How to Make a Candy Charcuterie Board

Published on May 19th, 2025

THE COCKTAIL PARTY CLASSIC JUST GOT A LOT MORE FUN

Who doesn’t love a charcuterie board? A selection of meats, cheeses, crackers and tidbits like olives or jams elevates any party and can be everything from a light snack to a full meal. A candy charcuterie board takes it even further, turning it into dessert as well. A candy charcuterie board is exactly what it sounds like: a charcuterie board made of candy! Swap cured meats and cheeses for chocolate and candy, arrange it artfully and serve on a large board. 

We like mixing and matching colors, shapes, textures, and flavor profiles like sweet, sour, and chocolate. Think gummy worms alongside a dish of M&Ms, a spattering of Jolly Ranchers laid out around a tray of eye-catching caramels. The point is to get creative, and go a little overboard  on your sweet tooth. 

Candy charcuterie boards are great for kid’s birthday parties, graduations, movie nights or cocktail parties. Really, any celebration can benefit from a fun, sweet treat! 

Candy Charcuterie Board vs Dessert Charcuterie Board

While a dessert charcuterie board can often include things like cupcakes, cookies, and other baked goods, a candy charcuterie board is exclusively candy. Everything should be finger food, easy for guests to pluck off the board and pop into their mouths.

How to make a candy board for a party?

There’s no right or wrong way to make a candy board. You could go all chocolate, with a mix of sea salt chocolates, dark chocolate pretzels, and chocolate covered cherries. You could go exclusively caramel, with espresso bean caramels, old fashioned cocktail caramels, and salted caramels. Or you could make it cocktail themed, with peach bellini and champagne gummies, tequila candies, bourbon bears, and adorable champagne bottles.  

But some of the most aesthetically pleasing candy charcuterie boards combine a mix of colors, textures, and flavors. A bowl of Brigadeiros, some sea salt chocolates, and a spread of pralines, for example.

When making a traditional charcuterie board, many people follow the 3-3-3 rule: three meats, three cheeses, and three starches like crackers or toasted bread. You can follow a similar rule with your candy board. Try three chocolate or caramel candies, three fruit-flavored candies, and three that are sour or another flavor profile. You can also use this rule for size. Three small candies in a bowl (jelly beans, gummy worms, Mike & Ikes), three longer candies like licorice or gummy worms, and three medium-sized candies like mini candy bars. 

It’s up to you whether you want to unwrap candy or leave that to your guests. Some candy, like the Idaho Spuds and Cherry Cocktails from Idaho Candy Company, have fun wrappers that are nice to leave on.  Others, like bourbon balls with chocolate and pecans, look nice displayed on the board. 

Pick a wooden board, like a charcuterie board, as your base, but don’t feel like everything needs to go on the board. You can contain things like Skittles or M&Ms in bowls, or add smaller trays on top of your main board. We like grouping candies together in sections, but you can also mix them up. 

Don’t stress too much about it. A board of candy is inherently fun, and delicious. You really can’t mess it up. Your guests will be delighted to dig in! 

Read More: Unique Charcuterie Board Ideas