Hi, as the title states I’ve been trying to find affordable craft supplies. I unfortunately did use temu about a year ago back before the tariffs specifically for creative/unique beads/charm that i cant find anywhere else for the same price. Like nice themed beads of all kinds for any event, in any color or material.
I host little jewelry/craft workshops for kids that i dont really make money off of its just a community thing i started doing at this childcare thing my mom works at.
I dont want to support temu, and it doesnt make sense anyways since now its the same price as anywhere I can go locally. But michaels can be pretty pricey, especially in comparison.
Does anyone know where I can find stuff like this?
Affordable Bulk Craft Supplies (replacement for temu)
byu/Agitated-Telephone62 inFrugal
Posted by Agitated-Telephone62
4 Comments
Dollar Tree has surprisingly good craft sections now, and everything’s still $1.25.
AliExpress might work – it’s like Temu but been around longer. Shipping takes forever though.
For bulk beads specifically, try wholesale craft sites like Fire Mountain Gems or Artbeads.com. Better quality than Temu and not much more expensive when you buy in bulk.
Walmart’s craft section is way cheaper than Michaels for basic supplies too.
What kind of beads are you looking for? Quality wise?
Fire Mountain Gems is a great source, but probably not recommended for kids.
Thrift stores and garage sales. Older generations are downsizing their craft supplies so the used markets are loaded.
Ask for broken jewelry to take apart.
thrifting is amazing, and gets stuff out of the waste stream. If you’re lucky, you may be able to find a crafts-specific thrift store in your area, like Scrap PDX in the Portland area. Even regular thrift stores often have a bit of a crafts/sewing section and cheap old jewelry. Secondhand chains like Goodwill can be pretty terrible these days, but smaller local shops are often still great. I find that the ones associated with animal rescue organizations are consistently good in my region, though of course your mileage may vary.
I’ve also had fantastic luck picking up downsized crafts stuff at garage sales. Old costume jewelry is easy to take apart into a lot of beads, old clothes are easy to take apart into great fabrics, etc.
Try posting on craigslist or facebook groups in your area asking if anyone has extra supplies they want to get rid of. There’s a whole demographic of older crafters who can afford to upgrade to nicer materials and would love an excuse to find a good home for stuff that’s not top quality but still far too good to throw away.
My electrical cooperative sends a quarterly magazine to all its members and the classified ads section often has people asking for extra fabric or beads or whatever, and based on the thank-you posts in the same section it seems like they get a pretty good response.
If there are any businesses in your area that do estate sales, consider asking them as well. They might encounter craft stashes that aren’t up to their standards to resell, but which you could put a bit of time into organizing and get perfectly good components from.
Keep an eye out for zippered pillowcases or mesh bags. Hard goods can be cleaned in a mesh bag in the dishwasher; soft goods can be cleaned in a zippered pillowcase or mesh bag in the washing machine. If you have a dishwasher and washing machine at home or know someone who’d let you use theirs for the cause, it’s almost free to sanitize secondhand stuff well enough that it wouldn’t be gross to let kiddos play with it.
Are there any makerspaces near you? Ask them about what they’re throwing out — if people are making crafty things and discarding imperfect attempts, you might be able to upcycle some of their 3D print or laser cut “fails” into fun and unique materials for kids to decorate and use. If people are printing with pretty colors of 3D printer filament but getting print fails, you can bake those in the oven to get pretty sheets of plastic for crafting with.