Creative Adventures!

It is funny how the dollar tree store has become one of our, my son and I, favorite places to shop. I usually get cleaning supplies there and he usually gets toys there. I think he enjoys the toy aisle a lot more then I enjoy the cleaning aisle. But, nonetheless, we shop there and we have fun. We go down almost all of the aisles at the small store near our house and we hunt for "treasure" just fun things that we can take home and look at, play with, or decorate with. Sometimes we just get some colorful paper plates from the party aisle and some streamers and we come back and have a dinner party. Our version of a dinner party with paper plates and party streamers. We also get plastic cups too that don't really  match the plates but it is more fun that way. When I was a girl, a young girl, I used to have tea parties with my sister. We had a play tea set that my mom got us and we used to sit on the back porch dressed in our tea attire, which was basically, some old clothes we found at the thrift store, hats and boa's and things, and we would give each other fake names and pour pretend tea. Our tea was kool-aid or juice. So, when we got older and were planning our "perfect" lives with our cousin, we always said if we had girls we would have lots of tea parties with them. But, we grew up, and both had boys. She had 3 boys and I had one. So, I guess this would be our version of a tea party, a dollar tree dinner party. 

My mom thinks that we are nuts sometimes but although she probably won't admit to anyone we know she enjoys it as much as we do and maybe more. So, besides our impromptu dinner parties the the party aisle inspires us to do sometimes we find all kinds of candles for our ghost story nights where we sit with the lights off and candles lit and tell stories, not too scary stories though because I don't want to have to bring out the monster spray at the end of the night which is just a spray bottle filled with water and a homemade label that says monster keep away spray on it. I haven't used it in months. We find balls in a cup toys, hula hoops, a variety of balls and trucks and even silly putty once. And if we need some snacks for weekend tv movie nights we find those there too. All kinds of dishes and cool bowls and glasses can be found there too and sometimes we get a couple just because they are unusual or cute. I have gotten books there to send my friend who is an avid reader and some kid books to read and color and of course the crayons and markers to do it with.  

I guess our little trips to the dollar tree are more then just trips sometimes. They are creative adventures. They bring out the creativity in both of us and although we wish would could buy all the inventory out at the store we are happy with the treasures we can afford to buy and it is always a fun trip. This last trip we got Chinese checkers, who knew that we could find Chinese checkers in the dollar tree. I didn't even know that they still made them to be honest. I played them with my sister and cousin back in the day but it had been years since I had even seen a Chinese checkers set. But, when we saw one and I explained to him how the game was played we got one. We also got a cup in a ball or a ball tied to a cup where you have to get the ball in the cup. If nothing else it is fun and will help with hand and eye coordination. We also got my usual few cleaning supplies and happily left the store feeling good. 

Our next adventure to the dollar tree store will probably be in a couple of weeks and we will be ready to search for hidden, or not so hidden treasures all for a buck and you can't beat that.