DIY Grocery Store for Under $5

Make your own grocery store for under $5 and in less than 30 minutes!  Here's how:

A while ago, I bought these wire stacking bins from the Dollar Store.  I "needed" them for something, which then didn't work out.  Since then, they've floated from room to room in search of a purpose.  As I was cleaning up my kids' play room today, I was thinking about how fun it would be to add shelves and make a grocery store for them.  Since I don't have any money to spend on this sort of thing right now, I went on a hunt around my house for something that would work...and I stumbled upon these wire bins again.  Perfect! 

Now, since these bins were made for stacking, they have these little hooks sticking out in the back (see above pic).  Obviously, those would make it impossible to hang, so, since they are made of wire, I just bent them in and away from the wall.

In the pic above, you can see how I bent the clips to the inside.

Next I had to figure out a way to hang them with what I had on hand.  I had screws, but they really didn't hold the buckets up well.  So, since my girls (like most) love ribbon, I used ribbon to help hold them in place.  Starting at the top, I put the screw into the wall, with the ribbon in between (see above).

Then, I wrapped the ribbon around the corner of the basket, and then placed the basket corner on top of the screw (the above pic shows me wrapping it, but it's not on the screw yet).

I repeated the process all the way down, pulling the ribbon tight in between each bucket and screw.

Next, I added price tags using paper, a hole punch, and ribbon.  I made these sturdier by "laminating" them with packaging tape :)  Also, the white board you see was one that seemed to float around the playroom without much use.  We put it to use with our store hours!

Here's an up-close photo of the bins.  We left the outside stacking hooks out, which enabled us to hang "grocery" bags!  It's a super easy, frugal, and simple way to add a new dramatic play area to your house!

Now the challenge is just to hunt down all our play food for those bare shelves!

If you already have screws and ribbon on hand, you can make this grocery store using 3 wire baskets from the Dollar Store for only $3!  What a great way to freshen up a space for your kids to play!