Luau Fruit Display

One of my very good friends is getting married this fall and we celebrated her wedding shower today with a Luau!  One of my bridesmaid duties was to create a fruit display for her and I was so excited that she asked me to do it!

She sent me two photos (a palm tree platter and a pineapple tree with monkeys) that she really liked to give me some inspiration and set me loose to create something.  This was by far my favorite fruit adventure yet.  I loved this display more than anything I have done in the past, even more than the Sesame Street fruit and veggie trays that I made in February for our son's birthday party.

This is the entire display which included a pineapple tree with a bride and groom monkey and "coconuts" (kiwi), fruit bowls made from the rinds of a watermelon, two pineapples (one cut vertically, one cut horizontally), and two honeydew melons.  I added whole bunches of bananas, green and purple grapes and strawberries to decorate around the fruit bowls, a palm tree platter, banana dolphins eating grapes and a bowl of fruit salad.

Pineapple tree and monkeys.  The fruit needed to make this exact display is 4 pineapples, 2 mangoes, 2 oranges, 1 lemon, 1 tangerine, 2 grapes, 1 bunch of miniature bananas, and kiwis.  I used wooden bamboo skewers and toothpicks to assemble.  The most important part of this display is your base/dowel rods.  This is a VERY heavy tree and the monkeys add weight as well.  You need a sturdy and heavy base and a sturdy rod (or two).

The pineapple parrots were my favorite part of the display and they couldn't have been easier to make.  The watermelon bowl is filled with chunks of fresh pineapple and some bing cherries.

I also loved how this little bowl looked.  Once I started cutting up fruit for my fruit salad I couldn't stand to just compost all of the "skins" of the fruit.  This gave me inspiration to use them as bowls to hold my fruit.  This pineapple was cut vertically (you need a very sharp knife) and I added a orange peel flower.

Honeydew melon was filled with cherries and you get a glimpse of the banana dolphins in the background.

Close-up of the banana dolphins.

Using fruit is a wonderful way to bring life to your food table, add to your theme decorations and make eating healthy foods even more fun for your guests.

Enjoy!!

John Deere Birthday Party

I opted for e-invitations this year in an effort to save resources and move toward better stewardship of our environment and money.  I printed off a couple for people I knew didn't e-mail as well as one for his baby book. 

Baby Boy #2 celebrated his big first birthday party in John Deere tractor style.  We planned for Memorial Day Weekend and who would have ever thought it would be freezing cold!  Most of my activities planned were water/mud activities so they were a no-go for the day :(  However everyone was a good sport and had a nice time.  I decorated with simplicity in mind, made some handmade favors for our little guests, and served a yummy plant-based spread for our guests.  Here are some photos from our day.

Decorated the tables with green and yellow and used some John Deere Tractors and fresh corn on the  for decorations.

This was the kid's picnic table so I filled the truck with green and yellow sidewalk chalk for their centerpiece. 

Drink Station.  Mason Jars with green biodegradable straws, homemade John Deere "sippy" cups for the kiddos and some lemon lime water.

I glued John Deere fabric to the tops of the jelly jar lids, punched a hole and added a straw for a sippy cup favor for our little guests.

Put the favor bags on the food table.  We had mostly green and yellow foods:  Bananas, apples, pears, grapes, pea soup, and roasted veggie platter with squash, mushrooms, peppers, onions,  kidney beans, blacked eye peas and quinoa.

Favor bags for the boys included a handmade elastic bow tie made from flannel John Deere fabric and a handmade bottle cap.  These were so fun to make and probably my favorite item of the day.  You can purchase these from me here.

Girls favor bags had a John Deere head band made from green and yellow ribbon, and a handmade John Deere bottle cap.  You can purchase these from me here.

Even Bella got a John Deere makeover for the big day!  The Birthday Boy almost never lets her leave his side so she needed a little decor too :)

Never thought he would need his winter hat on Memorial Day!  

Pretty intrigued by his sippy cup and straw.

Big Brother had a good time as well!

I made mud playdough for the favor bags and found some colorful plastic baggies from Target, used the yellow and green for the playdough.  Each child got two cars or trucks or tractors in the favor bag along with his/her bow tie or headband.  The play dough smelled so good you almost wanted to eat it!

Despite the cold, as well as having quite the cranky birthday boy (who went down for a super early nap 1/2 hour into his party) we had a nice time visiting with family and friends.  Always love watching the little cousins and friends play together.  We have had a busy month (and we do NOT do "busy" very often!) between getting our house ready for sale, my husband completing his Masters degree, celebrating his degree with a bon fire last week and all the wonderful unpacking and sorting of our stuff into our apartment.  I decided I didn't have the time or energy to have an over-the-top birthday party (although that's usually what I do!) but in the end I actually enjoy the simple look to the tables and food.  I was able to get everything done, both food and decorations/favors in one day and night.  I stayed up all night before the party as is my typical procrastinating tradition for these parties :)

Happy Birthday my sweet baby boy!!