# Dollar Tree / Big Lots 2011 items



## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

As I posted in another thread, Big Lots has their garden fencing out too.

http://www.biglots.com/search/product/2991
http://www.biglots.com/search/product/2992
http://www.biglots.com/search/product/2990

There were more choices in the store, my store had some white picket fencing too, and all would work either alone as they are (though some are a little more flimsy than others) or as fence toppers over pvc or wood or whatever. All were priced from $4-$8 in store.

I bought the last one in the pic & hope to paint it & add some pvc to make it taller though if I don't it would still work as a decent fence to keep some from tracking through a graveyard.


----------



## MrNightmare (Mar 2, 2009)

Thanks for the heads up!


----------



## obsessedjack (Sep 3, 2010)

Those are neat. Those pedestals could be painted black and you could put anything you wanted on top. Those are neat. I wanted to get some of those fences last year. Hopefully I'll get some this year.lol. Nice finds guys.


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

If anyone is looking for large "alien" or creature eggs, DOLLAR TREE has these Jumbo 7-3/4-inch Plastic Eggs back in stock. I bought a few of them last year. You can use plastic spray paint to easily change the color on the bottom half, and the top being a clear transparent is useful if you want to give the egg a glow from inside--plenty of room in the interior for adding some kind of lighting too. I think others here have used the eggs for giant alien eyes as well.


----------



## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

obsessedjack said:


> I wanted to get some of those fences last year. Hopefully I'll get some this year.lol. Nice finds guys.


That's what I thought last year too & then thought "Oh I'll wait until they're on sale at the end of spring/summer" but by then they were GONE!!

I promised that wouldn't happen to me this year. They all went quickly at my Big Lots last year. I don't find them attractive as actual garden fencing, not my tastes, but they're perfect for altering for Halloween.

The two boxes I bought are still sitting on my carport, waiting for a good weekend & motivation!!


----------



## IshWitch (May 19, 2006)

RCIAG said:


> As I posted in another thread, Big Lots has their garden fencing out too.
> 
> http://www.biglots.com/search/product/2991
> http://www.biglots.com/search/product/2992
> ...


The bottom one would be my choice, too. 
I bought a bunch of this garden fencing
http://www.biglots.com/search/product/2990
about 4 yrs ago and have used it, but it is short and since it is black had ToTs tripping over it. I plan on topping some pvc fence with it. 
I figure at 10 feet lengths I would just cut five 2 foot pieces with the fencing adding about another foot. That should be tall enough to keep them out of the scenes but not too tall for the little ones. 
My backyard is 120ft long so I need alot!


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

IshWitch I bought some of the same black Village Green spiked fencing that you did. It had the biggest bang for the buck giving your the most length for the price. I too had a long section of fencing to do so cost was a consideration even though I think I was able to pick it up during one of their summer sales or end of season sales. I really liked the black texture and the spike in the design. I haven't done my fence project yet but my plan is to saw off the curved upside down U-shaped part leaving the spiked parts sticking up. My plan will be to add a lower part of the fence using wood and PVC pipe.


----------



## ter_ran (Jan 14, 2006)

*Neat items with true potential! Thanks for sharing GOS!*


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

*New Items seen in my Dollar Tree store*

Haven't been online in a while but here's a few items I picked up from my DOLLAR TREE store for my haunt yesterday. Pretty nice costume accessories for my skeleton and other props for a buck.

Medieval costume accessory, arm plates, will go nicely with the breast plate and helmet already purchased from Dollar Tree. 










This cowgirl hat came in several colors, figure black and brown would be the natural picks here. Made of a foam material but feels more like a felt is very lightweight. Can always embellish too with a hat band and skeleton head or something like that.










Found these battery-operated grenades in camo, olive green and silver in the toy section. Plan to use in one of my zombie scenes along with my military props. I saw these or something like them in the halloween stores last year and they ran a few dollars more, so again a good deal if you need a prop like this.










I have one more find to post but still need to upload the photo. It's of a package of Snake Eggs (yes, the famous gag one) that I'm thinking of giving out as a prize during one of my snake-themed carnival or jungle-themed haunts. I'll post photo shortly.

Here's the photo. The snake eggs can be reset for reuse, so an item that keeps on giving. hehe










If you've never heard of Snake Eggs here's one of the many YouTube videos of them in action:







Oh and thought I should mention that the Knight arm plates are sold as a pair.


----------



## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

Big lots have the wagon wheels.


----------



## Eyegore (Aug 23, 2008)

It's amazing how much potential Dollar Tree has...that's why I'm offering the $10 prop challenge. For 10 buck and some imagination Dollar Tree's a haunter's paradise!


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

Found the $10 challenge thread, Eyegore, sounds like fun. Here's the link everyone to the Challenge.

BTW my local DOLLAR TREE has pool noodles back in stock.


----------



## kittyvibe (Oct 27, 2008)

thanks for the info on the armor GOS. I didnt see those in mine a week or so back, so I hope we got those in too. 

I saw they had the pool noodles then though, Ive never bought them at the dollar tree before, are they $1 each or 2 for $1?


----------



## Eyegore (Aug 23, 2008)

Ghost of Spookie said:


> Found the $10 challenge thread, Eyegore, sounds like fun. Here's the link everyone to the Challenge.
> 
> BTW my local DOLLAR TREE has pool noodles back in stock.


yep my store just got the noodles too! You can build many a prop with those things! carve little totems, foam props, archs, tons of ideas.


----------



## ondeko (Oct 14, 2008)

RCIAG said:


> That's what I thought last year too & then thought "Oh I'll wait until they're on sale at the end of spring/summer" but by then they were GONE!!
> 
> I promised that wouldn't happen to me this year. They all went quickly at my Big Lots last year. I don't find them attractive as actual garden fencing, not my tastes, but they're perfect for altering for Halloween.
> 
> The two boxes I bought are still sitting on my carport, waiting for a good weekend & motivation!!


I don't alter them. I use them to mark grave plots. It means I can get away with as few as 3 panels.


----------



## The Real Joker (Sep 8, 2008)

LOL I remember those Rattlesnake eggs.

They're a riot


----------



## Spooky_Girl1980 (Jul 12, 2010)

Dollar General has Pool Noodles in to. They have them for a $1 and bigger ones for $2.


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

kittyvibe said:


> thanks for the info on the armor GOS. I didnt see those in mine a week or so back, so I hope we got those in too.
> 
> I* saw they had the pool noodles then though, Ive never bought them at the dollar tree before, are they $1 each or 2 for $1?*




@@kittyvibe, the pool noodles are priced individually, so $1 each. The Knight's Arm Plates were packaged as a pair.


----------



## maranda3711 (Oct 19, 2008)

The Dollar Tree near my work has the fake fruit. I am thinking maybe getting some and making some sort of a prop for the party I am planning.


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

*Findings at Dollar Tree this May*

Went into DOLLAR TREE today to look for a ribbon for a gift, and saw a few items that had some halloween potential:


On the small size (didn't have measuring tape to get dimensions) but these pink flamingos would make great baby Skel-a-mingos. Label says "Jumbo Flamingo" but compared to the ones I've seen in places like Walgreens, Home Depot, etc. they are more "young" bird-like.











Pool noodles are back in stock in volume with a new color, a pale golden shade, more bone like I thought.











I liked these handcuffs with keys. I'm thinking as a carnival magician prop accessory, captured zombie restraints, caged monsters, etc.











Also noticed that the adult rafia hula skirts were back this year (long rafia strips for various projects), tropical plant leaves, fish netting in natural and in green, and I know there were a few other things that I didn't snap a picture of but saw possibilities in.


----------



## kittyvibe (Oct 27, 2008)

I bought a flamingo last friday so I can make myself the same flamingos as my avatar.  Im not gonna pay a crazy price for em' so Im going to try my hand making my own 

I also bought alot of the luau stuff for my pirates scene. Green and natural colored fishnets, metallic palm tree hangings(taking off the gold dangly parts), green "grass" skirts are plastic but using to cover walls and dangle from ceiling. Im thinking of getting more of the rafia ones and coloring them somehow to hang in the entryways. A bit more durable than the plastic ones. All from the Dollar Tree


----------



## Spider Rider (Nov 3, 2006)

Big Lots garden fence is what I used for the top of my cemetery columns. I lucked out and got a bunch on clearance 2 years ago. I guess New Orleans is not a popular garden look in Sacramento.


----------



## Eyegore (Aug 23, 2008)

I bought a few of the small flamingos stakes, I might try an convert them into a vulture. At least, thats the plan.


----------



## NOWHINING (Jul 25, 2009)

i BROUGHT A COUPLE OF THE FLAMINGOS TOO!! GREAT MINDS THINKS ALIKE! LOL!!


----------



## BlueFrog (Oct 20, 2009)

maranda3711 said:


> The Dollar Tree near my work has the fake fruit. I am thinking maybe getting some and making some sort of a prop for the party I am planning.


I believe I am the fake fruit queen of the board, and speaking in that capacity, I encourage you to go for it! Paint bruises and rot on them, stick fake razorblades in the apples, mix them with severed limbs - the possibilities are endless


----------



## CobhamManor (Aug 5, 2010)

Ha ha nice fruit BlueFrog!
Every time I pass the Big Lots fencing, I imagine how it would look at Halloween, and a few years ago, I bought tons of the black plastic kind they used to have. I definitely need to get to Dollar Tree to pick up some flamingos! Also, those Big Lots pedestals would work great for the busts I'll be doing this year!
Great finds! Dollar Tree is always the place to go!


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

I headed into DOLLAR TREE for some of the fish netting today and walked out with a bunch more than netting. Picked up some of the natural color netting and some of the green netting. Thought the green might blend better with foliage and the natural I might use for my pirates scene or maybe spray some of it black to use as an "invisible" covering overhead to support my tunnel roof material.

I bought some giant squishy flies (maybe 2-3 inches long) that will go into a lab jar; and two clear balls with pinkish-red liquid and a floating bloodshot eyeball (it's suppose to flash until the battery wears out but I don't really care about the light). Picked up a 2-pk of black and gold trimmed pirate telescopes that are party favors. Nice size and they extend. Wanted one for my pirate in the crows nest. A bunch of faux foliage (greenery and some ferns). They must have recently stocked the floral area because there was a nice selection of everything. I noticed they had plenty of tropical orchids and greenery and hibiscus vines in different colors (not as nice as Big Lots! hibiscus but those were $5) in case you guys are doing a jungle scene. 

I might end up incorporating a game or two into my carnival haunt so I decided to pick up these 3-1/2 inch diameter soft "baseballs" for a tossing game. They have red printed stitching on them that I might paint over with a glow in the dark paint. They came 2 to a pack. Also bought a large soft foam pair of dice that were black with white dots. Figured I could paint the dots with GID paint also. 

I've been looking for some silver mylar and saw they had some door covers in metallic colors in mylar (unfortunately didn't see silver). Ended up picking up some silver mylar "tissue" gift wrap sheets instead. Quite a few sheets to the pack. I have this idea of creating a hall of broken mirrors to pass through and wanted a safe way to make hanging broken mirror pieces I could suspend on nylon thread.

Last thing I remember adding to my cart was a black plastic auto maintenance funnel (for adding oil and other car fluids). It's a nice size and has this corrugated tubing at the end which I thought looked kind of cool. Plan on using this for some mad scientist lab device--maybe sending electricity to a severed head in a large jar keeping it alive.

BTW I saw kids costume knight's armor wear in pretty good supply in the toy aisle. Helmets, breast plates, gloves, and shields (no boots which I wish they had).


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

Did anyone pick up any of the solar dancing flowers that DOLLAR TREE has in the stores? Curious what you think of them. I went in looking for them but was told they had sold out in less than 2 weeks but because they sold so well they are going to be getting some more in. I'd like to turn them into dancing skull faced daisies or maybe people-eating plants unless they don't work that well.


I did pick up a few hummingbird feeders at DT that, if you turn them upside down, look exactly like giant glass (well clear plastic) light bulbs with a ceramic (well plastic) base. The plastic "bulb" unscrews from the base and it should be easy to drill a hole through the base to add some strand lighting inside the bulb portion. I'll Krylon spray paint the red bases to another color and dirty up the outside to make it look like an aged, bare bulb ceiling light fixture. May connect a circuit of them them to one of my Lighting FX boxes to have them flicker. I suppose you could also insert a short glow stick if you get one that lasts for a number of hours. The "bulbs fixtures" also would work in a mad lab setting as part of some equipment. 

Speaking of lab equipment, DT has plastic photo frames (made for 3 photos) that might make an interesting panel of dials. The photo portions are round and instead of a flat glass cover they all have domed plastic covers. It should be easy to make a dial area and even animate a rotating indicator needle by going through the back of the frame. Also easy enough to illuminate the dial section too. 

I'll come back this weekend and post pictures of the hummingbird feeder and the photo frame so you can see what I mean.


----------



## theedwin (Sep 25, 2008)

Thanks for the heads up on the pink flamingos! They will drive my roommate nuts!


----------



## NOWHINING (Jul 25, 2009)

need to buy black spray paint for my pink flamingos. Although I have found out where I live they arent selling any yet... But I found mine in Canton, Ohio when I was visiting for the night. I hate that not all DT sells everything at the same time.


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

*BIG LOTS! Fencing on Sale*

Just got my email newsletter with the advanced sales flyer from BIG LOTS! for 6/5-6/11 the other day and it has the Decorative Lawn Fencing on sale for $5 a pack (reg. $6-8, usually 4 to 8 sections per pack depending on the design). In the past, the price has gone back up after this Springtime sale.

For those new to the forum, there are quite a number of HF haunt fences that have been built using the Big Lots fencing (kind of edging really) to top their DIY fences for a more decorative finish. For a photo of the fencing material check out the Big Lots ad for that period, it's on Page 1 at the bottom.

In the past the fencing went on Clearance after Summer (maybe at 50% off _orig. price_, so you'd save a few more dollars per pack) but you run the risk of it being sold out by that time (I remember a few posts from people who said they waited too long) or pushing your fence project to early autumn. Now really isn't a bad time to buy some, especially if you will be building a fence in the next few months.

For newbies here's a few link to fencing built with the BigLots fencing:

Style 1:

Lancekik
make them scream
Mikon

Style 2:

BR1MSTON3

Style 3:

There was another fence I really liked done by Dr Frankenscream (on another board that unfortunately no longer links to his fence photos) that kind of had a New Orleans look using still a different style fence edging from BigLots. His vertical PVC bars were closer together and match the position of each design on the edging. He painted the fence a brownish-black color and highlighted it with a rusty look. Very cool. He is a member here but hasn't posted anything.


update: I did find a link to a Flickr account with some pics from 2009 of the haunt yard Dr Frankenscream did. There are some closeups of the fence style further down the page Here's a link to his photo page.

And if I'm not mistaken someone else used this same BL fence top on their fence. I'm picturing moss and maybe some cobwebs added. No clue who this was though.

I hope to make my fencing this year and bought some Style 1 last year. I plan on cutting off the top hoop on mine and just leaving the spikes. I also have still yet a different style not pictured above to work with.


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

*Big Lots Purchase--Good stuff!*

Stopped by a BIG LOTS! today and found some nice things for my prop building and general halloween stuff.

First, picked up this "dremel-like" tool set to use for my foamboard work. For $10 I'm hoping I will more than get my money out of it even though it's not a Dremel brand one. I've been wanting a Dremel set for tombstone and facade work but there always seems to be something else I need to pick up instead. BTW I'm pretty sure this is a featured item in their flyer this week, along with some other advertised power tools, so it will probably go fast. Here's a picture of the mini drill set:










Also picked up two 25-inch wagon wheels ($16 each) for a carnival/circus wagon holding wild gorillas, an old railroad-looking metal lantern ($7) that I'll hang on the wagon (or use in graveyard setups), an 8 x 4 inch door knocker for use on a haunted house entry door ($5), several floating flower lily pads ($1 each) for my hippo or croc scenes, some drooping faux wisteria bushes for use around my tropical skull island haunt ($4) or at the entrance to a cave, and several DVDs ($3 each)--Poltergeist, House of Wax, Willard, and R.L. Stine's Haunting Hour...well, just for fun!

If you are interested in the BL wagon wheels for your own haunt, check to see that yours comes with the wooden center wheel peg attached to the wheel in the event you want to attach the wheel onto something (like a circus wagon). BTW if you are looking for larger wagon wheels than the 25-inch that Big Lots! carries, I found 31 inch ones at Kmart (and Kmart.com), and on sale right now for $14.99 (no peg included).










Felt it was a good hunting day today.


----------



## Rynnye (Oct 24, 2010)

Ghost of Spookie said:


> Stopped by a BIG LOTS! today and found some nice things for my prop building and general halloween stuff.
> 
> First, picked up this "dremel-like" tool set to use for my foamboard work. For $10 I'm hoping I will more than get my money out of it even though it's not a Dremel brand one. I've been wanting a Dremel set for tombstone and facade work but there always seems to be something else I need to pick up instead. BTW I'm pretty sure this is a featured item in their flyer this week, along with some other advertised power tools, so it will probably go fast. Here's a picture of the mini drill set:
> 
> ...


Wow! What a haul. I'm definitely going to have to be stopping by BL soon. Thanks for the info.


----------



## scaringyou (Oct 31, 2010)

Sorry, late to the thread, but in late May, I went to 5 different dollar stores and found 1 still carrying the solar dancing flowers, so I pick up a few of them. I'm working on swapping the flower out for something... different. I will post a write up on it once I'm done, but if you're lucky you can pick the solar flowers up on ebay for $1-$2 including shipping. They're decent quality, and I wish I'd picked up a few more. Went back last week but they're out.


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

scaringyou said:


> Sorry, late to the thread, but in late May, I went to 5 different dollar stores and found 1 still carrying the solar dancing flowers, so I pick up a few of them. I'm working on swapping the flower out for something... different. I will post a write up on it once I'm done, but if you're lucky you can pick the solar flowers up on ebay for $1-$2 including shipping. They're decent quality, and I wish I'd picked up a few more. Went back last week but they're out.



I'm jealous! I think I was the first one to post about those, maybe in Feb., but only once saw them in my DT, and stupidly thought I'd go back that week and pick some up (short of cash at the time). Forgot about them and when I remembered and checked back told just about as fast as the came in they flew off the shelf. A few weeks ago I checked again and saw on the website that they were sold out online for the season, but the stores were supposedly stocked. Off I went to about 3 different locations and placed phone calls to maybe 4-5 more and poof all gone! Kicking myself for not charging a few when I saw them, although I'm sure there's a min charge amount. Probably could have asked them to hold for me while I went to an ATM. Oh well, maybe next year. The manager told me they were a great sales item for them.

I saw the ones on eBay but don't feel comfortable ordering from China. Others being sold cost more and then shipping gets you in the pocketbook. I think they would have been a cute project, but that's the way it goes sometimes. A cute item with haunt potential for just $1.

What kind of ideas were you thinking of for the ones you got Scaringyou?


----------



## scaringyou (Oct 31, 2010)

Ya, the employee there was more surprised than me that they still had them. He said they normally fly off the shelves, which I found weird because I'd never heard of them carrying them before... The only thing I can think of is that they quickly sold out of their initial stock, and so they reordered some before they completely sold out online. But it took a bit to get them in stock. And by the time they got them, everyone looking for them had already tried and had given up looking. I seriously lucked out finding them...

My idea for them is pretty cool if I do say so myself... I don't want to give too much away until I have things figured out a bit more with the mechanics of it (because I might need to change things around). But I will say it will be completely unrecognizable as being a DT solar flower based prop/toy.


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

I'm intrigued! Hope you will consider taking pics along the way and maybe putting up a PropShowcase or a Tutorial.

BTW welcome to the HF.


----------



## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

*Moving Eyeball/s in 3-D*

I recently came upon this thread about the Moving Eye Portrait and a link to a Giant 3-D moving eyeball that could be made to attach to your window (Dave Lowe's project). It was really cool in that it appears that the eyeball follows you as you move across the window. Well yesterday I was in a DOLLAR TREE and saw these clear acrylic oval bowls that I thought would make great 3-D moving eyes (hey, for a buck each why not a pair of eyes!). They reminded me of giant eye wash cups.


----------



## NOWHINING (Jul 25, 2009)

they makes me think that too. LOL!


----------

