Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Doll Stuff from Dollar Tree

Hi all!  I was at Dollar Tree Monday night, doing some shopping in preparation for "Birthday Season".  What, you may ask, is Birthday Season?  In our household, it's a 3-month season, spanning from February to April, in which my three daughters have 3 consecutive birthdays. 

I used to think it would be pretty convenient to have 3 birthday parties in a row.  Now, having lived through several years of it, I'm not so convinced.  There are some advantages, like being able to give the girls similar gifts and knowing they only have to wait one more month until their birthday comes.  But overall, it's just completely crazy!  By April, I'm a puddle of mush just trying to survive long enough to reach May. :}

So, in the coming months, I'll probably post a few things here and there about the parties.  So far on the agenda, we have a "Plum Pudding" party for my middle daughter in February (not Strawberry Shortcake, mind you...just her friend Plum...my daughter likes the idea of a party all in purple, her favorite color), a Toy Story party for my youngest in March, and a Dolly and Me party with an American Girl emphasis for my oldest in April.

I've found that my best bet is to do most of my prep work in January, as things just keep snowballing from February on.  That was why I was at Dollar Tree.  I was trying to do as much of my treat bag shopping as possible.  We always give the girls' party guests a little bag full of party favors.

Once again, I'm being entirely too wordy. :}  The main point of the last 4 paragraphs is to get me to this point:  while shopping, I found some great doll-sized goodies that I thought you might like to know about.

First off, I found these really nifty tiny bobby pins.  I'm sure these existed somewhere in the world, but I'd never seen any this small.  They're the perfect size for 18" dolls!  And at 50 for $1, it's a great deal. 


Here's a pic of one of the bobby pins next to Tess, so you can see the actual size.   I think they shouldn't pull her hair too much either, because they're coated with something that reminds me of the special coating they put on some curling irons.  I can't wait to try some new hairdos with these! :) 


I also found this pack of 500 hair rubber bands.  According to my American Girl hairstyling DVD, these should be a good choice for doll hair.  I'll keep you posted on how that goes...I'm always a little leery about using rubber bands on hair, but at this price I figured it was worth a shot!


They have had these cute foam puzzles for a while at Dollar Tree.  I picked the Toy Story design because it fit with my youngest girl's party theme, but they also had Cars and Disney Princess as well.  These make a cute play mat and puzzle for you dolls. 


Here's Hailey demonstrating how big it is next to your doll.  Maybe the scale's a little small, but I think it still works. :)


I was keeping my eye out for fun favors that would work for dolls to use for my oldest girl's "Dolly and Me" birthday.  When I saw these cute little Lisa Frank noisemakers, I knew I'd found a perfect party favor.  It's just the right size for Hailey.


Here's a close-up of the picture inside.  There were 8 different designs in all.  And just to let you know, these aren't made that well, so they probably won't last all that long, but they should provide some fun at the party!  :)


I'm so excited I found these...they'll be just perfect!  This is a set of four key chains.  Each one is a little blank booklet/journal that snaps closed, and each one features a different Disney Princess on the front. 


I'd purchased a "Princess and the Frog" one of these earlier, so I took a picture to show you how perfect the size is.   All you have to do is remove the key chain, and you've got a little journal for your doll.  :)


Hailey was really excited, because I also found some fun "Tangled" goodies. 


Here's a cute little mini notepad.  These came in sets of 6.


Dollar Tree also had Panini sticker packs from "Tangled", "Toy Story", and other movies.  I guess there are coordinating sticker books that the stickers go into.  I didn't see any of the books there. 


Here's what the sticker pack looks like on the outside.


I thought it would be fun to try and use these to make a collage or some mini posters for Hailey.  She was super excited when we found this special foil sticker in one of the two packs I bought. :) 


That's all for now.  As I find more things, I'll keep you posted on the blog.  I'll probably do at least one post for each of the girls' birthdays, too, just to show you what we did. :)

11 comments:

susan said...

I love all the mini's from the Dollar Tree. I've done several doll parties and Christmas parties for my daughter. I too have those mini rubberbands (the clear ones). They are great to get the dolls to hold things in their hands or place their hands together to hold something. It's fun to plan those kind of parties!
God bless!
Susan

susan said...

Oops, I forgot to tell you that I am Susan who found your blog just yesterday. I got my name straightened out now. It should not say Liddy (my daughter), but Susan.

Emma Kate said...

Where did you get your background?

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Hi Susan! :) I figured it was you. Yep, your name is now officially on my followers list. Thanks! I've used mini rubber bands for making my dolls hold things, too. I was so busy thinking about these ones as hair things that I didn't think about that use, so thanks for reminding me. ;) I'm really looking forward to the doll party for my oldest. :D

Hi Emma! My background used to be offered by Blogger in their "picture window" template, but it has since disappeared. That's why my blog background is always the same...I love it, and I'm so worried that if I replace it, I won't be able to get it back! :} If you find it anywhere else, let me know...I'd love to change the background every once in a while, at least for holidays. :)

MzMelody said...

I've bought cute little things for my dolls from the craft store A.C. Moore. They have these erasers shaped like food, they come in a pack of four and fit 18" dolls perfectly.

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

How fun! There's no A.C. Moore in my area, although I've seen little food-shaped erasers at our Michael's. :)

Korianne said...

It's always nice to find doll stuff for a good price isn't it? I might have to see if my dollar store has the tiny bobby pins and journal keychains. I also like the foam puzzle thing. I think if I bought a few of the packets I could lay out a "flooring" for my dolls playroom, especially for the tiny baby dolls I have for AG and other dolls. How cute would that be? If only they had the borders to go around them to give a finished edge look. I had foam tiles like that in big people sized when I had a playroom as a little girl and they were so kooshy. I've been thinking of getting a yoga mat to cut up to give the same affect for my doll rooms, but I might just go with these as they would be much cheaper. Also, another thing to watch out for that you could use for the party favours is other small keychains with stuffed animals on them. I recently got my dolls new uglydolls that way, by snipping off the little keychain part.

Korianne said...

Oh, and another tip. Someone mentioned you can use the tiny rubberbands to hold doll items. Something that I've found that works much better and is usually less complicated to attach to the doll is to use flexible wax like the kind they give to kids with braces to protect the insides of their lips from getting scraped up. http://dft.ba/-dentalwax that's what it looks like and you can get it at your local drugstore or Walmart by the toothpaste. I'd recommend clear and non mint scented... unless you like your doll's vinyl to smell minty fresh.

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Hi Korianne! :) I'll have to keep my eye out for some stuffed animal key chains. I found my Hailey doll a Hello Kitty stuffed toy that way. :) Thanks for reminding me.

I love your idea about using the foam mats for your doll playroom. That's kind of the idea I had. We're hoping to have my dad make my girls a doll house for their AG dolls, and I thought those would make great flooring. When I used to work at our local Christian book store, they had one of those puzzle mats in the kid's section. The kids always loved coming in and playing on it. :)

Thanks for the idea about the dental wax, too. I'd never thought of that! Does it make their vinyl sticky, though? That would be my only concern.

Korianne said...

Nope, as long as you keep it in a small ball of sorts and don't smoosh it too much it doesn't stick to the vinyl. I have never had any problems with it and I've been using it for years. I wouldn't recommend leaving it on for long periods of time, but if it's just for a photo story it's no problem.

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

That's good to know. I'll have to try that next time. :)