5 Birthday Grazing Table Ideas on a Budget
Someone in the office has a birthday and you've been asked to sort the food. A grazing table is the easiest answer. People help themselves, nobody needs a seat, and it works whether five people turn up or thirty.
Below are five ways to build one, then the practical bits: how many platters to order for your headcount, what's on each, what it costs, and how long it can safely sit out on a boardroom table.
1. Luxe cheese boards
A gourmet cheese spread is the safe centre of any grazing table. It holds its own next to a glass of something during the toast, and it lasts the afternoon without wilting.
- Double brie, vintage cheddar, edam and a blue
- Dried figs, apricots, grapes and strawberries, with quince paste
- Lavosh, water crackers, grissini and rustic bread
Put a small card beside each cheese. Otherwise you'll spend the party telling people which one is the blue.
2. Bite-size savoury skewers
Skewers are the tidiest thing you can put on a shared table. People take one on the way past, one-handed, without a plate or cutlery.
- Chimichurri beef
- Caprese: tomato, basil and bocconcini
- Lamb kofta
- Grilled prawn with gremolata
Stand them upright in glass jars or bamboo cones instead of laying them flat. They take up less of the table and they're easier to grab.
3. Mini salad cups
Individual salad servings add colour, and they give the people who don't want to eat cheese for an hour something to pick up.
- Moroccan couscous with roasted vegetables
- Classic Caesar with parmesan crisps
- Watermelon, mint and feta
- Thai noodle salad with sesame dressing
4. The birthday sweet spot
Give the sweets their own corner of the table instead of mixing them through the savoury. It looks like a proper dessert spread, and the lamingtons don't end up next to the brie.
- Mini cupcakes in your company colours
- Macaron towers
- Chocolate-dipped strawberries
- A birthday cake
- Individual dessert pots
Use risers and cake stands here, because a tray of cupcakes laid flat at table height is easy to walk past.
5. Drinks station
Put the drinks at the far end of the table, away from the food. The crowd splits in two and the queue doesn't pile up in one spot.
- Fresh juices and soft drinks
- A tea and coffee station
- Prosecco or mini cocktails, if your office allows it
How much food a grazing table needs
Our grazing platters come in two sizes: regular serves 6 to 8, large serves 10 to 14. A grazing table has several platters on it and people take a little from each, so count the serves across the whole table rather than platter by platter.
For an afternoon birthday or a farewell, where the grazing is a snack and not the meal, aim for about one and a half to two serves per person across the table. If it's replacing lunch, go closer to three, and put something substantial on it, like the mezze or Mexican platter below.
Four builds for an afternoon table, counted on the lower serve figure so you don't come up short:
| Headcount | Platters | Serves (low to high) | Total | Per head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Regular cheese, regular fruit, regular dip | 18–24 | $185 | $18.50 |
| 20 | Large cheese, regular charcuterie, large fruit, regular dip | 32–44 | $345 | $17.25 |
| 30 | Large cheese, large charcuterie, regular mezze, large fruit, large dip | 46–64 | $495 | $16.50 |
| 50 | 2 large cheese, 2 large charcuterie, large mezze, 2 large fruit, large dip | 80–112 | $871 | $17.42 |
Mix the platters rather than doubling up on one. For 30 people, five different platters give everyone something they like, where three large cheese platters leave the non-cheese people with crackers.
If the date is already in the calendar, get a quote with your headcount and budget per head. We'll send back a platter list you can forward for sign-off.
What's on each grazing platter
Every platter below is on our standard menu, and all of them can go on the same order.
| Platter | What's on it | Regular (6–8) | Large (10–14) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheese | Double brie, edam, vintage cheddar, blue, figs, apricots, grapes, strawberries, quince paste, lavosh, crackers, grissini, bread | $74 | $122 |
| Charcuterie and nibbles | Cured meats, soft cheese, pickles, olives, pretzels, bread, crackers, condiments | $84 | $131 |
| Mezze | Grilled chicken, sopressa salami, lamb kofta, falafel, crudités, olives, stuffed peppers, baked ricotta, dips, pickles, ciabatta, lavosh | $80 | $122 |
| Dip | Vegetarian dips with cucumber, red pepper, celery and carrot sticks, baked ciabatta and crackers | $58 | $81 |
| Fresh fruit | Rockmelon, honeydew, watermelon, orange, strawberries, passionfruit, grapes | $53 | $81 |
| Mexican | Fried chicken, chargrilled sausage, rice and beans, pineapple pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, corn chips, tortillas | $80 | $122 |
Dietaries. The fruit platter is vegan and gluten free as it comes. The cheese, charcuterie, mezze, dip and Mexican platters all have a gluten free option, so ask for it when you order. The dip platter is vegetarian. For anything beyond that, see our gluten free catering options or put the requirements in the order notes.
Setting it up in the office
Pick a table people can walk around. Against a wall, a grazing table gets one queue. In the middle of the room it gets two sides and moves a lot faster. A boardroom table with the chairs pulled out works well.
Work from savoury to sweet. Plates and napkins go at the start, then cheese and charcuterie, then mezze and dips, then fruit, then sweets, with drinks at the far end. People fill up on whatever they see first, so the most substantial food goes there.
Build height. Cake stands, upturned boxes under a tablecloth or a couple of wooden boards on top of each other. Keep the tallest things at the back so nothing blocks the platters in front.
Uncover at the last minute. Keep the platters covered in the fridge, or in the coolest spot you have, until about fifteen minutes before people arrive, then plate up and uncover.
Label everything. A folded card for each platter, with GF, V or VG where it applies. It saves people asking and it keeps the gluten free crackers away from the regular ones.
How long a grazing table can sit out
Cheese, cured meats, dips and cut fruit are all foods that need to stay cold. Food Standards Australia New Zealand's 2-hour/4-hour rule is the one to follow:
| Time out of the fridge | What to do |
|---|---|
| Under 2 hours | Fine to serve, or put back in the fridge for later |
| 2 to 4 hours | Fine to serve, but don't put it back in the fridge |
| Over 4 hours | Throw it out |
For a 3pm birthday, that means the platters come out at 3pm and not at lunchtime. If the celebration runs long, put out one platter of each type first and keep the second in the fridge to swap in.
A grazing table for the Christmas party
The same build works for an end-of-year function with a few festive additions. From our Christmas catering menu: cold Christmas sliders with glazed ham at $6.90 each, a dozen shucked oysters at $39.90, the seafood platter with 20 king prawns, smoked salmon and mussels at $199, and Christmas sweet treats (rocky road, mince tarts and shortbread wreaths) at $9.90 a serve.
December fills up. Orders for 50 or more people need five business days' notice, and weekend dates carry a 15% surcharge, so get your quote in early.
Platters, or a styled grazing table?
Melbourne has plenty of stylists who build a grazing table on site, with florals, props and a long spread down butcher's paper. They photograph beautifully and they cost a lot more. Many set a minimum spend, and one we checked won't quote a table under $750.
For an office birthday or a Friday farewell, platters are the practical version. The minimum order is $80, delivery is free to the CBD, Docklands and St Kilda Road precincts on orders over $80, and anything ordered by 3pm arrives the next day from 7am. You give up the florals and props, which most office birthdays can live without.
What a birthday grazing table costs
If you'd rather count individual serves than share boards, here are two builds for twenty people, priced per person from our menu, so you can put a real number in front of whoever holds the budget.
| The full table | The lean one | |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh fruit skewers | $5.00 each | $5.00 each |
| Fior di latte skewers | $5.25 each | — |
| Greek salad cup | $6.45 each | — |
| Sweet | Chocolate-dipped strawberries $3.15 | Mini muffins $3.90 |
| Tea and coffee station | $4.85 a head | $4.85 a head |
| Per head | $24.70 | $13.75 |
| Twenty people | $494 | $275 |
For a wider view of what different kinds of catering cost per head, see our catering cost per person guide. And if you want the fruit platter to look better than it arrived, we've written up fruit platter presentation ideas too.
Orders need to be in by 3pm the day before. Everything is priced inclusive of GST, and corporate accounts pay by invoice.
Grazing table FAQs
How much food do you need per person for a grazing table? About one and a half to two serves per person across the whole table if it's an afternoon snack, and closer to three if it's replacing lunch. Our regular platters serve 6 to 8 and our large platters serve 10 to 14.
How much does a grazing table cost for 20 people? A platter-built table for 20 with cheese, charcuterie, fruit and dips is $345, or $17.25 a head. Built from individual skewers, salad cups and sweets instead, it's $275 for a lean version and $494 for the full one.
How far ahead do I need to order a grazing table? Order by 3pm the day before for next-day delivery from 7am. In December, orders for 50 or more people need five business days' notice.
Can a grazing table cater for gluten free and vegan guests? Yes. The fruit platter is vegan and gluten free, and the cheese, charcuterie, mezze, dip and Mexican platters all have a gluten free option. Label each platter so guests can find what they can eat.
How long can a grazing table sit out? Follow the 2-hour/4-hour rule from Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Under two hours it can go back in the fridge, between two and four hours serve it but don't refrigerate it again, and after four hours throw it out.
What is the difference between a grazing table and a buffet? A grazing table is finger food people pick at over an hour or two, standing and talking. A buffet is a meal: hot and cold dishes, plates and cutlery, usually served at one time.
Book a grazing table
Tell us the date, how many people and roughly what you want to spend a head, and we'll come back with a costed table. Get a quote, or browse the grazing platter range if you already know what you want.
We've been catering Melbourne offices for more than thirty years. We run around 250 deliveries a day for 2,000 active clients, and we're rated 4.9 stars from 91 Google reviews.
