Pumpkins!

Cleaning out the pumpkin

Lucas gets his hands dirty too

Concentrating

Pumpkin carving is serious business

My pumpkins with their pumpkins

Cruz's devilish gourd

Lucas' ghostly pick

Happy Halloween!

Fruit Kabob Turkey

I found this super cute fruit kabob turkey idea via Pinterest (of course) and immediately knew I wanted to attempt it for Cruz's class Thanksgiving party. There weren't any step by step instructions, but after examining the picture I was able to formulate a plan in my mind. For anyone else who wants to try their hand at this adorable edible bird, here you go:

Ingredients/Materials:

1 honeydew melon

1/2 Bosc pear

2 small marshmallows

2 raisins (or blueberries)

2 red bell peppers

1 yellow bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

small piece of block cheese

fruit of your choice for the kabobs

large marshmallows 

bamboo skewers (at least 16, but can do more for a fuller look)

toothpicks

Prep:

To stabilize the melon, first slice a small piece off one side to create a flat bottom for the melon to sit on. Next I sliced the bell peppers into strips, roughly 1-inch wide and halved the pear. My last prep step was to thread all the fruit onto the skewers so they would be ready for placement. 

To start, I inserted two toothpicks into the front of the melon at a 90-degree angle, then placed the pear onto them and pushed in to secure. The top part of the pear should be taller than the height of the melon. 

Next, I poked toothpicks into a row behind the head, spacing them evenly apart. Once they were placed, I put the bell pepper strips on to the toothpicks.

Taking shape

For the turkey's face, insert two toothpicks where you want the eyes, then stack on a small marshmallow and a raisin (or small blueberry) to finish off. I cut a small triangle of cheese and attached it with another toothpick. I trimmed another red pepper strip to create the snood, and put that on the side of the cheese beak. Voila! Look at that face! 

Such a whimsical face

For the next row of feathers, I cut off a section of several skewers to make them shorter and added the fruit. You could probably not cut the skewers and just insert them further into the melon but I chose to cut them. Using scissors, I cut more red peppers to make the feet.

Looking good already!

Now you can start adding rows of tail feathers with your fruit kabobs. Since I made this for a kindergarten class, I made one skewer for each child (25 total) so it was very full. You definitely don't need this many, and note that it can be a little back-heavy which might make it somewhat unstable.

Impressive tail feathers

Another angle

At this point, I put the entire creation in the fridge since I made it the night before the class party. I didn't wrap it or anything, and it was just fine the next day.

The following morning, I topped each of the long kabobs with a large marshmallow for a finishing look. The marshmallows are optional but I think they pulled it all together nicely, but you can get as creative as you want!

Gobble Gobble

The fruit turkey was a huge success with the kids, and I think it would make a showstopping centerpiece on any Thanksgiving table.