Birthday Fruit

Remember those party invitations from way back when?  Well, the party finally arrived yesterday.  What's better than a sunny day at the beach/park with a bunch of 4-yr-olds and their younger sibs?  Not much, not much.
I decided that since the party was in the morning, we should probably try to offer the kids good food before sugaring them up with the requisite cupcakes.  I got a little creative and made a bit of a sculpture out of the fruit.  Here it is in all its glory:

This is the second or third time I've made something like this, and I've even made a bowl out of a watermelon for a fruit salad once.  These sculptures are surprisingly easy - anyone can do this, you don't need to be a master chef (I surely am not).  To make this particular one, I cut a small watermelon in half, scooped out the inside with a metal tablespoon (or a mellon baller would work if you have fancy tools) and set the chunks aside.  I think stuffed the hollowed half with dry paper towels and turned it over on a plate.  The paper towels absorb the remaining moisture so  you don't have a soupy disaster on your hands.  I then poked the watermelon with all of the wooden skewers, arranging them the way I wanted them (make sure they balance pretty evenly).  Then I just started placing the fruit on the sticks.  I chose to make all the skewers the same, but it is cute any way you decide to do it. I finished the tops off with marshmallows.  The one downside is that you need to prepare this very close to when it will be eaten.  They do not keep well.  Also, don't use fruits that brown, like bananas or apples, unless you plan to heavily coat them in lemon juice.  I ended up using whatever was in good shape that I found at the grocery store during a 10pm run.
The kids were very enthusiastic about eating fruit-on-a-stick and it was mostly gone before I knew it.  Give it a try at your next party!  You'll be surprised at how festive it can make a table look.