The Birds: Halloween Home Tour

The Birds is this years Halloween theme for our Haunted Home Tour.

Every year I like to do a fresh new Halloween theme for my home decor. This year I landed on the theme of “The Birds” which is based on the old Alfred Hitchcock movie starring Tippi Hedren.

I feel like everyone that drives by my house thinks that I might be a big Doctor Who fan, and that I put a bright blue Tardis on my front porch this year, since it is so visible from the street.  However, in fact I am actually paying tribute to a friend of the family, Tippi Hedren and one of her biggest movies, The Birds. 

While I am very aware that this is not a new theme, I just wanted to share my take and how easy and inexpensive it was to create this simple front porch Halloween scene, that took less than 1 hour to assemble with just a little prior, proper, planning.The first step was collecting sticking, with all the storms we have had recently this part was really simple. I just laid the branches to the side in my backyard. I allowed them to get dry and hit them with black matte spray paint I had laying around to darken them up a bit.

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I then attached the large branches and stick to my porch with twine and added these birds I ordered online from the Dollar Tree . I ordered 48 total, for a mass quantity effect so under $50 so far.

I really love how they flanked the front porch and draped around as if they had actually grown that way. It really adds to the creepy effect for Halloween.

Then it was all about putting the birds everywhere. Mass numbers is what you want to create the feeling of a swarm of birds. So they are sitting everywhere on the porch and swooping down from above as well. 

Next, I created the iconic telephone booth from the movie. I am very lucky that my front door just happens to look like an old fashioned phone booth. I used blue poster board, 2 for $1 at the Dollar Tree and blue painters tape to create the grid and attach it to the door.The letters were clearance from Hobby Lobby along with the duct tape I used for the pin striping. We also had this cool cling blood from a previous Halloween party that works perfectly for the inside of the phone booth. My skeleton, which I already had,  I was able to dress her up in the iconic green dress and add a blond wig from my Linus and Sally costume from 4 years ago and voila, an insta skela-Tippi. Sorry Tippi, but I thought it was kind of funny after hearing the stories from shooting the movie, and how those birds nearly picked you clean.Cue up a little “Freebird” music by Lynyrd Skynyrd on a continuous loop, for the outdoor speakers, because for me it is all about the details! Now you have one eerie themed front porch, especially if you are afraid of birds. Which I know several people that are terrified of birds, so all I can say is maybe you might not want to visit our house this year, LOL!The best part of the theme is you can overlay this directly over the top of any fall based decor you may have already set for your home, it is very similar to my Halloween Haunted House I did last year. At night just add in a few spooky yard LED lights of bats flying around to add to the effect, while they may not be birds, you have already put the idea in people’s minds so the effect is there. Now let’s head inside and see what we are “roosting up” for dinner shall we?

ADDING A NESTING TABLE  

To go ahead and carry the the theme inside our home I thought it would be fun to do a nesting dinner party theme, and set the table accordingly. I wanted to give you the ambient feeling of what the candles would look like lite for a dinner but for the sake of actually seeing the room. I decided to do a daytime photo shoot so the details could be viewed easily.
The entire idea of this table is to create the feeling of the birds coming home to roost. The table is given a very organic feeling withs stems of faux wheat and rye to simulate pine straw, and I utilized grapevine wreaths in lieu of plate chargers.   You may remember my recent fall DIY the Lucky Penny Table Runner  which we plan to use for the remainder of the fall season. I added a few striped black and white placemats in to add more of a Halloween touch to the table, and some fun Halloween Gift Crackers.  The thermal copper mule cups are the perfect choice for this table setting. Not only do they look great and go with our rose gold and copper seasonal theme, but since they are insulated they will keep any drink hot or cold, all night long. These babies are truly the Cadillac of copper mugs, since they are thermal insulated they do not require those gold handles you so often see on traditional mule mugs. I don’t know about you, but I rather like the sleeker look on this version.  I have a great fall mule recipe coming up in a few weeks to share with you that is perfect for all your holiday entertaining and gatherings. 

Alright, enough about my mugs, let me draw your eyes to my feat of engineering in the center of the table where I have created a floating, yes floating, birds nest. Just to make conversation among the nests a little easier, and you can still pass things about between your guests. I reused all of the faux pumpkins from the previous fall table and added in these fun Gremlin gourds that were available at Burt’s Pumpkin Patch this year. I just felt like they looked like monsters from the garden. Again one of the biggest tips I can provide you with is to mix faux, dried and live florals it will keep your guests guessing what is real and what is not.I continued the nesting theme over to sideboard as well, just to create a full back drop for the guests in the center of the room, so there is a total immersion feeling. I guess I need to warn my diners that if they have Ornithophobia, or a fear of birds, they may want to skip this one, lol.

I really loved that I was able to use the copper pots again on the sideboard. By adding in this reedy grass with feathers and sticks, it added a touch of spookiness to the side board.  All I need to do is just add some dry ice to the pots for the smokey effect the night of and we will have a mystical setting.

Here is one last picture of the birds sitting on the Gremlin gourds and Pokemon pumpkins. Again these were both varieties that were available at my local pumpkin patch; which I thought screamed Halloween when I saw them. PIN ME for later and be sure to follow us on Pinterest at Jen @ JENRON DESIGNS 

I hope you have enjoyed this little mini version of a Halloween tour. If you want to see more of my Halloween Trick & Treats, be sure to check out these other great posts:

  The Candy Bar

DIY S’mores Bar & Recipes    S’mores Shooters  

  Haunter Halloween Home Tour

Haunted Cameo Tablescape

 Pumpkins 3 Ways