to assemble this beautiful display, shelly enlisted her handy hubby (steve) to make a metal base, with a thin metal pole to skewer the pineapples onto. this was the main support structure. alternatively, a wooden dowel, secured into a base would work as a support too. the pineapple ' tower' will be quite heavy. make sure the base is nice and wide. the base could also be clamped to the table for added support.
once the pineapples were stacked (skewered onto the pole), then the work of attaching the pineapple tops (the tree ' leaves' ), as well as the kiwi ' coconuts' began. all of the fruit and tops were secured with bamboo skewers.
for the monkeys, shelly assembled the head (made of an orange, orange slice ears, lemon mouth, radish slice and 1/2 of a grape for eyes), and used bamboo skewers to attach it to the body (a papaya). then, with some help from friends, the monkeyu2019s body is held in place on the tree trunk, while bananas were added as arms and legs.