I feel the same way as disneysteve regarding food from dollar stores. I'm not confident of them. I do try to remember the dollar stores when I need something like a single use paint brush, wool felts for under the chair legs, packaging tape, wire and nails to hang a picture, refrigerator magnets...um...all the stuff that normally lives in my kitchen junk drawer.
I used to find CDs of music from other countries. DH found some good recordings of symphonies of various smaller cities around western Europe. Oh and I think there are even some good kids' toys.