In the realm of gifts that keep on giving, a custom-made charcuterie board from Woodin You Like to Party fits the bill quite literally.
Anyone who flourishes a reusable board branded with the Santa Maria-based company’s logo has access to charcuterie spread refills with an exclusive discount, owner and founder Kelsey Woodin explained.
“If I have a returning customer that brings me that same board, I give them 10 percent off their order. So it’s a good incentive,” said Woodin, who uses a special engraver to stamp her logo and other designs onto the company’s boards—patrons can choose from traditional shapes into various forms, like hearts and Christmas trees.
“We can do any type of personalization. We can put your actual photo on a board. You name it, we can do it,” Woodin said. “I have a laser machine so we do all kinds of custom laser work for anything and everything … I haven’t come across anything that I cannot do.”
This gift-giving season marks Woodin’s launch of her first boards shaped like Santa’s sleigh, just in time for holiday shopping. Regardless of whether you’re on the naughty or nice list, you only need to reside in the Santa Maria Valley area to take advantage of free home deliveries of charcuterie selections from Woodin You Like to Party.
Woodin is no stranger to delivering her custom boards and spreads to customers in cities beyond Santa Maria on the Central Coast though, for a delivery fee based on mileage to cover fuel costs—the price of gasoline, not reindeer feed or Christmas cheer.
As a wedding and event planner, Woodin also often incorporates her charcuterie into her catering services. Her career in party prepping predates the origin of her charcuterie business, which came to fruition shortly after an event client’s request for a charcuterie spread, Woodin said.
Back in 2019, a patron asked Woodin if she could deck out a kitchen island with charcuterie for a house party.
“I decided to cover that whole thing in charcuterie, mixing it with veggies and sandwiches and the meats and the cheeses,” said Woodin, who shared a photo of her charcuterie creations on social media after the party.
“From there, it kind of blossomed,” Woodin recalled. “I had posted that one picture, and shortly after that I had clients coming to me asking if I could do charcuterie boards.”
When it comes to assembling her meats, cheeses, veggies, and other charcuterie staples, Woodin shops from grocery stores, wholesale suppliers, and some local vendors she’s become acquainted with over the years.
One of her upcoming collaborations she’s excited about is with Stepladder Creamery, based in Harmony. She was introduced to the local brand at the San Luis Obispo farmers market and is looking forward to incorporating their cheese wheels at weddings and other large gatherings in the future.
“I have to make sure I have a large order for those, because those cheese wheels go a long way,” Woodin said with a laugh.
Visitors of Woodin’s website will find a plethora of charcuterie accouterments to choose from when placing an order. If she was in one of her customer’s shoes, she would base her picks on what kind of libation she was planning to pair with the charcuterie assortment.
“Anytime that somebody says they are having an event and they’re serving alcohol, I ask them what kind,” Woodin said. “I want to know that what I give them is going to pair well.
“I am a white wine drinker myself,” added Woodin, who enjoys white wine with an assemblage of blueberry vanilla goat cheese, peppered salami, and pepper jack cheese crisps.
“You get that sweet, that savory, that crunchy, all in one bite,” said Woodin, who’s rarely opposed to throwing in some mini pickles for good measure. “Oh my gosh, I could eat an entire jar of those mini pickles.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood likes mini golf and a lot of other mini things. Send mini M&Ms to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 7-17, 2023.