This Christmas charcuterie board is always a hit at a holiday party. This charcuterie wreath is simple to make and will impress all your guests!

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You know we love a good charcuterie board—and you know what makes a cheese board even more amazing? A theme! We love this wreath-shaped Christmas charcuterie board because it is just so jolly. Not only is it festive as all get out, but it’s also supremely easy to put together and is a great way to serve tons of guests simply. We love doing Christmas cheese boards for holiday pitch-ins, family get-togethers, or just to enjoy while wrapping presents and watching a cheesy Christmas movie. Anytime in the holiday season is a good time for a Christmas cheese board!

What is a Christmas charcuterie board?

A Christmas charcuterie boards is the perfect snacky appetizer for your holiday party or Christmas Day celebration. It’s a big board full of assorted cheeses, cured meats, crackers, and other goodies. We love them because they make it easy to grab a savory bite in between all the sweet holiday treats and socializing—and there is a little something for everyone!

How do you make a charcuterie board look festive for Christmas?

Our favorite way to make a festive charcuterie board is to use a round platter or plate to create a charcuterie wreath! To really give this board the look of a wreath, we placed our round platter on some curved artificial pine branches.

We’ve also seen Christmas charcuterie board ideas that look like trees! So if you don’t have a round platter or shallow bowl, the charcuterie tree is also an option!

What is a must on a charcuterie board?

Meat and cheese are the two must-haves for a Christmas charcuterie board. You’ll also want to select cheeses and meats with a good mix of flavors and textures. We recommend adding at least:

One soft cheese. We used brie and goat cheese.
One hard cheese, like cheddar, pepper jack, or colby.
One crumbly cheese, such as feta.
Two meats. At least one of these should be a cured meat, like salami or prosciutto.

Wholefully Protip

If you’re at a grocery store with a cheese counter, look for a bargain bin. They sometimes have a basket of cheese ends at a discount—it can save you some money and make it easy to add some variety to your cheese board!

How much meat and cheese do I need?

It depends on whether you want to serve this charcuterie board as an appetizer or as a main dish! Follow these rules of thumb:

For an appetizer: One 4-6 ounce wedge/piece of cheese or meat per 3 people
For a main dish: One 4-6 ounce wedge/piece of cheese or meat per 2 people

If you want more variety, you may end up with more meat and cheese than this, but these guidelines are good starting points!

What else do you put on a Christmas charcuterie board?

The best thing about a good cheese board is the variety. So when we put together our charcuterie wreaths, we make sure to have at least one or two things from each of these categories:

Crunchy. Crackers are the classic, but slices of baguette work, too—just make sure you have something to put some cheese and meat on! Nuts are also a good choice, especially if they are candied or roasted & salted.
Salty. Nuts can pull double duty for both the crunchy and salty categories. You can also use olives or pickles—we do recommend putting anything that may roll away (looking at you, olives) into small bowls to keep them contained.
Sweet. We have so many cookies and other sweet treats around, so we kept the sweetness on the charcuterie wreath fairly low with candied cranberries and fruit and not much else. But if you do want to incorporate more sweetness, you can add small cookies, chocolate-covered nuts or fruit, or sweetened dried fruit.
Fruits and veggies. We really leaned into the red and green colors of Christmas here, with kiwi, green grapes, cherry tomatoes, and snap peas. Pomegranate seeds or cherries would fit right in, too. And because Christmas is full of twinkle lights and sparkling stars, we also sliced up a starfruit to add to the board.
Condiments. Honey, jelly, jam, cranberry sauce, grainy mustard, and other condiments are fun to drizzle or spread on your bites of cheese. Small jars can go directly on the board, but spreads in large jars can be transferred to small bowls that will better fit in the charcuterie wreath.
Garnishes. Sprigs of rosemary are our favorite Christmas charcuterie board garnish because they are so reminiscent of Christmas trees.

How do I assemble a charcuterie board?

We have our cheese board method down to a science, and now we can put together our charcuterie wreath in minutes. Here’s how:

Put down the cheeses. These are going to be the focal point of your board. To give that wreath look, we used a round of brie right in the middle to form the center of the wreath.
Arrange the meats and salty items (except for the crackers!) around the cheese.
Start to fill in the empty space with sweet foods, fresh fruits, and vegetables.
Add piles of crackers evenly around the board. If your platter is on the smaller side or you have a lot of guests, you may need to put additional crackers in bowls off to the side so you aren’t doing constant refills.
Add condiments in small jars or bowls.
Garnish with fresh herbs (rosemary looks so festive!) or clusters of grapes.

And you’re done!

How far in advance can you prep a charcuterie board?

We usually don’t prep these boards in advance—they are just so quick to put together right before serving! But if you want to get a bit ahead, you can assemble your board up to a day in advance. Wait to add the crunchy items, so they don’t get soft in the fridge. Arrange everything but the crunchy ingredients, wrap the board tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until serving time. Add the crackers right before serving.