It's so nice to finally be able to throw a proper party with our friends to celebrate the crazy journey we've been on to get the house done! I always have all these ideas on how I want it to look, like getting a grazing table done, and it's Justin who backs them and comes up with a plan to execute it within our budget (what would I do without him?) It really was a perfect mix of Justin's love for food and my love for styling!
In reality, our grazing table took around an hour to buy all the food from NTUC Finest, and another hour to set it all up. Of course we had to do some prep beforehand like researching different suppliers for the food we wanted (we checked out Jason's and Hubert's as well); we also had to decide on a theme - a more muted palette rather than a brighter tropical one (so no strawberries, kiwis or pineapples); and go down to Far East Flora the day before to pick up wholesale plants to style the table and house. While eucalyptus leaves are lovely and always a fail safe if you're not sure what to choose, FEF has a fantastic selection of green branches at more affordable prices than the former - I went with the buxus plant for a more wine country look.
The rule to cutting down on set up time was to buy cold cuts that were already sliced, pre-made dips (they sell them in the fridges!); pre-mixed nuts which Justin added cranberries and dates for added texture; and biodegradable, disposable cutlery for easy clean up. Even the crackers can be bought in boxes off the shelf - NTUC had an amazing variety. We had so much fun putting it together and are even thinking of ideas on how to level up the quality of ingredients for our next one!
Here's a list of the items we bought for our grazing table if you're thinking of doing one yourself! (Feeds around 40+ pax IMO, because of the leftovers. We were planning for 30 people!)
- 1.4 KG of sliced meat
- 1.2 KG of cubed sausages
- 3 loaves of bread
- 5 bowls of hummus
- 3 bowls of tzatziki
- 1 bottle of pesto
- 1 bottle of cornichons
- 1 bottle of olives
- 1 box of rosemary
- 1 wheel of brie
- 3-4 varieties of cheese
- 2 cream cheeses (dips)
- 3-4 bags of trail mix
- 1 box of cranberries
- 1 box of dates
- 5 boxes of Carr's Tablewater Crackers
- 2 boxes of breaded sticks
- 1 box of rectangular crackers
- 1 box of black crackers
All in all we spent slightly less than it would have cost to cater buffet food for the same number of people, and it looked ten times better. Plus grazing was almost like a social activity because people would come together, study the food and have chit chat over it before wandering off so it wasn't like grab your food and go, but picking the food was an activity in itself, and of course it made the party look awesome and everyone showed their appreciation which made the effort extra worth it.
We were so buzzed from this party - can't wait to share the house more with everyone :)
