Have you ever walked into a store the day after Christmas or New Years and found a ton of craft supplies for sale? Yup. It happens every single holiday. But few people ever really take advantage of these sales.
There’s a secret here that you’re missing when it comes to bulking up your craft supply stash and it’s found in the holiday clearance aisle.
A lot of people never look at the Clearance aisles because they’ve already put away their decorations for the holiday or simply because they don’t see the potential.
Here’s the trick to getting the best deals from the holiday clearance aisles: Look for the basics.
It seems simple right? And it is! But most people zoom down the aisle looking at the huge items such as the 12 foot inflatable that’s now marked down to $60 and miss the small items such as the bottle of red glitter that’s now marked down to under a dollar.
Here’s how it works: If a product has the holiday label on it, no matter what the product is, it will get marked down to the holiday clearance prices – usually about 75% the day after that holiday.
Many times craft stores and box stores will create huge lines of seasonal products that will still contain basic
Rather than thinking about buying a decoration or something else that you would have to store until the holiday rolls around again, look for items that you can use in the coming months.
Here’s a few items that I always keep my eye out for on holiday clearance aisles.
Glitter
I know this might shock you but I go through a ton of glitter. Between myself and my three girls, anytime I find glitter on sale I
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Ribbon
There’s always a ton of extra ribbon on the holiday clearance aisles. It’s all sizes, all lengths and all colors.
Grab red or red & white mix to use for Valentines, Green (even darker shades) for spring wreaths, burlap or gingham ribbon to use with Easter decorations. Red and white for 4th of July crafts. There’s so many great uses for ribbon and right now is a great time for amazing deals!
Paint
Yes! you can find plain colored paint on the clearance aisle after a holiday! Most of the time I only find glitter paint (or glitter glue) following Christmas but after spring or Easter, I always find bright colored paints that are great to use with a variety of craft projects.
Grab up those tubes of paint and add them to your crafting stash!
Sprinkles
This is not a joke! Holiday sprinkles are a thing and as long as you leave them sealed, they will stay good for awhile. Think about other ways you can use them and stock up now!
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Grab the red, white and green sprinkles that are on clearance right now. Use the green for Easter baking and the red and white for 4th of July.
Kids Craft Kits
If you have kids then you know that having a few craft kits on hand can be life saving on sick days or bad weather days. Believe it or not, most holiday craft kits will have options that have nothing to do with the actual holiday or just barely allude to it.
Look for the kits that don’t scream “christmas” or “Easter” and grab a few of those. If you look through the options, you will find ones that would work during any time of the year.
You can also hack some to fit during other holidays. Red and white beaded candy canes can be turned into red and white beaded hearts for Valentine’s Day. Glue a small flower onto a DIY Stuffed animal kit to make it spring appropriate. The ideas are endless.
Fake Flowers
Fake flowers are some of the products most labeled with seasonal tags that will be heavily discounted after the holidays.
In the past I found huge fake sunflowers following Thanksgiving for $.10 each that I was able to use in a spring wreath. Think ahead to what colors you might want to use in the future in floral arrangements and wreaths, and scoop them up!
Some fake flowers just can’t be used for many other purposes, such as fake red poinsettias, but so many others ones can be used anytime of year!
Other items you might want to watch for on holiday clearance:
- plastic chargers
- blank items you can decorate with vinyl
- Craft kits that might have 1 or 2 items you regularly use in them
- beads / jewelry supplies
- decorate pots / baskets
- glue
- Glass items such as vases or ornaments
The key to saving a ton of money while holiday clearance shopping isn’t just to spend, spend, spend. Try to focus on finding items that you know you will use in the future or replacing older items (such as paint) that are getting a little older in your stock.
Get out there and conquer the holiday sales! And if you come across an amazing bounty, let me know!
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