Kids Christmas Charcuterie Board

Make a 15-minute Christmas Charcuterie Board for kids this Christmas season. Follow the template or use your favorite red, white, and green fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, and candies.

There is nothing I enjoy more than creating fun and festive charcuterie boards whenever a party or a holiday comes around. A kid-friendly Christmas charcuterie board is a must for any family with children who love grazing on snacks before dinnertime.

While this Christmas charcuterie board was created for kids, it can easily be turned into an adult's board with simple changes to the food selected. You can put this board together quickly, in 15 minutes or less, while your Christmas dinner cooks.

Charcuterie boards are also easy enough for kids to help with, so give them some ways to help. Let younger children fill the bowls with nuts or candies. Give teenagers the task of cutting the fruits and veggies. Older children who aren't quite ready to use a knife can help arrange the fun foods around the board.

When it's time to place the board on your appetizer table, let the kids put decorative Christmas items around it. This board would look wonderful next to these cute almond bark melted snowmen and chocolate covered pretzels.

There is something for everyone to do when putting Christmas snack boards together. They are a way to get the entire family in on the Christmas cooking fun. Or delegating tasks to keep your little ones busy instead of hanging at your feet while you cook!

Tips for Success

I have made many kid-friendly charcuterie boards this past year and have written about how to create a basic kid-friendly board in this post. It includes general tips for choosing foods and how to arrange them on the board.

I've condensed some of those tips and suggestions below to make them specific to a Christmas charcuterie board. For additional suggestions on making the ultimate board for your little ones, make sure to take a look here.

Follow these tips to make a fun holiday snack board:

• Pick your color scheme. Red, green, and white are arguably the most traditional colors for Christmas. But there are others you can incorporate into your board. Purple and blue are often found on Christmas lights. Silver and gold are classic and sophisticated Christmas hues (but may be difficult to find an array of foods in). If straying from the red, green and white board, keep your colors to 3 or 4.
• Decide on the type of food. Do you want a sweet board? A savory board? A combination? What foods will your kids eat? Try not to choose foods that you know your kids won't eat just because they fit into the color scheme.
• Choose your board. The shape depends on your preference. I love long rectangle boards and circular boards with handles. You can also use a cutting board if you don't have a charcuterie board. No one will know the difference.
• Choose a few small Christmas bowls as focal points. Place the bowls on the board first, and then add the other foods around them.
• Place same color foods next to each other so that the board has a Christmas-looking pattern.
• Offer small kid-friendly disposable serving utensils to avoid lots of mess and kids' germs from getting into the food.

When making a Christmas charcuterie board or other holiday boards, there are 3 steps I always follow:

1. Then I make a list of foods that I think will work with the colors.
2. Decide on which bowls to include and what foods should go inside them.
3. And last, I draw an outline of what foods make sense in the locations around the bowls.

Board Suggestions

If you'd like suggestions on where to purchase a good charcuterie board, you can find endless options on Amazon. I have seen cute wooden boards in Target as well, and they usually have a good selection of holiday-themed boards on their website. Home Goods is another great option for good quality, yet discounted boards. 

I like this rectangular board on Amazon if you're looking to shop online. If you'd like a circular board, this is one of my favorites. I love that it has handles for easy carrying.

If you plan to turn this kid's Christmas charcuterie board into an adult board, my absolute favorite is this Smirly Cheese Board. It's awesome for adult charcuterie boards that include wine, cheese, meat, nuts, and fruit because it has 5 different serving sections.

Ingredients

To make this board I used:

In keeping with your color scheme, change the types of foods that work for your family and friends. Make sure to keep the ages of children in mind, as you don't want to present them with foods that can be a choking hazard. Consider guests with allergies, too.

A well-done charcuterie board includes an assortment of foods that fit your theme. Some other ideas to keep with the Christmas red, green and white theme are:

RED

• red peppers
• dried cranberries
• cherries
• apples
• pomegranate seeds
• ham
• soppressata
• roast beef

GREEN

• green peppers
• cucumbers
• apples
• pears
• grapes
• celery

WHITE

• apples
• pears
• cauliflower
• swiss cheese
• provolone cheese

While traditional charcuterie boards include meat, cheeses, dips, fruits, and veggies, I always make sure to add something fun to my kid-friendly boards.

In this Christmas charcuterie board I chose red and green m&m candies because you can't ever go wrong with chocolate! White chocolate chips sprinkled around the board were perfect for my family because we are white chocolate eaters. The color fit right in.

Some other great red or green "fun" foods for your Christmas board are:

• red and green wrapped Hershey Kisses
• Brach's holiday spicettes
• holiday jelly beans
• mini candy canes
• holiday gummy bears

Step-By-Step Directions

The easiest way to put together a charcuterie board is to first prepare all of your foods and spread them out on the counter. This way you can see what you have to work with.

If your board doesn't have handles, it may be best to put it together where you will place it on the table instead of transferring it later on.

Once you're ingredients are prepared, add the bowls to the board. Start by filling in the spaces around the bowls with foods that can be twisted into a semi-circle, like soft meats, circular sliced fruits and veggies, and cheese slices.

Once the spaces surrounding the bowls have been filled, fill the remaining spaces with your chosen foods. Remember to keep the same color foods together as often as you can.

Then fill the bowls. Add any Christmas decor or trinkets around the board for an extra festive look.

Enjoy!

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