Wash all your fruit thoroughly and pat completely dry with paper towels. Wet fruit slides around and won't stick to your arrangement—I learned this the hard way when strawberries kept rolling off my first patriotic fruit platter family attempt.

Prep each fruit type separately into a bowl. Slice strawberries into halves or thirds, cut watermelon into bite-sized cubes, and slice kiwi and grapes. Keep the blueberries and mandarin segments whole since they're already the right size.

Toss all prepped fruit together in a large bowl with the lemon juice and gently mix. This takes about two minutes and coats everything evenly so nothing browns.

Arrange fruit on your platter in red, white, and blue sections. I use strawberries for red, watermelon and pineapple for white, and blueberries and kiwi for blue. Group them in stripes or circles—whatever looks good to you honestly.

Scatter mint leaves across the platter for color and freshness. Tear them slightly so people can smell that minty aroma when they grab fruit.

Whisk together the vanilla yogurt and honey in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle it lightly over one section or serve on the side—both work perfectly for your easy family fruit display.

Sprinkle the granola over the yogurt section right before serving, not earlier. This keeps it crunchy instead of getting soggy from the yogurt and fruit juice.