Craft supplies available in our neck of SE Asia

I thought it might be nice to include of things I HAVE been able to find here that we have had a LOT of fun with. At first, I kind of thought craft materials were a thing of America...what a small picture of the world I had! I had no idea the fun that I could find with the sewing section of our local market. So, I wanted to share what we DO have, so that if you are planning a move from America, you know what NOT to waste luggage space on!
At our office supply store (NOT major names...just our local supply store!):
-scissors
-glue sticks and water-based glue
-white paper
-colored paper (not like construction paper from home, but it works)
-card stock in several (but not all) colors
-rulers
-stencils
-colored pencils
-wax crayons (though I have found few as good as Crayola, so sometimes I put Crayola crayons on wish lists from home)
-oil pastels
-colored markers
-water color paints
-pencils, pencil sharpeners, and erasers
-rubber bands
-staplers and colored staples
-manilla folders of many colors
-plastic briefcase type boxes...great for storing supplies and puzzles
-drawing pads
-binding tape...I call it this because copy shops use this to bind copied books. The texture and durability, however, remind me of Duck tape! This tape comes in a variety of colors and widths and we use it for all kinds of things.
-scotch tape
-masking tape
-hole puncher


AT THE MARKET DOWNTOWN:
-posterboard (not in our regular sheet sizes, but you can cut it down and make lots with it)
-large sheets of brown paper (like using brown paper sacks from the grocery store)
-manila-type drawing paper
I mentioned this separately because we have a street downtown that we call the "paper street." Mostly, on this street shops print up things like wedding invitations or business cards. But the shops that stock paper have lots of BIG sizes of paper, cheap, that we have used LOTS for our SS projects.

AT THE SEWING SECTION OF THE MARKET:
-fabric glue
-all kinds of fun prints of cotton fabric, including some seasonal designs
-selections of satin and eyelet fabrics
-sequins of all shapes and sizes, including shapes like stars, seashells, and butterflies
-ric rac
-sequined ribbon
-varieties of ribbon, including some embroidered designs, sheer ribbons, and satin varieties
-sewing embellishments, like small hand-made flower designs
-lace
-yarn
-buttons...mostly decorative shapes
-tulle

ITEMS FROM THE MARKET/GROCERY STORE THAT WE CAN/HAVE USED FOR CRAFTS:
-styrofoam take-away containers (much like Chinese take-out boxes we used in the states)
-paper cups
-small plastic cups
-paper plates
-market sacks...these plastic sacks are made of cellophane and do not close at the top. They are available in local markets in all kinds of sizes, and we use them ALL the time, especially for wrapping gifts or preparing SS prizes.
-rubber bands
-Barbecue/grilling sticks...we use these often in place of tongue depressors for crafts that call for tongue depressors
-cotton balls
-wrapping paper
-string
-bamboo rods...we have used the thinnest we can find for projects as big as a play fishing pole or as small as kite supports...we just cut them down to the size we need
-fake flowers
-small dried beans (we have used these as fillers for bean bags or home-made musical instruments)
-macaroni/some sort of pasta is usually available
-plastic hangers...wire available at some markets
-plant seeds
-aluminum foil
-plastic wrap
-flour
-toilet paper

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS THAT WE SAVE FOR CRAFTS:
-hangers
-cereal and cracker boxes...we constantly reuse the thin cardboard
-egg cartons (must be washed)
-styrofoam fruit trays
-toilet paper rolls
-paper towel rolls

As you can see, this is QUITE a selection to start off with! There are LOTS of things that can be done with these supplies only.
We live in a country against which the U.S. has trade sanctions. So, these sanctions limit the availability/flow of imported products. Most surrounding countries I have visited carry most of these types of products and/or more. I feel pretty safe in assuming that most countries in the third world, at least in the capital city if you have access to it, will have most of these items. So, hopefully this list could be helpful for a mom preparing to move young kids to the third world. One of my biggest lessons in our first few years here was LEARN YOUR LOCAL MARKETS. This was esp. helpful after we had a major natural disaster...most "bigger" stores were closed, but there will usually be a local market open or someone selling something somewhere. It helps SO IMMENSELY to know these markets, enjoy the things that can be found there, and take advantage of the better prices that most of them have!