How to run Python in Windows w/o popping a DOS box?

[Paul Rubin]

Dumb question from a Windows ignoramus:

I find myself needing to write a Python app (call it myapp.py) that
uses tkinter, which as it happens has to be used under (ugh) Windows.
That's Windows XP if it makes any difference.

I put a shortcut to myapp.py on the desktop and it shows up as a
little green snake icon, which is really cool and Pythonic.  When I
double click the icon, the app launches just fine and the tkinter
interface does its thing.  But Windows also launches a DOS box that
just sits on the screen uselessly.  It's potentially useful in that
"print" statements in the Python app can show messages on the DOS box,
but I figure this is a graphical app so I don't plan to show messages
that way.  Also, it happens I often want to run lots of instances of
the app simultaneously, and I want to launch them all by double
clicking the icon.  That means the whole screen is cluttered with DOS
boxes all over the place.  Of course I can minimize them by clicking
the little underscore in the corner of each one, but that really takes
away from the coolness of it all.

Question: is there any simple way to arrange to launch the app from
the desktop, without also launching a DOS box?  By simple I mean
without having to mess with some complex packaging/installation system
(McMillan installer?) every time I want to modify the app, which
during development means a few hundred times a day.  I have no desire
at all to conceal the source code from the user or anything like that
either.

Thanks.