Dollar Store Minute to Win It

Our Minute to Win It Family Fun Night was so memorable that I planned another one. This time, I chose to use items from the dollar store to keep within a tight budget. I spent less than $15 for all the supplies.

For the decorations, I used our printable Minute to Win It kit which has full instructions for all of the games as well as all the games we played in our original Minute to Win It family fun night.

 

The supplies I bought from the dollar store:

• 2 boxes of Kleenex
• 1 pack of plastic cups
• 1 pack of ping pong balls
• 2 pairs of panty hose
• 1 box of chocolate cookies
• cereal box
• 1 pack of tennis balls

Minute to Win It Games:

Puddle Jumper.

Supplies needed:

• 3 plastic cups (the Red Solo ones work well)
• ping pong ball
• water

To set up for this game, fill three cups with water and line them up, setting a ping pong ball into the first one. The goal of this game is to blow the ping pong ball from one water-filled cup to the next.

Chocolate Unicorn.

Supplied needed:

• chocolate cookies or Oreo cookies

All that’s needed for this game are chocolate cookies. Each player gets 10 cookies with the goal of stacking them on their forehead. The resulting stack must remain in place for 3 seconds.

Ponginator.

Supplies needed:

• empty egg carton
• ping pong balls

For this game, you will need an empty egg carton and ping pong balls. The goal is to bounce ping pong balls so that 8 of them land in the egg carton within one minute.

Hanky Panky.

Supplies needed:

• one tissue box for each player participating

This was hilarious to watch! It is more fun as a head-to-head challenge. Each person must sit with one hand behind their back. They must empty all the tissues out of the Kleenex box using only one hand as quickly as they can (if head to head) or within one minute.

Ball Drop.

Supplies needed:

• 3 ping pong balls
• plastic cup
• chair to stand on

Land three ping pong balls in a single cup while standing on a chair. The trick is to not have the balls bounce out or knock the cup over.

Breakfast Scramble.

Supplies needed:

• cereal box cut into pieces

To set up for this game, you will need to cut the front of a cereal box into pieces. Depending on the size of the cereal box and the age of the people participating in your Minute to Win It challenge, you can either cut the box in 8 or 16 pieces. The goal of the game is to reassemble the puzzle within a minute.

Elephant March.

Supplies needed:

• pantyhose
• one or two tennis balls
• 8 plastic cups

To prepare for this game, put a tennis ball in the end of a pair of panty hose or put a tennis ball in each leg of a pair of panty hose. Set 8 cups up on the floor to create a walkway. To play, the player must put the panty hose on their head and knock over all the cups by swinging their head from side to side. This is a pretty funny one!

A note to all the moms out there: maybe you saw this and it just made you feel guilty because it’s one more thing you aren’t doing with your kids. I see you because often, I am you. I don’t want to have the parties or plan crafts or activities to do with the kids unless I have everything I need and can do it nearly perfectly. So years go by while I have the intention of planning a certain activity with my kids and it just doesn’t happen because I’m not organized enough.

This particular Minute to Win It night is a prime example. After our last one was such a success with the kids, I wrote out a plan for this one, every game written out. And my plan sat there for more than a year. One time, I even got a list for the dollar store written out, but then I realized I didn’t have time to bake and decorate a cake and make special food, so again, it didn’t happen. My kids got older, a full year older as my plan got dusty and my guilt grew.

The other day, I decided that we were going to do this but not perfectly. I wasn’t going to wait until my adult kids could get time off work and join us. I wasn’t going to plan any special food or decorate a cake. We were just going to have fun together and build memories.

Your kids get one childhood. You don’t have to make it magical, but you can make it memorable.

Sign up for a free copy of our Minute to Win It Build Edition challenge cards. These are fun, easy games to play as a family or group. All you need is the printed cards and building blocks such as LEGO.

You can read more about our printable Minute to Win It party kit here. The supplies you purchased at the dollar store for these Dollar Store Minute to Win It games can be used to recreate almost all of the games from our Family Fun Night Minute to Win It Challenge.

The Flour Game is also tons of fun for the family!

For the holidays, try the Minute to Win It Christmas Edition games. So much fun!