Hi Mommies,
I give a fall family party every year where everyone comes to help rake the tons of leaves in my backyard. At the end of the party, I throw fun stuff into a pile of leaves and let the grandkids dive in and find them. I'm looking for ideas for fun stuff this year. I ususally get about five things for each kid which can get expensive. I don't put any candy in the pile. The gifts have to be big enough to find. The kids are 7 to 11. Thanks in advance for your help.
Thanks so much to everyone who replied. You gave me some great ideas. I had no idea Dollar Tree had an online store!
Michael's Arts and Crafts has bins full of neat stuff for $1-$5. You can get stamps, all kinds of neat stuff that kids that age love.
Hello P.,
I LOVE this store.... http://www.dollartree.com/home.jsp
I haven't oredered from their online store since their chain is in Illinois. At some dollar stores, it's pretty much junk, but not at this particular franchise. You could do a theme and put a few things that are related to each other in a cute bucket, container, etc... that you can buy from there too. Also check out Target... when you first walk into their stores there is a $1 and $2.50 section. Not bad!
You have such a great idea! Thanks for sharing it!
What an awesome idea! It's a great sensory experience to boot.
I'd suggest hitting up your local dollar store for plastic geegaws and other toys. Small sports balls, like the Nerf kind, would work well if you can find them at a reasonable price. Art supplies like markers or glitter pens, office supplies (you'd be surprised at what a seven-year-old can do to a stack of Post-it Notes), and packs of stickers would probably be enjoyed also.
How about beach balls.
I think Oberweis Dairy has gift cards as little as $5.00. You would have to place it in a larger package before wrapping.
Playdoh? Markers or Crayons? Always need more of those!
Hi P., Great gift ideas you have shared for kids. I always appreciate it when my friends give me homemade cookies/brownies/anything! Inexpensive gifts that people will actually like. You can also buy a set of bowls and give them individually; add a decorative touch of ribbon or home-cooked treat. I participated in a Christmas ornament exchange with a childhood friend for many years. This very informal arrangement allowed us to select a suitable, affordable gift; when I am decorating my tree, I get to remember the ornaments she bought or made for me. You'll find ornaments anywhere but I like shopping at family-owned gift shops for memorable, one-of-a-kind ones.
Hello P.,
I love going to World Market for finding cute little gifts; they have everything from musical insruments, to jewelry, to other knick-knacks that kids of all ages can enjoy.
I know they have a halloween sale going on right now, so you may definitely find plenty of gifts under $5.00...
Dollar store! They have a lot of fun things like footballs, bubbles, and buckets and shovels. Not to mention the art supplies like activity books and markers. Ive found even places like family dollar (where things are usually under $10) has alot of great things for $2-$3.
I recently bought a batch of pipe cleaners (multicolored packs) and my daughter (9) has been loving making things from these. We have taken them to a few places (football games, etc.) and a variety of age kids have spent a long time playing with these. I also think that a pack of glitter pens and/or colorful notebooks would be good to.
go to the dollar store and look around! especially the dollar tree franchise. they usually have a great variety of things to choose from.
Walgreens has coupons at their door for 39 cent coloring booklets that I just picked up for my daugther's bday this weekend. They also have boxes of tatoos in smaller boxes that are inexpensive.Dollar stores may have other cheap ideas. Have fun.
Target generally has some pretty good stuff in their dollar bins right inside the door as well, and it's often seasonally themed, which would be perfet for your party. If you plan far enough in advance, you could order stuff by mail from Oriental Trading -- they send out stuff in bulk, like kits of 12 or so, and their crafts are pretty cute (and come in individual bags) -- but you've probably missed the shipping deadlines for this year.
