Dollar Tree Bento Finds!!

Ok, so yesterday I posted about trying to Bento.  By the time I finished the post I had made the decision to go for it (sometimes writing can be so helpful!).

I mentioned that one of the blogs I followed had talked about buying some stuff from the Dollar Tree (I follow her main blog, but she started a blog just for Bento and you can see her Bento blog here :  Bento On a Budget)

Well, I went and checked out my dollar tree and I found a ton of stuff!  I spent a total of $22 (plus tax), and in some cases a Bento Box costs that much or more if you buy it online!  Here are all of my goodies!!!

I got 4 locking boxes, 2 Eggies (for making hard boiled eggs you don't have to peel...or without yolks if you have a picky eater), some small clear containers (20 total), some cute animal containers (frog, bee, lady bug, and monkey), 3 animals bowls (bee, frog, and monkey, neither one of my dollar trees had the lady bug in stock so I will have to keep looking), 2 sandwich cutters, an egg slicer in case I decide to not do a whole egg, or to make it easier to eat, some cupcake liners that can be used also to separate foods, some picks with hearts on them, and some pick forks with diamonds on them.

Not a bad start!  I could have bought less, since I know (at least right now) I won't Bento for my oldest, and I may or may not for my 2 yr old, but I figured it was best to buy enough for all 4, just in case.  Especially since things at the Dollar Tree come and go and you never know what they will have on stock.

I'm starting to get really excited about this!

Pinned it, tried it, results!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was going to try some pinterest projects.  Here are the results of some of those projects!

First I did the Homemade Finger Paints.  This was pretty easy to do.  I used some empty baby food jars to store it in and then I used Wilton Cake Decorating Icing Colors to tint them.  I don't normally have food coloring on hand, but I have tons of the icing colors for my cakes.

Mixture after I put it in the jars, before I colored it all.  You can find the Wilton Icing Colors at Walmart, Michaels, and I am sure other places too.

All done!  Blue, purple, yellow, red, pink, and green.

I did paint a bit with the green, and then went and washed my hands.  It all came out easily.  I have yet to try it tho, with a kid playing in it forever and then washing it out lol.


Next I tried making the Mind Jar for Austin.  I followed the pin, and she had a great description, but she also linked back in her blog to where she first got it from.  The other lady did it slightly different (added extra glitter).  So I kind of did a little bit of both to make mine.

I used a mason jar that I bought at Michaels.  I know they seal air tight and I didn't want to take any chances!  I used just over 1.5 cups of warm water.  I added 2 tablespoons of orange glitter glue (Austin picked it out himself!).  Like she said, it did take a bit for the glue to melt, so I also stuck it in the microwave for 60 seconds.  This kept the water warm, since the glass stayed warm.  I added a touch of the wilton icing color in orange to the water, to make the water orange.  Then I added some orange glitter to it.  Note....add the glitter last, it settles on the top of the water (I learned this the hard way haha, I was still melting glue when I added the glitter!).

Here it is before you shake it up.  You can see the glitter glue part settled on the bottom (it doesn't completely melt away) .  If you look at the top you can see the extra glitter I added floating around lol.

Here it is all shook up.  I really like how it turned out, and Austin liked it too.  Hopefully it will help him some with his temper!


This next project was soooo easy.  I made the bookmarks with the paint samples.  I picked a few up at Walmart, Austin was with me so he picked out his 2, and I picked out 2 for Jaidan.  They were out of pink, so I had to get her other colors.  I bought some ribbon for $.97 (which will last me quite a while).  I bought 2 punches at walmart, but they kinda stunk, their selection wasn't very good.  When I went to Michaels they had a much better selection and I picked out 2 different ones.  They were all $.97, or $.99.  So super cheap, and re-usable not only for this, but other projects too.

All you do is use the punches to cut out the design on one side, use a hole punch on the top for the ribbon, then tie the ribbon through, super easy!.

Finished bookmarks with the supplies.  Music notes for Austin, hearts for Jaidan.  No more corner's being turned down by kids (yes Jaidan, I am looking at you!).


Well there you have it, results for things I pinned on pinterest and tried.  I do have a few other projects I am working on.  I will post those results when I am done with them.