Easter Fruit Basket

I've been seeing some advertisements lately for really cute and delicious looking fruit bouquets. They looked easy enough to make, so I thought for Easter, I'd try my hand at it and add a center piece to the Easter table.

With a plethora of fruit (watermelon, muskmelon, honey dew, strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, apples, pears, oranges, star fruit, and grapes), some leaf lettuce, a new flower pot, a block of green Styrofoam, a packet of skewers, various shaped cookie cutters, a couple sharp knives, some nifty Pampered Chef cutting gadgets, and two eager mouths to eat the scraps (along with four little hands to "help" me out), we created some fun memories and yummy eats!

Here's a muskmelon ducky....

And a watermelon rabbit....

A pineapple ducky

I topped things off with some marshmallow peeps, and viola! A spring-time center piece that was quickly gobbled up!

Seriously, this didn't take much time at all -- from setting everything out, washing the fruit, cutting the shapes, and stabbing it on skewers before sticking it in the foam -- oh, and including clean-up! -- it took maybe 45 minutes. If you try this -- and do! It's so fun and easy! -- dip your fruit in a mixture of lemon juice and water before spearing it. It'll prevent the fruit from browning. I found the melon, and especially the watermelon, was pretty juicy and drippy, so you may want to cut those and put them on paper towels for a few minutes before spearing them. Use your imagination -- any free-hand shapes or cookie cutter shapes work great!