There are two types of people in the world: the ones who create cheese boards and the ones who pay others to make their cheese boards (like my brother at Christmas time). If you identify as the latter, hopefully, these tips will help you evolve into your friends’ and family’s favorite party host while not breaking the bank.

---

Use a cutting board as your vehicle.

There are thousands of legitimate cheese boards on the market and some of them are pretty cheap. On the other hand, you can pay upwards of $150 for a glorious bamboo cheese board set.

Unless you plan on hosting a party every weekend (or just really love eating cheese off of a board), you can probably get away with using a cutting board! You most likely have one sitting around and if it’s wooden, no one will even know the difference. All the goodies on top will cover it up and you’ll save some pennies.

---

Make it small and refill, refill, refill!

Cheese boards can get extravagant. Tons of cheeses, meats, fruits, nuts and spreads can make for a fun and versatile board, but it can also be hard on the wallet.

Choose a couple of your favorites, make a board that isn’t the size of Manhattan and if it gets sparse, just refill with what you have. There is no need to spend a huge wad of cash on eight different cheeses people will only take a few bites of, that will then waste away in the back of your fridge.

---

Think sweet and savory.

People love variety and a cheese board is one of the most versatile party foods. Cathy, creator of Lemon Tree Dwelling, gives some great examples of sweet and savory options in her blog about cheese boards.

For sweet, think about fruits, jams and jellies, or maybe some honey. These are things you probably already have in your fridge. For savory, think about olives, nuts or peppers. Again, you might already have some of these but if not, they are super cheap at your nearest grocery store.

---

Your cheese doesn’t need to be fancy.

Abbaye du Mont des Cats. Yes, that is a cheese. It is a french semi-soft cheese that is hard to pronounce and not commonly found at your local Walmart. But, guess what you can find at your local grocery? Cheddar, Goat (my personal favorite), Swiss, Blue. The list goes on and on.

There are plenty of affordable, recognizable and pronounceable cheeses to choose from for your cheese board. Trust me, if there is dairy present, your guests will be happy. If you feel lost, just take a trip to the cheese isle and explore. See what stands out to you and fits in the budget. Remember, the cheese board only lasts a night (or day), there’s no need to break the bank.

---

Bread. That’s it.

Many cheese boards include an array of artisan crackers with seeds and fruits. But when you are on a budget, spending $8 on a box of crackers doesn’t sound too exciting.

Take advantage of the fact that people love bread. You can buy a baguette for a couple bucks and feed the whole crowd. All you have to do is slice it up and toast it to make the perfect crostini to pair with all the other goodies.

---

Head over to MyRecipes’ blog about building a cheese board while ballin’ on a budget to get some more tips and tricks to use in your beautiful creations!