How to Make a Skeleton Tree for Halloween

11 Materials
$50
2 Hours
Medium

This is a great family DIY project that will be an original Halloween decoration at your house! Mix it up! Don't display the same decorations everyone on the street has! Make this and yours will be the star of the neighborhood! Don't forget to turn on the lights at night for an eerie glow! You can see more of my crafts and creations here.

Start with an urn or pot and a tomato cage. I found this urn at Lowe’s. I got a nice discount on it because of the time of year, and it was a bit beat up, which is perfect for Halloween! I filled the bottom of the urn with stones and then added some styrofoam. 

Here is a close up of how the tomato cage fit down over the urn. You can likely find a container at a home super store in the garden center along with your tomato cage so you can see how it will fit on the container. 

The next step might be the most difficult. Any of the rings of the tomato cage above the pot need to be cut off.  I tried a bolt cutter, but it wouldn’t trim it neatly next to the upright wire.

I had much better success by starting with a hacksaw and then using wire cutters for a clean cut.

Dollar Tree skulls are a funky color and I wanted mine to be bright white, so I gave them a coat of Rustoleum white spray paint for plastics. 

Each skull needs to have two holes drilled in them. It doesn’t really matter if you drill them before or after you paint them, however, I did find the drilling tended to scrape off some of the paint. My recommendation would be to drill them first. They will get a hole in the top of their head and one underneath the bottom of the skull.

You will want to drill the holes so the skulls sit at this angle when threaded onto one of the upright wires. I used six skulls on each of the four wires. 

Here you can see how the tree is taking shape. When you have all of the skulls threaded onto the wires, use a pipe cleaner to pull the tops of the wires together, forming a point and secure them. 

Here you can see how the tree is taking shape. When you have all of the skulls threaded onto the wires, use a pipe cleaner to pull the tops of the wires together, forming a point and secure them. 

Here you can see how the tree is taking shape. When you have all of the skulls threaded onto the wires, use a pipe cleaner to pull the tops of the wires together, forming a point and secure them. 

To fill in any extra spaces and hide the base of the tomato cage, I used four packages of this creepy black fabric, also from Dollar Tree.  

The final addition was Spanish moss gathered from local trees! 

Of course, the best part is when it gets dark and the lights come on! Spooky, a little creepy, and a lot of fun, this Skeleton Tree is a great family project for Halloween.

Happy Halloween! I would love to have you stop by my blog,  Celebrate & Decorate for the full tutorial as well as sign up for my latest creations, posts, recipes, exclusives, and more...

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Chloe Crabtree
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  • Kay Cloninger Kirby Kay Cloninger Kirby on Oct 16, 2021

    Great idea what about using fluorescent paint making them light up without lights ... your lights are great this was just a thought

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  • Patty Patty on Oct 17, 2021

    Turned out really cute

  • Daf6434169 Daf6434169 on Oct 30, 2021

    I would try making a tripod from bamboo stakes into the burn. The bottom skulls would rest on the lip of the urn. Add a few creepy plastic bugs. Love your project!

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