Fruit Kebabs for Every Occasion

Fruit kebabs are festive and fun, and an easy treat to make for any special occasion.

With a few simple tools, you (and your kids too) can make fruit kebabs that will be the hit of any gathering.

To make fruit kebabs, all you'll need are a few simple tools and ingredients.

• Skewers or lollipop sticks: You can use disposable bamboo skewers or decorative metal or plastic skewers that you can reuse for future gatherings. Lollipop sticks are great for younger kids since they don't have the pointy end. If you're using an ingredient that the lollipop stick has difficulty going through, stick a regular skewer in the ingredient first to make a hole.
• Fruit: Look for fruits that come in colors related to the occasion (e.g. green + red for Christmas = kiwi + strawberries); fruits can also be used to help display the kebabs
• Additional ingredients: In addition to fruit, you can add marshmallows (during many holidays many companies come out with colorful and/or shaped marshmallows), pieces of cake, or pieces of brownies for a festive touch.
• Cookie cutters: If you have mini cookie cutters, you can create fun shapes specific to the occasion (e.g. use flower cookie cutters to create flower melons for a Mother's Day kebab).
• Dishware: Bowls for sauces or platters for displaying the kebabs will come in handy.

You can tailor fruit kebabs to just about any holiday. Here are some ideas:

• Valentine's Day: Strawberries + Pound Cake
• Independence Day: Blueberries + Strawberries + White Marshmallows
• Christmas: Kiwi + Strawberries + Christmas-themed Marshmallows
• Halloween: Black Grapes + Clementines + Halloween-themed Marshmallows
• Easter: Strawberries + Bananas + Peeps

It's easy to customize fruit kebabs for special celebrations. Here are some examples:

• Baby showers: Use blueberries and purple grapes for boy baby showers, strawberries and raspberries for baby girl showers, or bananas and kiwi for baby showers in which the guest of honor did not find out the baby's gender. If mom has a specific nursery color scheme or theme you can tailor the kebabs to that color scheme or theme (e.g. lady bugs = strawberries + black grapes).
• Graduations: Use fruits in the same color scheme as the school's colors.
• Sports team potlucks/end of season gatherings: Use fruits in the same color scheme as the team's colors.
• Birthdays: Serve fruit kebabs as a healthier alternative to what's typically served at birthday parties or even in your child's classroom. For a fun birthday party activity, have bowls of different fruits and marshmallows available for kids to make their own kebabs.
• Bridal Showers: Take a kebab with a single fruit (e.g. strawberries) and dress it up by drizzling chocolate sauce, fruit syrups, or even balsamic vinegar.

Food on a stick is just more fun to eat, and allowing kids to not only eat fruit kebabs, but help make them can be an educational experience. Here are ways to incorporate learning while making kebabs:

• Have your child identify different fruits by color, shape, or texture
• Allow your child to create patterns (e.g. A, B, C patterns = grape, strawberry, marshmallow, grape strawberry, marshmallow or A, B, B, A = banana, strawberry, strawberry, banana)
• Have them make kebabs using fruits with colors found in a rainbow or other specific object.

Having your child help make kebabs not only helps him or her learn more about fruits, colors, and patterns, but it can also help with critical thinking and fine motor skills.

There are a variety of ways to present your kebabs. The easiest is to simply lie them in a pan or platter, but here are a few other options:

• Stick the kebabs into fruits, such as a watermelon half, or a bowl of oranges.
• Stand them in pretty glasses or jars.
• Stick kebabs into Styrofoam that's placed in a pretty basket.

Don't forget you can also use cookie cutters to cut your fruit into festive shapes, and you can serve the kebabs with small bowls of dipping sauces, such as yogurt or chocolate.

The possibilities are endless!