If you’re looking for a new and easy way to impress your guests, create your own grazing table. It’s basically a tablescape filled with artfully arranged food such as spreads, appetizers, cheeses and other small bites. It makes eating and mingling as interesting as the food display. It can also be as cheap or as extravagant as you want it to be.

First, decide on a theme. For a cocktail grazing table, we prepared different spreads, nuts, dried and fresh fruits, cheeses, crackers and breads, and ham.

You will need: various stands, trays, glass blocks for height; bowls for dips, some wooden cheese boards, wooden bowls; spreaders, small spoons, forks for your spreads; linen cloth as a table cover; flowers in brown bottle vases, candlesticks for décor; printed name cards of the different foods.

Start unwrapping your cheeses and crackers, slicing your breads and getting your other prepared foods ready. Cover your table with the linen table cloth.

Start with the larger pieces like the blocks of cheese and the ham around the table and on the elevated stands and cheese boards.

Add the jars of dips and spreads on top of the glass blocks and cheese blocks, making sure they are at different levels and have their proper labels and spreaders.

Place the vases with flowers alternately to break the array of food.

Fill in the gaps in between the layered stands with the leftover nuts and dried fruits.

Drape clusters of grapes and other fresh fruits strategically around the arrangement.

Stand back and survey your work. Add where you see fit. It’s as easy as that!

Tip: You may begin with a flower arrangement at the center of your table and work your way around it. INQ