4 Dollar Tree Products My 3-Year-Old Can't Live Without

Keep more money in your kid's piggy bank with these cheap buys.

When you have kids, it's fun to sometimes let them splurge a little and buy things they love. Of course, you need to be careful about how much you spend when you do this since the last thing you want to do is end up in credit card debt buying stuff for your children. 

Fortunately for me, one of my three-year-old's favorite places to shop is the Dollar Tree. And with items there costing only $1.25, it's really easy to let him indulge his whims a bit. 

When we visit the Dollar Tree, though, I've noticed that he keeps gravitating to the same items again and again. In particular, there are four Dollar Tree products he absolutely adores and couldn't live without. 

1. Block kits 

The Dollar Tree has a pretty big selection of kits that allow you to build things. There are tons of block kits, and the blocks in them are interchangeable with the name-brand ones that we buy at other stores. In the recent past, we've purchased block kits to build both dinosaurs and fire trucks. 

There are also garbage truck building kits that come with their own screwdriver to assemble the parts, as well as tons of play dough building kits as well. These can entertain him for hours, all for the price of $1.25. And when he's done building, he gets the fun of getting to play with the finished item. 

2. Balloons

Balloons are surprisingly entertaining for children and the Dollar Tree has a huge selection of them. There are, of course, helium balloons on display in front of the store -- or you can pick a balloon on the wall to fill. You can also hit the balloon aisle for tons of other fun ones, including water balloons and confetti balloons you can blow up. We spend endless hours batting these balloons back and forth, and my son has been practicing blowing them up himself. 

3. Glow sticks

The Dollar Tree has a vast selection of glow products, including classic glow sticks, necklaces, and bracelets. There are also glow eyeglasses, glow balls and glow frisbees. We love to take these camping for nighttime hayrides, but they are also endless fun at home in the backyard or to use as night lights. 

4. Squirt guns

Squirt guns are another great thing to buy at the Dollar Tree. They have both large and small squirt guns that you fill just by sticking them in the water and pulling them back -- no need to unscrew a chamber to fill with water, which requires help from a grown-up. 

We have a pile of the Dollar Tree squirt guns by our pool at home and we bring these on trips as well. They've proved to be a great way for my son to find little playmates at campgrounds and hotel pools because they are big and colorful and all the kids want to come over and play. 

These are just four of many items we buy at Dollar Tree, but they are my son's undeniable favorites and if you have kids, your own children may love them as well.