned out to be pretty convenient when she learned at the last minute that one of her bowling league friends was having a birthday, or when she wanted to round out a little gift basket for Maxine or Elma or any number of her friends (and there were many).
She also liked to shop ahead if she saw gift possibilities for good prices, and I try to follow her lead on this. I don’t only do this at dollar stores, but hey, I keep my eyes open because you never know when a neat little gift will appear.
My (former) foster daughter and I make it a hobby to shop together, and we’ve found some winners at dollar stores, some of which have needed a little work to achieve their full potential as cool gifts, but that’s part of the fun of it as our other main hobby is doing arts/crafts projects.
I think she’d appreciate that I’m starting my little list of my best dollar store gift finds with two perfect gifts she and I happened upon for her third and fourth-grade teachers.
For Ms. P in grade three, we bought a small artist’s canvas and some stickers that looked like mosaic tiles. My foster daughter covered the canvas with the tiles, and then glued a big letter “P” on top of them (the letter came from one of the packages of cut-out paper letters in my craft supplies from, yes, the dollar store).
For Ms. R in grade four, my foster daughter was excited to find a coffee-scented candle formed to fit in a container shaped like a to-go cup for a latte. “Ms. R realllllllly likes coffee!” she explained.
One of my best “buy now and store for later” gifts was the poster-sized crossword puzzle I found in the middle of a pile of books. My mom and her partner both love crossword puzzles, so when his birthday rolled around, I had a gift for him that he enjoyed so much that he set to work on it the next day.
He also enjoyed three other dollar store gifts I found for him over the last few years: a pen with a stylus on one end (he liked this so much for using with his phone that he wouldn’t let anyone borrow the pen), a cleaning cloth for his phone and computer screens, and a small wall calendar.
Exciting gifts, maybe not, but he actually used them. Sometimes, too, people appreciate when they get practical, inexpensive gifts rather than feeling uncomfortable if it seems like you spent “too much.”
My dad is very much like this: he doesn’t want gifts because he “already has everything [he] needs” and doesn’t want us spending our money. He won’t say no, however, when I can find a bag of root beer barrels or some old-fashioned black licorice made with cane sugar.
Once I found a card game licensed by the TV show Jeopardy, and I bought this to mail to a Jeopardy-loving friend. The dollar store puzzles for adults aren’t so great (all the pieces seem to be the same couple of shapes), but the jigsaw puzzles for kids are fun gifts. I also have found some well-made kids’ games patterned after Memory.
The toy aisle has a lot of little gift ideas. It’s really hit or miss, and it can vary from week to week. I used to shop for toys regularly to send to a group near the US/Mexico border doing outreach work with families (they stopped accepting toys during the pandemic, but I should check in with them again).
I found a lot of small toys and games that would be easy for kids to carry, as many of the families were traveling to different states. I found Hot Wheels cars, mini Etch-a-Sketch draw and erase tablets, dolls, stuffed animals, and squishy toys. I liked going back at different times or trying different stores to see what I could find that looked especially good — I remember finding the best stuffed animals right before Easter when there were a bunch of bunnies and lambs in stock.
In a comment on my previous dollar store post, Carmellita told a story about how her aunt discovered the Family Dollar and loved walking up and down the aisles and buying fun and thoughtful gifts for everyone. There’s a pleasure in both the finding and the giving when it comes to the affordable presents that hide among the dish soap and toothbrushes at dollar stores.
Do you ever buy gifts at dollar stores? Do you like to put together gift baskets or collect stocking stuffers with things you find there?
You know that I’d love to know about your finds. I very much enjoyed reading the comments on my previous story where people shared their favorite items to buy.
