It’s that time of year again! When all the fun spooky items start to show up in the Dollar Store and you start thinking about costumes! I love fall because the weather changes and the bugs leave but I adore Halloween because of its whimsical and fun nature. It’s the one time of year that you can be anything you want and no one can say a thing about it! Plus these DIY Dollar Tree Halloween projects are an absolute blast to make! Check out last years projects, a Spooky Halloween wreath, and a Spider Vase!
The project was made up entirely on the spot in the store when I found the skeletal birds. Normally I have an idea to work with before going but that all flew out the window for this bird (ha! see what I did there?). They also had skeletal rats and bats if those are more your style! In terms of difficulty, this one’s pretty easy though it does require a hot glue gun so you might have to help younger kids. Setting up the cage is the hardest part. Once you have three of the bone bar’s glued on your golden so give it a try and have some Halloween fun!
DIY Dollar Tree Halloween – The Spooky Birdcage
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Spooky Birdcage Supply List
From Home
- Glue Gun
- Glue Sticks
- Scissors
From The Dollar Tree
- 1 Skeletal Animal (Bats, Birds, and Rats at my store)
- 1 Package Plastic Eye Balls (for eggs! Omit if you’re doing Rats or Bats)
- 2 Plastic Serving Bowls
- 1 Package Black Shrouding
- 4 Packages of Skeletal Arm Tongs
- 1 Plastic Handcuffs
DIY Dollar Tree Halloween Spooky Birdcage – Instructions
Start creating your spooky birdcage by using the hot glue gun to attach your first two skeletal bars. Place dabs of hot glue on the fingertips and press them firmly onto the sides of your bowl. This is by far the trickiest step since there is no support to help you out. You will need to hold each hand until the glue fully steps to keep it from sliding out of position and try your very best to line them up so they are even with one another. Be generous with your glue as these bars will support the entire cage!
Repeat the steps above with two more skeletal hands so that you have a set of four support bars. Try your best to evenly space them out and you attach them at the same height so that your cage will sit evenly! Once your glue has set you can slip your second bowl into the bottom and use the ends of your bone hands to hold up the top of the cage above the bottom bowl. Be gentle when fitting the bone ends around the bottom bowl so that you don’t dislodge your fingers. If your glue does fail, don’t worry! Just use some fresh glue to stick it back on!
Set aside your ‘cage’ for now. Be careful moving it out of the way since the top and bottom are not yet attached to one another! If you are using skeletal birds and plan on adding eggs then take three of the plastic eyeballs and glue them together. While you can just place them in I found glueing them together kept the eyes from rolling around to much and allowed for the creepy eye effect to be seen. If you are using the bats or the rats then skip this step!
Take your black shrouding, unfold it and cut it in half. place one half in the bottom bowl as ‘nesting’, add your eggs if you’re using them and your skeletal creature. Now that your cage is standing and your creatures are in place fill in some of the gaps by gluing on more skeletal hands. I left a bigger gap at the front so that I could change out the creature next year if I feel like it but feel free to close yours in entirely if you want! Once you’re happy with the number of bars on your cage use a bit of glue to secure your bone arms to the edge of the bottom bowl to attach the top of your cage to the bottom.
Once your glue has dried take the second part of your black shroud and drape it over the top of your birdcage, leave a bit open at the front so that you can see in but even skeletal momma birds need their privacy! Pull apart a bit of shrouding on the top so that you can attach your ‘chain’
Take your plastic handcuffs and pull the last link on one side apart so that you can remove one of the ‘cuffs’. Mine pulled apart very easily but feel free to cut it off if you need too! Use your hot glue gun to attach this link to the top of your cage through the hole in your shrouding. Feel free to add battery-powered tea lights or some fake cob webbing if you feel like it and enjoy your new spooky pet! The kids named our’s Bones.
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We rarely decorate for Halloween but that being said, this is my kind of decoration! I love seeing all the animal skeleton decorations out there and this is a perfect way to showcase one.
My kids loved it too, Especially my oldest because she loves birds. I think in general we like the animal-related decorations more than anything else around here as well.
Quick DIYs like this are great, so effective! October is my favourite time of year and I absolutely love decorating for Halloween. Thank you for sharing 😊
Halloween is probably my favorite holiday in general. I love figuring out the costumes and having fun with the spooky decorations!
Same here, spooky decorations and dressing up is the highlight of my year! 🎃
I look forward to Halloween all year long! Sadly it’s not as popular where we live now as it was where I was a kid but I still have fun with it!