DIY Edible Arrangements

Have you seen these running around the internet? Adorable bouquets made entirely from fruit. Someone, somewhere had a brilliant idea, but the thing is, actual Edible Arrangements are pretty costly. My family found this out several years ago when we needed a gift for a friend on a medically managed diet. We thought we’d get them a edible arrangement, but baulked at the price. A few dollars and about an hour later, mom, my brother, and I had created our own.

The one above is made from two kinds of grapes, strawberries, and a pineapple. The total cost was 10.96 for the fruit, which is significantly better than a similar one from the shop. I had quite a bit of fruit leftover, too.

Now, I won’t lie to you, edible arrangements are a bit of a time commitment. It probably would have gone much faster if Alex hadn’t helped me, but then I wouldn’t have had quite as much fun. He is responsible for all of the grapes above, as well as for eating two strawberry roses when I wasn’t looking. With toddler aid, this took about an hour. I’d guess more around a half-hour to 45 minutes if you’re working alone 🙂

I’m going to show you how to make the one above, but the lovely thing about this project is that you are only limited by your imagination and your fruit selection. Once you know how to make the base and skewers, you can do just about anything. Check out the original edible arrangements website for inspiration if the muse escapes you!

Strawberry Rose Arrangement, Step-by-Step

This was my set-up going in. I started with bamboo skewers, red and green grapes, strawberries, and a pineapple. I also had a container for the base, and some thin masking tape.

I started by chopping up the pineapple into relatively thin (1/2″ thick) disks. I then cut two down to size and shoved them into the bottom of my container. I have also used part of a head of iceberg lettuce for this part. Both work well for holding the skewers up.

My next step was to take the masking tape and criss-cross it over the opening. This will help with the spacing of your arrangement.

Then I set about making skewers. I started by cutting the bamboo down to size. I kept two grape skewers full length, then cut 1″ off of 4 of them, and 2″ off of 6 of them. The six strawberries were put on skewers with 2″ cut off. For the pineapple, I did one skewer at 2″ cut off, 2 at 1″, and 2 full length. So, if you’re keeping track that’s 4 skewers at full length, 6 at 1″ cut off, and 13 at 2″ cut off.

I let Alex spear grapes, and I made 6 strawberry roses. If you don’t know how to make this gorgeously easy fruit art, allow me to direct you to Ash and Crafts’ tutorial. If you’re thinking the roses look a little intense for you, feel free to leave the strawberries intact and just spear them as-is, but I do encourage you to give the roses a try. They’re deceptively easy!

That’s Alex’s handy work. He wanted me to take a picture, and I did because I’m a good mom 🙂 There actually ended up being 12 grape sticks total.

The last set of skewers you make is a little more involved. These are the pineapple ones, and for this you need cookie cutters and a little bit of strength. Basically, you take one disk of pineapple, position a cookie cutter over the center, and press down hard to cut out a flower (or a heart, or a star, or a letter/number, etc.) I did 5 pineapple flowers.

Then you get to try to insert a skewer through the center, which is not a job for children. It takes some strength to push it through, and you have to be careful not to split the pineapple open, or skewer your hand. Parent/guardians, this job’s for you.

Once you’ve got your skewers lined up, you can arrange them. I alternated roses and the short grape skewers around the outside. I pushed them down into the pineapple to hold them in place. That can be a little tricky with the roses, so just be as gentle as you can, and remember, you can re-fluff the roses after everything’s done. In fact, you’ll probably need to.

I put the pineapple skewers into the center, then filled in around the with the remaining grape skewers until I felt like everything looked good. If something’s not working for you, feel free to move it around, or even take more inches off of a skewer. Different containers will mean you may have to adjust to make this look good.

And that’s it! You’ve got a gorgeous arrangement perfect for anniversaries, Mothers Day, Valentines, or just anytime. I mean, who doesn’t want a bunch of beautiful fresh fruit arriving on their doorstep?