Cheap gifts for little ones

[Melaine]

We are having a holiday get together with four families, 9 kids total. I wanted to give each one a TINY gift (like stocking stuffer type item) for Christmas. Girls are 11, 5, 5, 5. Boys are 5, 4, 2, 2 and 1.

I have some of the Lego sets from the Target clearance so I plan to give one each of those to the boys 5 and 4. I am looking for something super cheap, for the rest, any ideas?

Our Target has a small Dollar Spot, is there anything good at the bigger ones for the one and two year olds? I thought about buying the BOGO half squinkies for the girls and breaking up the big packs into smaller little sets in drawstring bags or something...

Are the two year olds too little for Schleich animals? I do have some of those in my gift closet.

Seriously looking for a deal because DH is going to say we shouldn't do these gifts and last night we had to spend hundreds of dollars completely out of the blue when DH's glasses broke unexpectedly and couldn't be repaired. (BAD TIMING).

I also thought about checking Michael's for craft kits for the girls. We have found fun ones for $1 before. Maybe necklace kits?

[hillview]

art supplies (crayons/markets with paper)?
the animals are a little old for a 2 year old if the 2 year old chews on thing I think
playdoh could be a good solution

[vonfirmath]

We are having a holiday get together with four families, 9 kids total. I wanted to give each one a TINY gift (like stocking stuffer type item) for Christmas. Girls are 11, 5, 5, 5. Boys are 5, 4, 2, 2 and 1.

I have some of the Lego sets from the Target clearance so I plan to give one each of those to the boys 5 and 4. I am looking for something super cheap, for the rest, any ideas?

Our Target has a small Dollar Spot, is there anything good at the bigger ones for the one and two year olds? I thought about buying the BOGO half squinkies for the girls and breaking up the big packs into smaller little sets in drawstring bags or something...

Are the two year olds too little for Schleich animals? I do have some of those in my gift closet.


My son got plastic animals similar to Schleich at 1y 4m and at 2y and LOVED them.

[Melaine]

I will check my Schleich collection and see what sizes I have...some of them may be big enough. One of the kids has a big brother and they have tons of little stuff around, but the other 2 year old is probably not used to smaller things around since he is an only.

[baileygirl]

My kids played with the Schleich animals at that age (not the tiny ones though). What about bubbles? In the past we have bought scented ice cream cone bubbles from Cost Plus, Walgreens and Target (party section)...not 100% that all of them were scented.

[baileygirl]

Does the 11 year-old have pierced ears? Maybe holiday earrings? Another idea would be holiday headbands from the $ spot at Target.

ETA What about crayons and a holiday coloring book?

[AlbrightRC]

My son was playing with bigger schleich animals just after his first birthday. He's getting a Zebra in his stocking this year because we have a baby with no momma or daddy.

[daisymommy]

Target dollar spot has some holiday themed coloring books that you could put with a $1 pack of crayons, for the younger kids.

Actually, there are lots of cute holiday things in the dollar spot right now, including stick on earrings, hairbands/bows, little toys, etc.

I like the small Lego set idea.

Or, if you're feeling adventurous, make homemade holiday playdough and pair with Christmas cookie cutters (very cheap at Walmart, grocery store) for the younger ones (5 and under). Cheap, just takes time.
http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/12/homemade-gingerbread-playdough-playdough-mats.html

[anonomom]

Or, if you're feeling adventurous, make homemade holiday playdough and pair with Christmas cookie cutters (very cheap at Walmart, grocery store) for the younger ones (5 and under). Cheap, just takes time.
http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/12/homemade-gingerbread-playdough-playdough-mats.html

:yeahthat: I was about to reply to suggest the same thing.

Failing that, is there a dollar store near you? We found water balls there that my kids both really liked. They're tiny beads that you soak in water. They grow to the size of small marbles. I dpn't really see the appeal, but both girls loved how they looked and felt.

[elbenn]

This is off-topic, but do you get your glasses online? If you don't, they are usually way cheaper than in-store. However, I know you are a great bargain hunter, so you probably have already checked it out.

[Melaine]

This is off-topic, but do you get your glasses online? If you don't, they are usually way cheaper than in-store. However, I know you are a great bargain hunter, so you probably have already checked it out.

Honestly, no, I haven't; I don't know anything about glasses. I don't wear them and I let DH handle them himself. He is really picky so I honestly never thought about getting a deal for those! I would love to find a deal on prescription sunglasses for him though, do you have any specific recommendations? And how do you order your prescription?

[Melaine]

Target dollar spot has some holiday themed coloring books that you could put with a $1 pack of crayons, for the younger kids.

Actually, there are lots of cute holiday things in the dollar spot right now, including stick on earrings, hairbands/bows, little toys, etc.

I like the small Lego set idea.

Or, if you're feeling adventurous, make homemade holiday playdough and pair with Christmas cookie cutters (very cheap at Walmart, grocery store) for the younger ones (5 and under). Cheap, just takes time.
http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/12/homemade-gingerbread-playdough-playdough-mats.html

Ok, I have a question about playdough. We have made this one recipe dozens of times with koolaid. It's super easy and has always turned out great. Well, this time, I decided to nix the koolaid and instead color with food coloring and add peppermint oil for scent....

Well, the texture was awful...it was terrible! Just super sticky and even after adding more flour it never felt "right"....very messy. Is there something about koolaid that makes the texture turn out right? I thought the koolaid was just for color and scent but maybe I was wrong?

[daisymommy]

You know, I'm not sure! I have always made it with Kool-Aid too, and it's wonderful. I have also used liquid water color in place of it (hard to find, I buy it at a teacher's supply shop) and it makes wonderful playdough that I scent for the holidays. But I can't think that it would really be any different than food coloring...

I wonder if there's Citric acid or something in Kool-Aid that might make the dough smooth and elastic?

[crl]

Ok, I have a question about playdough. We have made this one recipe dozens of times with koolaid. It's super easy and has always turned out great. Well, this time, I decided to nix the koolaid and instead color with food coloring and add peppermint oil for scent....

Well, the texture was awful...it was terrible! Just super sticky and even after adding more flour it never felt "right"....very messy. Is there something about koolaid that makes the texture turn out right? I thought the koolaid was just for color and scent but maybe I was wrong?

Whoaa! I had that same experience but never thought about linking it to the substitutions. I just assumed I had messed up the proportions somehow. Now I'll have to try it again using koolaid.

Catherine

[elbenn]

Honestly, no, I haven't; I don't know anything about glasses. I don't wear them and I let DH handle them himself. He is really picky so I honestly never thought about getting a deal for those! I would love to find a deal on prescription sunglasses for him though, do you have any specific recommendations? And how do you order your prescription?

I'm not an expert either, so you might want to do a search or start a new thread. There have been threads about glasses being way, way cheaper online than in-store. You just enter your prescription in on the website.

[Twin Mom]

If you have a Tuesday Morning near you, I have usually had luck finding small inexpensive items there. There is typically an area that has a bunch of these types of things hanging together on a wall. Of course YMMV as you never know what they will have. Not everything will be a dollar though.

[mousemom]

My DS might be strange, but he likes (and liked last year when he was 2) the little card games that come in packs of three at Dollar Tree. He especially liked one pack that had pieces of cars and trucks on each card that could be matched up to make a whole vehicle.

[Aishe]

I noticed lots of cute things in the dollar bins at Michael's recently. They had little Disney-themed coloring packs that included stickers, a few crayons, and a small coloring book, IIRC. They also had oversized pens that my kids thought were hilarious.

At the Target dollar spot I've seen kaleidoscopes and packs of playdoh (an off-brand playdoh, anyway).

Today I bought my 2yo a rubber ball for 25 cents at Old Navy (from the gumball machine in back) and he was thrilled. (Come to think of it, they had some cheap toys near the registers at ON as well.) I think you can go really simple with gifts for little ones.

[Melaine]

Thanks....these are great ideas!

[gamma]

If you have a Five Below near you, I have had really good luck there. Everything is $5 or below.