Holidays for Less: Dollar Tree

Not so long ago, I had the privilege of celebrating Christmas with one of my best friends. Her family had a very interesting tradition. The day after Thanksgiving they would go to the dollar store and "register" a wish list of wants/needs and that is the list that everyone went off of. No one was allowed to spend more than $5 a person and because they are a big family, this was very helpful to keep the costs down.

Fast forward many years and this year, I decided to take Mari to Dollar Tree so she could pick out her gifts for her loved ones. She's been very helpful around the house and doing her chores without being reminded that I thought this would be a good treat. In we walked and I had the list of people to give gifts to. I would walk to a section and say a couple of names and then she would walk around and select gifts for each person. I only discouraged her one time for her choice of 6 pack of crayons for her cousin who already has plenty of crayons, let alone a 6 pack of 3 crayons.


**SPOILER ALERT...FAMILY MEMBERS, DO NOT READ**

This is what she selected:

• Purple kaleidoscope, girl cousin age 9
• Checkers, boy cousin age 13
• Dollar Tree Sham-wow, uncle
• Dish Towel, grandmother
• Potholder, grandmother
• Wrist rest for mouse pad, grandfather
• Ball of Twine, grandfather
• Paula Deen cake mix, cousin the chef
• Paula Deen cake mix, cousin married to the chef
• Paula Deen cake mix, cousin who is sister of the chef
• Terry Microfiber towel wrap, aunt
• Terry Microfiber towel wrap, someday-aunt
• Lighter light stick, daddy

And then she was tired and we were unable to finish the rest of our shopping list (which wasn't much), but this was the majority of the gifts. When we got home, I opened the gift bags (2 for $1) and she "wrapped" each one and told me the names of the people she had chosen to give the gifts. I wrote their names on the bag and then she lined them up at the base of our Christmas tree. Oh and she also insisted that everyone get a travel Kleenex pack as well.

Here are the gifts:

We got out of there for less than $20 including the purchase of the bags. She seemed really excited to be able to buy gifts for loved ones and she is TOTALLY eager to hand them out. She took great care in putting each gift in the bag. It was so sweet because after the gift was in the bag, she held up the bag, inspected it, then sealed it with a kiss. I don't know where she gets this stuff from, but it is too, too adorable! Anyway, I think she did pretty good with her selections and I hope everyone likes their gifts from her, especially after they find out she picked them. Then again, who wouldn't love a gift from Mari? :D