The Simple Secret to a Show-Stopping Snack Spread

‘Tis the season for entertaining! And today I am so excited to share a super simple entertaining idea with you along with a secret to “wow” your guests. If you are not a cook or don’t want to spend much time in the kitchen- this is your answer to holiday entertaining!

A few weeks ago, we decided to host an impromptu Braves baseball playoff game party. A few group texts and an order to our favorite Mexican restaurant and we were in business! However, in addition to having the fajita bar for dinner, I knew I wanted to have a few appetizers out as well. 

I also knew we would have lots of little kids so I needed some options to keep all ages happy. But as I mentioned, I didn’t have time to make anything and needed a simple solution.

The answer? A Sweet and Salty Snack Board to please everyone! 

And now are you ready for the secret? It’s all about assembling. These items individually are clearly nothing special. If I had just placed small platters scattered around it would have been a pretty random assortment. However, by assembling everything onto one large serving board, it felt like a more planned snack board. 

I didn’t have a cutting board or serving platter large enough for my vision, so I went on the hunt around the house looking for something that might work to assemble everything. Would you believe I found this extra wooden shelf that belongs below our built in cabinets stacked just sitting in our closet?

I grabbed it, laid it out on the table, and decided it was the perfect size for the starting point of this sweet and salty snack board! 

Now, if you aren’t so lucky, you could head to your local Home Depot and grab a piece of pre-cut wood that would work for the size of your table. I also found this large wooden serving tray on Amazon for under $50 that looks like it would do the trick.  To get my surface “food-ready”, I just washed it down really well with dish soap. Mine does have a nice varnish coating to it, which made it really easy to wipe down. 

Once I had my large snack board, I made a quick trip to my local grocery store and Trader Joe’s (which are already my normal grocery stops every week) and just grabbed anything that looked good. Things like: yogurt covered pretzels, grapes, apples, crackers, cheese, caramel popcorn, pepperoni, brownies and cookies…

Then I just grabbed some of my red, white and blue smaller bowls, a tiered cake stand and a Georgia shaped cutting board to help assemble everything. The boys got these Braves hats this summer with their ice cream at a Braves game so I pulled those out as well. I cannot emphasize enough how little thought went into this. I literally grabbed whatever I saw from the store, had a few things in the pantry, grabbed the smaller dishes and just went for it. 

 

The result was a show-stopper and I can’t wait to do this again. Hopefully with a little more time and effort it will even be cuter! I can imagine a really cute one for the holidays with star shaped cookies and cute Christmas dishes. 

Happy entertaining!

xoxo-

Heather