I’ve been doing dollar store hacks since before Dollarama sold anything for more than $1, which historians refer to as “the golden age of foam board and bad adhesives.” So here they are, twelve of my best hacks from the era of cheap glue and great ideas.
Some of these will make your life easier, like gliding a stand mixer across the counter with one finger instead of the full strength of your ancestors. Others involve setting things on fire in bowls of water for ambiance. All of them are either helpful, impressive, or just plain old, fun to do.
Here are 12 of my best Dollarama hacks. Turns out, you can make a lot of useful things out of boredom, beads, and boas.
Table of Contents
Cocktail Toothpicks
Basket Lamps
Make these easy cocktail picks with beads and toothpicks. You made all of those fancy appetizers (or heated them up) but you're going to stick a plain toothpick in them? No, no, no.
This lampshade hack went viral on Pinterest. You might remember it. Back in the day I had to use battery operated LED lights which were revolutionary. Now, 10 years later, I would use a solar light to update it.
Mirrored Planter
Seed Kit
A cute little mirrored planter to hide all those ugly plastic pots. An easy DIY that'll take 15 minutes and about $5.
The hardest part about this was getting a photo of the planter without any reflections. 🙃
This one is for the seed storers. I now use a bigger system, but for most people, this little box with glass bottles setup would work perfectly.
Seeds stay dry and you can carry the whole box out to the garden.
Floating Tea Lights
How to make floating candles, because you never know when you're going to find yourself in some kind of floating candle emergency situation. Like an impromptu dinner party or shotgun wedding reception.
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Birthday Advent
Birthday Advent
The baseball themed Birthday Advent Calendar for grandparents who have plenty of time to craft and kids who like to celebrate their birthday ALL month long.
A gift behind every baseball.
The original Birthday Advent calendar combines two of the most loved things in the world. Opening secret doors and punching through tissue paper to get a gift.
Felt Pads
Halloween Wreath
Move your heavy small appliances around your kitchen with the touch of a finger with this $1 fix. My family has been doing this for years.
I made this wreath entirely with dollar store ingredients. The wreath form is a pool noodle, wrapped in feather boas, black gauze and adorned with skulls.
Over a decade later and it's still going strong.
Elevated Pet Food Dish
Heated Neck Pillow
If your cat or dog uses an elevated food dish - you can make a custom one in minutes.
This easy to make pillow that heats up in the microwave until toasty, is filled with rice giving it a heavy weighted feeling that feels great around a stiff neck 50% of people over the age of 45 have some kind of neck pain at least once a year. Probably on account of our brains being so heavy with information.
Tea Towel Apron
Tea Towel Half Apron
Make a long or short apron out of a tea towel and some ribbon. I know people don't like to sew, so there's minimal sewing with this hack.
They may not look like much—some beads, a tea towel, a pool noodle dressed for a goth prom—but they work. A few even feel suspiciously like genius. And if nothing else, you’ll get to say you once set fire to a bowl of water and called it a centerpiece.
Scotty
If bugs get in through imperfectly sealed windows ... like windows that have an air conditioner sitting in them, or degraded window frames that you really will get around to fixing in a month or two, or three, or that have one of those insertable window screens, cut a $ Store pool noodle, or skinny foam pipe insulation, in half with a razor blade cutter, and put the convex (fat, and not-cut) side faing up in the bottom of the sill.
No more bugs.
Karen
The gap under my side door is so big now that full sized crickets were in my mudroom last night. 😆 ~ karen!
Scotty
Good! Them's good eatin'.