Dollar Tree Deals: April

Y'all know I love the Dollar Tree! It is my number one stop when I am looking for random things for my classroom. See my first Dollar Tree Deals post here for some general tips about shopping there. Although, my "tips" can basically be summed up in one: Buy it when you see it!

Here are my purchases for the month and my plans for their use:

1. Luau Background: I'll set up a photo booth in the hallway for the entire 2nd grade during the last week of school, and this will be our background. The teachers will all bring their classes for pictures and send the pictures along to their parents! This has been a lot of fun in the past. I have chalkboard speech bubbles that say cool things like "3rd Grade, Here I come!" and "I'm gonna ROCK the 3rd Grade!" (Which were purchased at Party City a few years ago for my Dad's 60th birthday party.) Our costumes include crazy sunglasses, straw hats, leis, funny headbands, a feather boa, a pretend microphone...and anything else we can scrounge up! We used this same background last year, but I put it up with some strong blue sticky tacky, and when I pulled it down, the thin background was a little worse for the wear.
2. Cool Straws: For some reason, I buy these every year for our end of year party! I know I would have been so tickled to drink from my water bottle with a flamingo straw at school when I was in 2nd grade!
3. Pencil Sharpener/Eraser: I'll put these in the prize jar. We'll see what the quality is like, but everyone needs a good eraser and sharpener at this time of the year.
4. Glass Vase: I am considering using these for a Mother's Day craft at church. I'm not sure if we'll go the tissue paper and Mod Podge route, or use oil based sharpies to decorate them, so I am going to experiment a bit. We make crafts the morning of Mother's Day while the Dads are cooking breakfast and the Moms are sleeping in, so there has to be a fast turnaround for the craft. The Mod Podge will need drying time, but the Sharpies will cost more money. So we'll see!

That's all for today! Have a great Monday, everyone! My kids and I only have 4 Mondays left together and we are counting down the days until Summer!