Kid-Friendly Valentine’s Day Charcuterie Board

Charcuterie boards are all the rage! Seems a tad incongruous, given hosting and gathering are rather discouraged these days, but I get it–we all need to make the most of our hearth and home during this trickiness. It’s also super important to celebrate the everyday, which is exactly why in our house, charcuterie boards are a trend with which we’re very much on board. I love the ease of them–in the making of and in the pleasing of every palate. We often host a weekly kid-friendly happy hour with friends (and continue to do so with a member of our close-knit pod during these COVID days), and this appetizer is always such a win. With the season of sweetness on us, I’m delighted to share this kid-friendly Valentine’s Day charcuterie board idea with all of you!

Kid-Friendly Valentine’s Day Charcuterie Board

At our stage and age of kiddos, I shoot for a few things in any social bites we serve:

• easy to prepare
• foods my kids will actually eat
• affordable
• hearty proteins included to fill them up in a lasting way (because who wants to serve a lovely happy hour spread and then also make dinner??)
• general healthiness and at least a few food groups (so I can check a nice box on my mom goals for the day 😉 )
• bonus points if you can specialize it or theme it out…like with a Valentine’s theme!

So how do you meet these criteria AND theme out a Valentine’s Day charcuterie board? Read on, friends, and I’ll tell you exactly how to affordable, easily craft a kid-friendly Valentine’s Day charcuterie board you and your family will love.

What you need for your kid-friendly Valentine’s Day charcuterie board:

• A board! (PRO TIP: I bought wood serving boards a few years ago when hosting my husband’s 40th, and I have never looked back. I use them every single time we have company–so versatile!)
• White block cheese (you choose the flavor), cut into bite-sized pieces
• Grape tomatoes
• Mini pepperoni (we used turkey pepperoni to up the healthiness factor)
• Princess Goldfish crackers (same flavor as regular Goldfish, but have Valentine’s benefit of being pink!)
• craisins
• strawberries, halved
• spreadable strawberry cream cheese
• ranch dip (make your own or buy ready-made at the grocery)
• red food dye

How to craft your kid-friend Valentine’s Day charcuterie board

1. Make a small heart in the middle of the board with the craisins
2. Outline the craisins with the Goldfish crackers
3. Ring the crackers with grape tomatoes
4. Outline the tomatoes with your cuts of cheese.
5. Finish the heart shape with the halved strawberries.
6. Spoon the cream cheese into a bowl (let’s be fancy, right? 😉 )
7. Stir several drops of red food dye into the ranch dressing until desired pinkness is achieved, then spoon into serving bowl.
8. Place cream cheese and ranch dips beside your carefully crafted heart and voila!

For this special Valentine’s happy hour, we really went all out and served the kids cranberry punch (cranberry juice mixed with lemon-lime soda) while we sipped on our wine. Beverages are an optional embellishment, so do what works for you.

I get it, friends, I truly do. These COVID days are BRUTAL. Doing anything and everything we can to make the most of the small things is key to our sanity and survival. Someday we’ll look back on all of this and pat ourselves on the back for being the boss parents we are during this time. In the meantime, invite a pod friend over, or just treat your family and make a Valentine’s charcuterie board to bring smiles your way. xoxo

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Meredith

Meredith blogs at The Mom of the Year, where she dedicatedly earns her title one epic parenting fail at a time, offering quick, relatable laughs for fellow parents and all their empathizers. She has been part of several best-selling anthologies, featured on prominent sites such as Huffington Post, In the Powder Room and BlogHer, and loves her role as the Executive VP/Operations Manager of The BlogU Conference. When she's not breaking up fights over Legos and juice boxes, she remains fully committed to sharing a less serious look at the world of parenting.

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