How to Make a Family Friendly Charcuterie Snack Board
I am really excited to be sharing how to make a family friendly charcuterie snack board with y’all today! I love creating these as easy kid’s meals, for our friends and special events. I got some requests and questions about how I create my snack boards, so I wanted to share more about my process and the things I use.
One of my favorite mom hacks to get my kids to try new foods and eat their veggies it to make them kid friendly charcuterie snack boards! This one already has their favorites of goldfish, veggie chips, crackers, deli turkey, cheese, green grapes and blueberries!
Charcuterie board sizes
I have a bunch of different cutting board sizes I use for my charcuterie & snack boards. Originally they were only used for cutting purposes, so I just got what I needed at the time. But as I continued to create more family friendly charcuterie snack boards, I had to get bigger cutting boards to fit more snacks!
This is my biggest cutting board at 19” x 13”. My husband found it at TJ Maxx and I love the leather strap handle. I used this one for my taco board. This is definitely for big items or a bigger gathering. Not every day!
This is probably my most used board at 18” x 11”. It will feed our family of four with a little bit left over. There is just enough space on here to have a good variety and few blank spaces.
These came in a three pack and are the best set! The largest one with the double handles is 15” x 11”. The middle one is 12” x 9”. (I don’t use the smallest one for snack boards.) I use these for smaller lunchtime assortments.
I would definitely recommend having a variation of cutting board sizes. If you entertain a lot, get a pretty good size board like the first one, or if you have a decent size family (four or more). If you have a smaller family and maybe don’t entertain as much, a set of 3 will probably be sufficient.
Where I get my charcuterie boards from
But TJ Maxx and HomeGoods have really great selections as well. They also have affordable marble and slate boards, which I definitely recommend.
Target has some nice affordable options for wooden cutting boards too. That’s where I got my set from!
If you are an Amazon shopper all the way, they have some really good wooden charcuterie boards for great prices too!
What to include on your charcuterie board
How do you know what to include in your charcuterie snack board? Well honestly, it all comes down to preference and event.
Since I make most of our boards for our family, they have to be kid friendly. Most of our food is already “kid friendly” since my kids still live with us at home and I do the grocery shopping. I know what they like.
So basically, I just go “shopping” in the pantry & fridge and see what I feel like putting together for them based on what’s available at home.
I like to include some of their favorites like summer sausage, cheese and goldfish. But I also like to throw in veggies cut into fun shapes & smaller pieces like carrots and cucumbers for them to try. I’ll make sure to add a dip (hummus or ranch) when I add veggies so they’re more likely to eat them.
If you have a nicer event or one with more adults, you can add fancier foods like brie, figs, goat cheese with blueberries, fancy crackers with herbs and pickles & olives. I like to add those on the board for myself, but my kids are not going to eat that.
If I’m doing a fun seasonal board like Halloween, Christmas or Valentine’s Day, I will add a bunch of sweets and seasonal themed candy & snacks. Definitely not my typical board or something we could eat every day!
For the basic breakdown of what I like to include on a typical board it’s kind of similar to what you should have on your plate: proteins, grain, fruit, veggies and dairy.
Some of our favorites:
Meat: summer sausage, pepperoni, deli turkey, deli ham
Nuts: mixed nuts, almonds, pistachios, peanuts
Grains: Ritz, saltines, pretzels, veggie straws, animal crackers, graham crackers
Fruit: apples, clementines, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, dried fruits (raisins, craisins, apricots)
Veggies: carrots, cucumbers
Dairy: cheese, yogurt
I like to choose a few from each main category and see how much room I have left on the board to decide if I need to add anything else. Plus, whatever you have “in stock” at home will determine what you can use ;)
How to decide layout arrangement
How I decide to lay out and arrange everything is basically by the seat of my pants. It’s different every time. Any way that will fit on the board!
When organizing food on a charcuterie snack board, I like to put messy or loose food in a bowl. This snack board has green olives, summer sausage, cheese, crackers, mini Clementine oranges, goldfish, carrot chips, strawberries, pretzel sticks, cucumber and hummus
I do like to have fun with the design though and cut things in different shapes. It speaks to my creative gene. One day I might make my apples half moon shaped, another day make them into apple fries.
I might cut my cucumber into long skinny pieces or with a flower cookie cutter. The way you cut your items will determine how they fit on the board too.
I like to start on the outside of my board and work my way in. I will put my sturdier, substantial pieces like summer sausage, deli turkey, crackers and fruit/veggies on the edges since they will provide a barrier to the looser foods (like goldfish, nuts or blueberries) and prevent them from falling off the edges.
I also like to arrange food around the dips that correlate to them. So if I’m going to put hummus on my snack board, I will put it in a little bowl and surround that little bowl with pretzels, carrots and cucumber so it’s obvious you should dip those things in there.
You can just throw everything in piles on the board, honestly (it WILL get eaten!) but some things already make pretty cool shapes like orange & apple slices and cucumbers. I just fan them out or arrange them overlapping a little bit.
Kid friendly meal idea, a charcuterie snack board with apples and peanut butter, red peppers, pretzel sticks, deli turkey, summer sausage, green grapes, kiwi, cheese, carrots and crackers!
Cost of my average charcuterie board
I’ve thought about the cost of my charcuterie snack boards but I haven’t really done a full break down because we’re already eating the food I use on my charcuterie board daily.
So I’m not buying this food specifically for a charcuterie board. I just happen to have it on hand and then I arrange it on a snack board. (NOT THE CASE for seasonal boards!!)
But on average, this is the size board we would use and this is the typical food we usually have on hand, so I am going to base it off this board I made for the kids ONLY lunch (we did not share - this was only for 2 kids).
Kid friendly lunch ideas - charcuterie snack board with cheese, crackers, summer sausage, pretzel sticks, mini Clementine oranges, harvest snap peas, blueberries and goldfish.
Since we usually buy things in big packages or “bulk”, it wouldn’t be fair to say I use $4 worth of oranges for a charcuterie board, when I’m only using one orange from that $4 pack. So I’m just going to measure it by one serving since that’s typically what I’m able to fit on a snack board.
$2.38 for this medium sized family friendly charcuterie snack board is not bad! It might be a little more based on our board size and what other foods we add but it’s a much more affordable option than a tapas restaurant!
I would say that $2.38 is a reasonable amount for the above kid friendly charcuterie snack board for two kids. So if I’m making enough food for all four of us, I would definitely double that, making it at least $5 for four.
And keep in mind, this is only one serving of these things. I still have a ton of each food left over that we can eat individually or I can add to more boards.
I hope y’all found this post helpful when it comes to building a family friendly charcuterie snack board! I have been creating these for about a year now and I absolutely love designing them for our family and friends.
I am definitely not a cook and I hate being in the kitchen for long periods of time but because this food is mostly raw and in its original form, it’s very easy for me to put these together and feel like I’ve accomplished something that day.
If you’re not already, make sure you’re following me on Instagram, as that’s where I share my easy kids meal ideas and charcuterie snack board designs! Have fun creating your own charcuterie boards and tag me (@valuemindedmama) if you share them on social!
