Dollar Tree VBS Decor - Weird Animals

This year our church's VBS theme is Weird Animals.

Weird Animals VBS from Group Publishing

I've done a couple different jobs in the past, but this year, I am on the decorating crew.
Which is awesome, because I don't have to deal with kids or parents
I can use my creative side to make a magical wonderland that kids will love
I am super awesome at drawing and painting and building things
well, it's awesome because the theme is very broad and I think as long as it's colorful and contains lots of animals and jungle themed flora, the kids will like it.

I thought I would post some of the things I've made because they are easy and cheap.  Some of the things I've seen on Pinterest are quite complicated and out of my league in terms of time, money, and ability.  If you have stumbled upon this post looking for decorating ideas, I feel your pain  hope this is helpful.

I have made approximately 14 trips to Dollar Tree and spent several hours on Pinterest looking for ideas that I think I can actually pull off.

So here's what I've come up with:

Plunger wrapped in duct tape, bottom covered in tissue paper, tissue paper flower on top.

Vines made out of pool noodles.  Cut in spirals, can be used for coral or vines.  $1 for one pool noodle, makes about 2 vines.  Group says it can make 3, but with the dollar tree noodles, I found that making 3 out of 1 made them too thin & flimsy.  There is a tutorial video on Group's website that shows how to make these.  Basically, you cut a swirly line and then another swirly line and then pull apart the pieces.   

Giant Flower from Dollar Tree Kickboards, Pool Noodle & Balloon
$6 - only made one...too expensive to make more & hard to stand up because of weight.  Shown here with a balloon center, but the balloon popped so we ended up using a tissue paper flower.

Tissue Paper Flower
$.50 each.  20 sheets of tissue paper per pack at Dollar Tree. 10 sheets per flower.
I googled how to make them....you can do it, it's easy.

Dollar Tree Plunger, Pool Noodle & Tissue Paper Flower
$2.50

Set for front of stage. $7.50
$2.50 for tall flower
$2 for 2 pieces of green posterboard
$2 for 2 pieces of pink posterboard
$1 for pool noodle vine/mini tissue flowers
Mounted to free cardboard apple boxes

Dollar Tree insects hung above steps with fishing line.
Pool noodle "weird" grass along steps.

Tissue paper flowers
Green door toppers from Dollar Tree

Dollar tree monkeys hanging from Dollar Tree Leis (6 for $1) on the chandeliers in the foyer.
Flower spiral hanging thing from Dollar Tree

Palm tree made from carpet tube (free), posterboard, and paper bags.
Flower made from Dollar Tree foam kick boards with tissue paper flower center.
Hard to see, but Dollar Tree snakes are wrapped around trunk.
Cardboard Baobab tree from group.  Butterfly leftover from Sky VBS, originally purchased at Ross.

Covered Bulletin Boards/Hallway with Dollar Tree Tablecloths, Dollar Tree Poster Pack, and Dollar Tree Animal Cut-Outs.

Giant Posters from Group taped to foam board.

Hallway with hanging squishy "weird animals" 

Hallway covered in Dollar Tree Tablecloths with blow up Dollar Tree Sea Creatures.

Dollar Tree Grass Skirts with Dollar Tree Monkeys & Leis - used command hooks to attach.  This looked way cuter in person.  I'm a terrible photographer plus these were taken with my phone.

Main stage using fabric backdrop from Group.
Added tissue paper flowers & painted foam trees with poster board leaves.

Superfrykid at VBS