Holiday hosting can be a lot of fun, but it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the tasks on your plate. Between managing food, drinks, decor, and keeping things stress-free, simplifying wherever you can makes a big difference. When it comes to party food that’s both impressive and low-effort, a charcuterie board is the perfect solution.
Loaded with meats, cheeses, fruits, veggies, nuts, and sweets, charcuterie boards are ideal for feeding a crowd. With just a bit of creativity, they can also double as festive decor for your holiday spread.
For inspiration, we turned to Instagram and found plenty of creative ideas for Christmas charcuterie boards that are sure to wow your guests. Read on for ideas, and for more hosting tips,
check out the 20 Festive Christmas Desserts That’ll Steal the Show.
Berry and the Boards Christmas Tree Charcuterie
Using a spread of green grapes, kiwi, cheese triangles and cubes, berries, dried apricots, nuts, prosciutto folded into a flower shape, and an orange slice for the tree topper, you can put together a festive charcuterie tree that your guests will be in awe of.
Christmas Charcuterie Wreath
A staple of Christmas decor, a wreath can make any space feel more festive. And while you can buy yourself a traditional holiday wreath to place on the door or your wall, why not impress your party guests with a charcuterie wreath?
This one by Honey Plate Co. is super simple to throw together. All you need is a circular serving board and brie cheese in the middle, and then you can fill in the “wreath” with your favorite cheeses, meats, fruit, and nuts. Add rosemary and pomegranate seeds around the cheese to make it even more Christmasy.
Christmas Tree with Salami Roses
There are many different ways you can make your charcuterie board into the shape of a Christmas tree, and this board from Boxed by Christine is another option. Layer with rows of meat roses, cheeses, grapes, cranberries, and nuts, and outline with some sprigs of rosemary to give it that pine-like look. They also specifically use a Christmas tree-shaped serving plate to enhance the shape even more.
Holiday Charcuterie Board with Christmas Candy
While the shape of a Christmas tree or wreath is cute, you don’t need it to have a Christmas charcuterie board. Making a regular board but piling it up with meat, cheeses, fruit, and holiday candies like candy canes, gingerbread men, and peppermint bark can turn any board into a Christmas masterpiece.
Take it up a notch by grabbing any type of cheese round and wrapping a few pieces of rosemary around it to make a mini wreath.
Layered Christmas Tree Charcuterie
Another creative way to make a holiday board is by using sprigs of rosemary to create Christmas tree layers. This gives the illusion of a pine tree and gives you plenty of creative freedom for what to put in between each layer.
User @get.on.my.plate chose to use cubed cheese and meats, as well as things like olives, nuts, and a few pomegranate seeds scattered throughout to look like ornaments or tree lights.
Santa Claus Charcuterie Board
We’ve seen plenty of charcuterie trees and wreaths, but this Santa Charcuterie Board stopped us in our tracks. User @jenbryantdesign uses brie cheese and thin salami slices to make Santa’s face and hat and then fills in the rest of the board with an assortment of meats, cheeses, crackers, jam, and peppermint pretzels. This concept is too joyful to pass up.
Christmas Tree Brie Board
Home Happy Heart took a regular circular serving plate and made this charcuterie board into a magical Christmas treat. In addition to cheeses like mozzarella and cranberry cheddar, they also added a brie round in the middle and cut a Christmas tree shape out of the middle. They then put pomegranate seeds in the center of the cutout. How cute!
Dessert Charcuterie Board
Your charcuterie board doesn’t have to be the traditional arrangement of meat and cheeses. Instead, your Christmas party board can be full of merry desserts like cookies, red and green candies, stroopwafels, and peppermint bark to give your guests a dessert plate they’ll keep talking about. Serve with some hot chocolate and marshmallows for the ultimate December dessert.
The Christmas ‘Brie’ Board
The beautiful Christmas tree-shaped wooden board certainly makes this one stand out, but you can put together this charcuterie plate with a regular board as well. Preserved meats, sugared cranberries, nuts, cheeses, berries, and sugared rosemary all lined up into Christmas tree rows make for an impressive holiday appetizer.
3D Charcuterie Christmas Tree
This one requires a bit more work than some of the others, but the results will impress your party guests. To make this 3D charcuterie tree, you’ll need a foam cone, saran wrap, toothpicks, and then all of your cheeses, meat, and fruit you’re going to add, and voilá! Watch your guests take pictures and talk about your impressive appetizer.
