A spooky fruit skewer pumpkin platter is the easiest centerpiece: a carved pumpkin holding rainbow fruit skewers, no baking, 20 minutes. Around it, mummy hot dogs, jack-o-lantern quesadillas, witch finger breadsticks, banana ghosts, monster cereal treats and black lemonade cover savory, sweet and drinks. All 18 ideas are listed above with links.

Carve a jack-o-lantern, dry and line the inside, and press in a block of floral foam or half a cabbage. Thread strawberries, grapes, melon cubes, blueberries and mandarin segments onto 6-inch skewers in a color pattern, snip the sharp tips, and push the skewers into the foam so they fan out of the pumpkin like a bouquet. Add a yogurt dip and a chocolate dip at the base.

Fruit in Halloween colors that holds its shape: cantaloupe and mandarin for orange, blueberries and black grapes for purple-black, honeydew and green grapes for green, and strawberries for red. Avoid soft fruit like raspberries and anything that browns, such as banana or apple, unless it goes on at serving time.

Press floral foam, cut to fit, or half a head of cabbage cut side down into the pumpkin so it sits just under the rim, and push each skewer two inches into it. Pumpkin flesh alone will not hold them; they tip within minutes.

Yes. Carve the pumpkin and cut the melon the day before, thread the skewers the morning of and keep them flat on a covered tray in the fridge, then load the pumpkin an hour before the party. Add banana and apple pieces at serving time.

Two hours at room temperature, or one hour in a warm room. For a long party, keep a second batch of skewers in the fridge and swap them in, and keep the yogurt dip on a small bowl of ice.

Not on skewers. For children under 3, serve the same fruit in cups with a cocktail pick or as finger food, and halve the grapes lengthwise. For 3 to 5 year olds, snip the sharp tips off the skewers and serve them seated. The age table above has the details.

Two per child when there is other food, three if the platter is the main snack. The recipe card scales from 24 skewers for 12 kids to 96 for a school event.

Vanilla yogurt with a pinch of cinnamon, melted chocolate chips loosened with a splash of milk, and a marshmallow fluff dip tinted green all work. Put them in small bowls at the base of the pumpkin so kids can dip the whole skewer.

Yes. A hollowed half watermelon carved with a face is sturdier than a pumpkin and does not need lining. A white pumpkin, a large squash or a black plastic cauldron with foam inside all work too.

One savory main like mummy hot dogs or jack-o-lantern quesadillas, the fruit platter, one sweet treat like monster cereal pops or spider cookies, and a themed drink. Four things is plenty; the list above has 18 to choose from, most of them make-ahead.

The fruit platter is naturally nut-free and halal. For the rest, use beef or chicken hot dogs for the mummies, check candy and cereal treat labels for nuts, and use the nut-free tab in the spider cookies post. Gelatin-free marshmallows keep the cereal treats halal.

One day. Carve it, wipe the inside completely dry, line it with plastic wrap and keep it in a cool place. Carved earlier than that it starts to weep and soften, especially in a warm house.

Carry the carved pumpkin with the foam inside in a box, the skewers flat on a covered tray in a cooler, and the dips in lidded jars. Assemble it on the classroom table in 5 minutes; it does not travel well built.