Dollar Deals for this Week's Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Stockpile Saturday ~ 5/21/2016

I did some shopping this week at dollar/deal stores, and found some good things.  I try to be picky about what I buy at dollar stores for my Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, looking for sturdy items, especially for items that might have originally been made for another store at a higher price point, and has been sent there as it's last year's, overstock, or whatever.

Had good success at Mighty Dollar while out running errands early in the week.  Nice school math sets (normally sell for $1.99-$4.99), a fun metal whistle some toothbrush covers (which don't fit/cover all the toothbrushes I've been getting at CVS) and some colorful & sturdy jacks which I'll split into 2 boxes.

On Friday my sister and I ran some errands and got to hit a few stores for shoebox stuff.  At Mighty Dollar I got my dad three of the Chess/Checkers combo game for his 10-14 boy boxes, I'd taken a photo when I was there earlier, and he had thought a few would be good for his boxes.  I'd also seen some fishing hooks and floats and asked him if he'd like to make some fishing kits for the 10-14 year old boy shoeboxes, too.  He was interested, so I got a bag of floats/bobbers, there were a few different hooks to choose from so my sister and I picked out a few, weren't really sure what we were doing, have fished before, but not had much hands on with the hooks.  I was wondering on the quality, the floats said Walmart, but I didn't know about the rest so did some Googling of the brands-Zoom seems to be sold at stores like Walmart and the Eagle Claw I saw at Base ProShop.  My dad remembered the Eagle Claw brand from when he was a kid, he liked it and we decided to get the same amount again next time I'm able to go, then we'll be able to make 10 kits with two floats and 5 hooks each, just need to pck up some fishing line.  I also got another of metal whistles.  

Found these fun gliders at Dollar Tree for the 10-14 boy boxes.
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At a local mom and pop store I got some learning to write composition books for the 2-4 year old shoeboxes, a Backgammon game, I splurged on the pencil sharpener as it reminded me of the hand crank one we had when I was a kid.  I also had been wanting to put in Spirograph like tools in my 10-14 year old girl shoeboxes, and found these three for $0.59 each-they're a little big with the fish part, but should be a fun addition!

Spent from shoebox packing budget: $30.70

Added to stockpile:

• 6 school/math kits
• 2 whistles
• 4 toothbrush caps
• 1 Jacks game
• 3 checkers/chess set games
• 10 bobbers and 25 fising hooks
• 2 wooden gliders
• 10 composition books
• 1 big pencil sharpener
• 3 "Spirograph"s

We are always looking for ways to find more money to shop with.  We've shared some ways that we Find Extra Money for Packing Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes.