Where to start? Whether you're looking to set the table, decorate the house in holiday finery or put together gifts that only look expensive, dollar stores have got you covered. I particularly like Dollar Tree's craft sheets. Its latest one shows you how to create two different types of Christmas wreaths or personalize velvet Christmas stockings. Beautiful!

The 99-cent Only Stores are featuring white embossed dinnerware, 99.99 cents each for a plate, bowl or mug, as well as 11.75" round charger plates in a variety of colors for the same low price. Normally, the dinnerware pieces would sell for $5 each. They also have an 18" pine wreath that would sell elsewhere for $10, for 99.99 cents. Moving on to the holiday feast, buy large aluminum rectangular or oval roasting pans for 99.99 cents each, a 9 oz. package of Duncan Hines chocolate chip cookie mix, a 12 oz jar of Franco-American Turkey or Chicken gravy, Swanson fat-free or natural chicken broth in a 16 oz. carton, and 3 lbs. or russet potatoes all for only 99.99 cents each.

At Family Dollar you can buy a 6 ft. Christmas Tree for $20, a 20" decorated wreath for $8., an 18' garland light set with 300 clear lights for $8. or 200 G.E. mini lights in clear or multi-colored for $7 a set.

Dollar General has a special section on its website called Your Holiday Home that has many different sections to explore including toys and gifts, food and entertaining, stocking stuffers, decorating, gift wrap and cards and create the perfect gift. And each one of these sections has a menu of options. For instance, under decorating you can click on trees, tree decor, inflatables, home decor, yard decorations, lights or, my personal favorite, holiday how-tos. This is another place where you can learn how to decorate a wreath or your mantel for under $10.

These projects are both easy and beautiful. There's a lot to explore on this website. Have fun!

Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and dollar store diva. She writes tips and ideas for decorating your home using only items from the dollar store.

Bulk shopping has always been a great way to save on everyday items but the recession is ushering in a new trend: "buddy shopping." Members of wholesale clubs like BJ's, shop together and split their purchases. Buying eight tubs or margarine might be too much for one refrigerator, but how about four in two? Discount club shoppers who buy in bulk often save more than 30 percent off retail prices, and BJ's will even accept manufacturer's coupons, apparently the only warehouse club that does. This allows for multiple coupons to be redeemed on multi-packs of "individual for sale" items packaged together. For instance, on a two-pack of mouthwash that would normally be sold as two individual items, you could use two manufacturers coupons, for extra savings.

Seems like a great idea to me, especially at Christmas time, although you and your buddy would have to have more or less the same likes and dislikes when it comes down to choosing which paper napkins or bottled water you'll buy. If neither of you have any issues over tissues or can agree to compromise here and there, you'll both save a ton of money as well as time and gas.

After you cart it all back to someones kitchen, you'll have fun gloating over your great buys as you divvy up the loot. It's win, win. You get a lot of shopping done, save a lot of money and get to spend time with a good friend.

Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and dollar store diva. She writes tips and ideas for decorating using only items found at dollar stores.

It's that time of year again. And you want to thank all the "little" people in your life. But there are so many of them! If you bought a "little" something for each of them, you'd end up spending a fortune.

Just think about it -- your kids' teachers, the mail carrier, friends at the office -- the list is endless. Even a simple candy basket from Costco or gizmos from the discount shelves at Wal-Mart will run you more than $10 a pop. To buy something halfway decent, you could end up tacking on $100 or more to your holiday shopping bill.

Fear not! You can create holiday gifts yourself that would sell for much more at regular stores. Just start at your friendly neighborhood dollar store.

Here are ten gift suggestions that cost about $5 each, including the containers they're in. Don't see anything you like? Use these ideas as examples of the kinds of things that can be done using only things from the dollar store. It's fun and you can personalize each gift for the intended recipient.

A Great Gift for a Co-Worker

The ever-popular bath products gift is one of the easiest to do. You can start with a clear wire and plastic container (as pictured here) or use a small basket or gift bag. This gift basket contains an exfoliating bath sponge, body wash, a scented soap-shaped candle and a pumice scrubber.

Don't know what to get a favorite aunt or the grandma who doesn't need anything? This idea might work for them, as well as for a female co-worker. Add some basket wrap and you're good to go.

Brace yourselves, parents. The Christmas catalogs are starting to appear, and before long you'll be noticing all those dog-eared pages that signify where you can find the toys on your kid's wish list.

But smart moms and dads know that it pays to shop around. It could be that one or two of your child's picks can be found in -- a dollar store?

While browsing through Family Dollar's Christmas Toy Book, I was impressed by the brand names I saw there and even more impressed by the prices. Most of the toys in this online catalog were reasonably priced at $10 or $15, with some even less, some a little more and one item in the electronics section that was $30. Here's just a sampling of what I found:

With the holidays fast approaching, you may be one of those planning a trip home to ma and pa or to visit other friends and relatives. If you're traveling by air, you already know what the price of oil has done to air fare. With that in mind, let the dollar store help with a few money-saving items for your suitcase.

Hefty One Zip Travel Bags. Accidents do happen, so I like to use plastic zipper bags to carry hair spray and other likely-to-leak items when I travel, as insurance against disaster. These particular bags are 7" x 8" and were made specifically for your travel-size personal care items. We're not allowed to take regular size bottles of liquid on airplanes anymore, and these bags are perfect for containing those small bottles of shampoo, mouthwash and the like. There are seven travel bags in a package for $1.

Travel sized shampoo and conditioner. My dollar store generally has a couple of different types of name brand shampoo and conditioners in these convenient travel sizes, although the selection will invariably change from time to time. I would generally resent having to pay $1 for so little shampoo, but it's not so bad if you consider that you can refill the same bottle over and over again. Besides I mistrust that the plastic travel bottles they make are entirely leak proof.

Cepacol antibacterial mouthwash. This 4 oz. bottle is a decent size for traveling and again, refillable from a larger bottle, so your initial investment of $1 is well worth it for the secure seal it provides.

Gillette shaving cream. Not refillable, but what're ya gonna do? I can no longer pack hubby's large can of shave cream for him when he needs to travel on business, so this is the way to go.

Fun luggage tags. Dollar stores have lots of options here -- everything from Dora the Explorer and Mickey Mouse for the kids to plain and fancy ones for adults. Worried that someone else might grab your suitcase off the luggage carousel? For just a buck, you can let one of these wordy luggage tags speak for you.

Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and dollar store diva. She writes tips and ideas for decorating using only items from the dollar store.

I don't know what like weather is like where you live but here in Southern Ontario we've already had some distinctly winter-like days. So I thought I'd check out the selection of cold weather accessories at the local dollar store. I found a wide variety of polar fleece gloves for the whole family including some cute mittens for toddlers that are lined for extra warmth. Then there's the ever-popular magic stretch gloves that seem to be popular with school-age kids and you can get two pairs of these for a buck. These are handy for doubling up with other gloves for extra warmth when the kids decide to spend an hour or two building a snowman. The way kids lose things, it doesn't hurt to keep a couple of extra pairs of these on hand.

Stores used to wait until one season was pretty much over before filling the shelves with next season's props. In the last couple of years though, the trend has been to overlap merchandise. Thus, a month or more before gardening tools are no longer needed, Halloween paraphernalia starts to make an appearance. And even while people are still preparing for Halloween and Thanksgiving, silver bells and glittery garland are winking at us from store shelves.

Well, I usually like to start thinking about Christmas shopping in October anyway and the dollar store is always a great place to start. Here are a few holiday items I found while out and about recently along with what's available from Dollar Tree Direct. Everything listed here is only $1.

Most families are gearing up for Halloween and dollar stores are great places to shop for masks and other accessories like plastic pirate swords and eye patches. 99 cent Only Stores have different varieties of Tootsie Roll or Charms blow pops candy for 99. cents each to help fill treat bags.

On the everyday side, buy an 11.5 oz. size Welch's juice drink for 99. cents or Dole bag salads in 12oz. or 1 lb. sizes, depending on the type of salad you chose. 99 Cent Only Stores are also featuring dinnerware in a brown swirl pattern for 99. cents for each plate, bowl or mug.

Dollar Tree is selling Soft Soap hand soap in a 7 1/2 oz. pump bottle , Silkience Shampoo, Campbell's 16oz. soups, Duncan Hines Baking mixes for either brownies or cookies and Scotties tissues for $1 each. Along with the customary costumes and candy, you can also dress your small pooch or kitty for Halloween if, that is, they're the type who'll sit still for it!

The big news at Dollar General is its million dollar sweepstakes. When you buy qualifying products at Dollar General, you simply log in at and enter the Dollar General receipt code. There's also a no-purchase-necessary free entry or free mail-in entry, available on request at any Dollar General. There are other prizes to be won, including 26"TVs, $50 Dollar General Gift Cards, two $10,000 cash prizes and three carat diamond tennis bracelets. Get all of the details here. Evidently, you can enter as many as 200 times.

Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and dollar store diva. She writes tips for decorating using only items from the dollar store.

I'm a bit out of my dollar store bailiwick here but feel compelled to report on an investigation that the Toronto Star Newspaper did on lead levels found in toys throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

Apparently, dangerously high levels of lead were found in toys, knick-knacks and costume jewelery at retailers both big and small. The Star used two types of high-tech tests to discover lead in things like a baby pacifier sold at a dollar store, a Hannah Montana bracelet, found at a Wal-mart, and even in part of the costume of a stuffed toy bought at a souvenir shop in the airport.

At a toy store called Animal Crackers, a jewelery kit billed as lead-free was far from it. An anchor-shaped pendant in the kit had nearly double the legal limit for lead and the necklace clasp tested at 150 times the limit. When confronted with the facts, the store owner immediately trashed the remaining jewelery kits that were still on display. As an independent store owner, he says he can't afford to have everything he sells tested and says that job belongs to the government. Dangerous products should never be allowed into the country but, evidently, our so-called safeguards have more play in them than a swinging door.

Listen up, girls! Not everything you buy to help you look your best has to cost a lot. Here are some exceptional finds that only cost a buck each.

1. A large emery board at Wal-mart costs .97 cents. At the dollar store, you get a pack of two the same size for $1.

2. The manicure set I saw at Wal-mart came in a travel case and included a nail file, tweezers, fingernail clippers and cuticle scissors. The price? $7.97. For $6.97 less, you can have a manicure set that includes tweezers, both toenail and fingernail clippers and cuticle scissors. No case included but is a case worth all that extra cash?