Happy Little Party: Fruit Bouquet {Mother's Day or Teacher Appreciation}

My sister broke her ankle a couple of years ago. It was sad, not only for obvious reasons, but because she also missed a flight with us to go to Disneyland! Luckily, she was able to catch up with us a couple of days later in the 'Land and we all benefited from her "wheelchair pass" which allowed us to skip to the front of the line!! Where am I going with all of this? Well, we benefited from her broken ankle at Disneyland, and we also benefited from the fact that her boss sent her an amazing Fruit Bouquet! (I try to look at the bright side of things :) which was easy this time since it wasn't my foot!) It was a huge and delicious bouquet, and I had never seen one in real life up to that point. (You'd think I discovered diamonds or something from how excited I got). I had fun picking it apart and seeing how easy it really was to put together. Since then, I have made a few for friends and teachers, and it is a really fun gift. Mine are smaller than the basket my sister got, but the thought is always appreciated!

PS. If you take this to give to your friend at her birthday party, don't just set it down in the middle of the gift table. Make sure you hand it to her directly. It *may* start to disappear before she sees it. Trust me on this one.

Items Need:
*Clean container (I usually find flower pots, pails, tins of various sizes at the dollar or craft store marked down)
*Iceberg lettuce, cut to fit tightly down in the pot OR Floral foam, cut to size
*Kale or leafy green lettuce
*Skewers

*Fruit (mostly strawberries, grapes, cantaloupe, pineapple, kiwi, watermelon) Not any fruit that gets brown

*Shaped cookie cutter (preferably metal) stars, hearts, flowers

Place the head of iceberg lettuce or foam into the container. It should be a tight fit. Cover with the pretty dark green lettuce so no foam is showing through. Wash all the fruit, and then start skewering! I like levels, so cut/break skewers accordingly.

To cut the pineapple, I slice the peel off like this:

Then lay it down and cut about a 1/4"- 1/2" circle off like this

(do it thick enough, especially with watermelon so it is strong enough when you put a skewer through)

Use a cookie cutter to cut out your shape. You may have to use a knife to make the edges smooth if you use a weak cookie cutter. The skewer goes up through the core of the pineapple to make it sturdy.

For the cantaloupe center on a pineapple flower, use a melon baller or small cookie scoop to get a ball, then cut that ball in half and use a toothpick to connect it to the pineapple. Attach a half of a grape the same way.

Variations: (sorry no pictures)

*Chocolate dipped strawberries are a welcome addition. (white or brown)

*Cream filled Strawberries: Cut an X out of the bottom of the strawberries (the bottom will actually be facing up--make sense?) Just pipe a little bit of cream cheese frosting into the X for a yummy filling

*Marshmallows alternated with grapes for the tall pieces are pretty too!