I hosted an open house summer kick-off event at my house last Friday. For food, I planned a charcuterie board inspired table.
With our busy lives with family, life, etc. we get lost in our day-to-day. Being online so much for work, I was feeling a bit disconnected from in-real-life interactions. In addition, since I launched my online jewelry shop, I hadn’t done any local promotion. This was a good excuse to invite my friends over to take a look at the pieces in my shop and get feedback about my selection while at the same time, visiting and catching up.
I decided on a 4-hour window during the day for my open house. During such a busy time with end-of-school-year festivities, I wanted people to pop in when it was convenient for them. For this stretch of time, I wanted food that would stay fresh over the 4 hours.
Charcuterie board inspired table
Have you made a charcuterie board before?
“Charcuterie (shahr-cute-uh-ree) is a French word devoted to prepared meat products, such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, ballotines, pâtés, cured meats, and confit. It is often served with various cheeses, crackers & bread, and other fun additions like jams, candied nuts, and more!”
I was inspired at my friend’s 50th party where the chef for the catering company laid out a gorgeous charcuterie display.
I loved the tiered effect she created and wanted to recreate the same thing for my guests.
I purchased my ingredients from Costco and Trader Joe’s, which I will list below. I also purchased freshly prepared mini sandwiches from the deli counter at Ralph’s grocery.
On the day of the event, some of my girlfriends came to help me set things up. They took all the items I had purchased and laid them out for me in this beautiful presentation. One thing led to another and the inspired “board” became a full table!
On the table: Sandwiches, fruit, cups of salad (vegan cabbage and poke avocado cucumber), fresh vegetables, nuts, dried fruit, crackers, olives, pickles, salami, cheese, root chips, and little dessert cups in various flavors.
Isn’t this gorgeous? I love how my girlfriends rolled the slices of salami and added color with the mini peppers, nuts, and pickles.
Salad cups make it easy for guests to eat while standing. I got cute plastic cups with gold rims on Amazon to elevate the look. We placed them on a bed of ice to keep the salad cold and crisp. These were very popular. The recipes for these salads can be found on my blog posts:
The best spicy ahi tuna salad to please a crowd
Cabbage, kale, tomato, and chickpea salad
These dessert cups from Costco are gorgeous.
Supplies and food for charcuterie board inspired table
I purchased this display box set on Amazon. I pulled out all of my white platters and serving dishes. This is what the table looked like before my two girlfriends got started in presenting the food. They did a much better job than I would have done!
List of food served on charcuterie board inspired table
Trader Joe’s
- Nuts (Marcona almonds, Sesame honey cashews, Pistachio)
- Dried fruit (apricots, cranberries)
- Cracker assortment. I think next time I will do only a cracker assortment box and fig & olive crisps.
- Mini pickles, kalamata olives, and large green olives
tip: Only put a little of each on the boards and refill as guests consume. This also minimizes how much food goes to waste. Next time I will do this!
Costco
- Cheese (Red wax gouda, Brie, Manchego, Goat Cheese, Marinated mozzarella cheese balls, Meat and cheese rolls) – I overdid it on cheese. I recommend half this selection. My favorites are Brie, red wax gouda and manchego.
- Mini peppers
- Grape tomatoes
- Fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes)
- Square dessert cups (refrigerated section by deli meat)
Ralphs
- Assorted sandwich platter turkey, ham, cheese on various types of rolls/croissants
- Ice
note: salad ingredients not included. See recipes in blog posts referenced above.
Supplies I loved for this event
- 10 stems of waterfall cut orchids (Los Angeles Flower District) I love orchids so much and this event gave me an excuse to splurge on a freshly cut bunch (10 for $65- not bad!).
- display boxes
- plastic cups with gold rim
- re-usable plastic wine cups
Now you’re all set to host your own daytime get together with a charcuterie inspired table. Do you think you’ll try it?
A note from my friend Julie, who worked on this display:
“You want varying texture, color, and levels. And you want a cascade effect with something tall and then going down. It can be in the middle like you have or off to the side like a waterfall.
The tricky part of this theme is that variety is key. But since you only need a bit of each type of food, you’ll have a lot of leftovers you likely won’t consume after the party. Therefore, this type of set up is best for large groups of people.
As a host, I generally overestimate how much food I’ll need. With practice, I’ll learn to manage food quantities better. But as a rule of thumb, expect that only half the number of guests will eat during a daytime open house-type event.
Happy hosting!
