This past Christmas, I put together a couple party trays that came together quite quickly. You don’t have to pre-order them from places (unless you don’t really have the time or patience to chop and decorate) – and if you make them yourself, then you can decide what goes on it!

My first tray I made were all items I bought from Whole Foods, with the exception of the grape tomatoes and baby bocconcini.

xmaspartytray-3 I bought sun-dried tomatoes, olives stuffed with pimentos and a great (but to our surprise spicy!) olive tapenade. This tray cost about $12 to put together.

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The second tray I made was the healthiest of the three – chopped veggies. I bought 2 carrots, two stalks of celery, a small broccoli crown (I didn’t even end up using it all), grape tomatoes, a head of cauliflower (which again, I didn’t even use up) and a whole cucumber. I would say this tray cost less than $10 to do.

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Finally our meat tray. I’m not gonna lie, I cheated a bit this year and went to Costco. They have a great pack of different meats for a Panini and that’s exactly what I used. My parents couldn’t tell the difference anyway, and they enjoyed it. I bought Cracker Barrel Aged Cheddar for the center, and the following day, we served a similar meat tray but with Queso de Bola (a Filipino cheese). This tray was a little more  costly, the meat was $11 and the cheese was on sale for $7.

I think for Christmas next year, I’m going to try themed trays by country and see how that goes! What do you put in your party trays? Let me know below!