Galentine’s Day Food: Appetizers & Treats
Jan 12, 2024 Updated Feb 07, 2026
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My favorite Galentine’s Day food ideas are all love-themed sweets and snacks. This dessert board (very similar to my Valentine’s Dessert Board) is perfectly festive with a heart-shaped apple, kissing-lips gummies, and lots of other novelty V-Day sweets.
Whether you are celebrating with a group of your best gal pals or just you and your sweetie, these festive treats will be perfect. Can’t find the exact items I used? Just swap in the Valentine’s or Galentine’s snacks you love most.
If you’re looking for more savory snacks or Galentine’s Day dinner ideas, pair this board with my Bacon Bouquet Board or Salami Rose Charcuterie Bouquets. If you’re planning a Galentine’s Day brunch try my Bagel Brunch Board, Cheese and Chocolate Pairing Board, or BYO Bloody Mary Bar.
Table of Contents
- My Galentine’s Day Food Ideas: As Seen on Home & Family
- Galentine’s Day Snack Board Ingredients
- How to Make This Galentine’s Snack Board
- Food for a Galentine’s Day Party: Ingredient Substitutions and Budget Tips
- How to Make a Heart-Shaped Apple
- Tips to Style a Galentine’s Day Food Board
- Cute Galentine’s Ideas: Make This Treat Board into a V-Day Gift
- Galentine’s Day Ideas for Drinks
- FAQs
- Show Me Your Galentine’s Boards
- Galentine’s Day Dessert Board Recipe
- Shop this Post
My Galentine’s Day Food Ideas: As Seen on Home & Family
My Galentine’s Day Board and famous heart-shaped apple design were featured on The Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family show. Watch the full Home & Family segment on YouTube here, and below, for how to style this board.
Galentine’s Day Snack Board Ingredients
This board is full of my favorite items. Don’t stress if you can’t find these, easily swap for what you like best!
Produce
- Apple hearts (see my heart apple tutorial here)
- Blueberries
Candy
- Skull gummies (Sockerbit)
- Lip gummies (Sockerbit)
- Red licorice pinwheels (Dylan’s Candy Store)
- Heart gummies (Sockerbit)
- Red, white, and pink M&Ms
- X’s & O’s gummies (Trader Joe’s)
Sweets
- Vanilla meringues
- Pink chocolate-covered almonds (Sockerbit)
- Chocolate shortbread hearts (Trader Joe’s)
- Heart cookies (Whole Foods)
- Brownies
- Chocolate pretzels with pink sprinkles (Whole Foods)
- Jelly-filled round heart cookies (Whole Foods)
How to Make This Galentine’s Snack Board
- Add M&Ms and X’s & O’s gummies into individual small bowls around the board. These heart-shaped ramekins are great for this board!
- Fill two round ramekins with blueberries and place an apple heart in each.
- Place the rest of the smaller items in the space between the four bowls, separating similar colors.
- Layer the larger items around the edge of the board, separating similar colors.
- Include these fun gold scoops for guests to self-serve the candy. I always put out bags for guests to take home goodie bags with leftovers, too.
Food for a Galentine’s Day Party: Ingredient Substitutions and Budget Tips
Whether this is for date night, a roomie hang, or just you, this board is easy to adjust. If you can’t find the same items I use here, or you’re on a tight budget, include the items that you have on hand and what’s available near you.
If you need ideas for easy swaps, here are a few alternatives.
- Can’t find heart cookies? Use a round cookie and press or place a chocolate heart on top.
- No blueberries? Use raspberries or purple grapes. Check out my other Valentine’s Day fruit ideas, tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, and more!
- Trader Joe’s sold out of these items? Try Target, World Market, or CVS for alternative cute seasonal candy.
- Just a party for two? Scale it down by choosing 3–5 different sweets. Arrange them on a small platter (a dinner plate works!) for the same festive vibe.
- Romantic date vibes needed? Make it a mini dessert board for two with two cookies, a few gummies, and a ramekin of berries.
- Going for a self-care solo night? Pair chocolate and gummies with a glass of wine or your favorite mocktail.
- Need a roomie-ready party spread? Gather a few cereal bowls and set a movie-night grazing board with pink popcorn, pretzels, and sweets.
How to Make a Heart-Shaped Apple
You know I love making food art, so I came up with this cute way to display apple slices in the shape of a heart. It’s so easy to set up and looks adorably festive. Bonus, my toddler daughter eats way more apples when they’re served like this. Here’s my tutorial on how to make a heart-shaped apple.
Steps to Cut an Apple-Shaped Heart
- Choose round, red apples. Envy is usually my top choice.
- Cut off both sides of the apple, slicing alongside the core.
- Place one of the cut sides flat on your cutting board (the red will be facing up).
- Cut even, vertical slices into the apple, thin is good here. Keeping the slices together as much as possible as you continue slicing vertically through the whole piece.
- Keep the apple slices together, but slide the sides up and the middle down slightly to mold it into the shape of a heart.
- To move it to your serving bowl or plate, gently pinch the sides and move the slices all together. Lay it down and adjust to make the heart shape visible.
If you are worried about browning, squeeze a bit of citrus juice on any flesh that is exposed (lemon or orange juice works).
Tips to Style a Galentine’s Day Food Board
Here’s how I think about building a themed board, whether it’s Valentine’s Day or any holiday.
- Pick a color palette. For Valentine’s Day I use red, pink, purple, and white, with some brown chocolate mixed in too. When using two or more items of the same color, separate them on the board so they pop out and give the overall board some visual balance.
- Look for novelty items. One or two novelty shapes will reinforce the theme well. Here I went with love-y treats: XO gummies, heart cookies, lips, and more. Find the fun items you like most then fill in the rest.
Cute Galentine’s Ideas: Make This Treat Board into a V-Day Gift
This dessert board also makes the sweetest edible gift for a favorite gal pal.
- Assemble in a gift box or bakery box with cute parchment or tissue paper.
- Buy a beautiful heart-shaped dish, wrap in cellophane, and tie with pink ribbon.
- Include a mini scoop or heart spoon.
You can pair it with a copy of The Cheese Board Deck, which is a great gift that keeps on giving. It is filled with 50 board ideas for cheese boards, breakfast boards, kid’s boards, and beyond, including a fun date-night board and even a Valentine’s Day dessert board. You can easily buy The Cheese Board Deck on Amazon.
Galentine’s Day Ideas for Drinks
Non-Alcoholic:
- Sparkling pink lemonade
- Hibiscus tea lattes
- Blackberry mocktail mule
Cocktail Ideas:
- Rosé spritz
- Chocolate martinis
- Strawberry frosé
- Raspberry mojito
- Spiked hot chocolate board
FAQs
Most of the ingredients I have here are shelf stable—except for the apple and fresh fruit, nothing else needs to be refrigerated.
You can prep most ingredients (sort candy, bake brownies) one day ahead. Keep candies separate in an airtight container until you’re ready to assemble. Put the full board together the day you’ll serve it to keep it looking fresh and festive. The apples should be cut only an hour before serving so they don’t brown.
Because the apple slices are mostly not exposed to the air, they have a lower likelihood of browning quickly. Cut apples only one hour before serving. Brush with lemon juice or orange juice to keep the flesh from browning.
If making in advance, cover tightly with plastic wrap and store at room temp for up to one day in advance. For the fruit, cut it the day of. You can refrigerate and unwrap 30 minutes before serving.
I often shop at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Target, and CVS for holiday-themed snacks and treats. Online, I shop at Dylan’s Candy Bar and Sockerbit for all my seasonal candies.
Try pink yogurt parfaits, heart-shaped PB&J sandwiches, fruit skewers with marshmallows, and gummy candies in heart ramekins.
Add fresh strawberries, raspberries, dried fruit, dark chocolate almonds, or yogurt-covered nuts alongside your sweets.
Use what you have on hand. Mix bulk-bin candies with homemade items like cookies or brownie bites, and supplement with dollar-store finds. Even fruit and marshmallows can look festive with pink sprinkles!
Show Me Your Galentine’s Boards
I hope this post inspires you to create Galentine’s treats. Nothing makes me happier than seeing the beautiful spreads you create from my tips. If you make something inspired by this post, please tag me at @ainttooproudtomeg so I can see and share!
And, if you liked this board recipe, please rate and review.
Galentine’s Day Dessert Board
Ingredients
Produce
- Apple hearts
- Blueberries
Candy
- Skull gummies (Sockerbit)
- Lip gummies (Sockerbit)
- Red licorice pinwheels (Dylan's Candy Store)
- X's & O's gummies (Trader Joe's)
- Heart gummies (Sockerbit)
- Red, white, and pink M&Ms
Sweets
- Vanilla meringues
- Jelly-filled round heart cookies (Whole Foods)
- Pink chocolate covered almonds (Sockerbit)
- Brownies
- Heart cookies (Whole Foods)
- Chocolate pretzels with pink sprinkles (Whole Foods)
- Chocolate hhortbread Hearts (Trader Joe's)
Instructions
- Place a few ramekins around the board. Add M&Ms and X's & O's Gummies to two of the ramekins and blueberries to the other two.
- Place an apple heart in each bowl of blueberries.
- Arrange the rest of the smaller items in the space between the four bowls, separating similar colors.
- Add the larger items around the edge of the board, separating similar colors.
Photos from Home & Family by Keith Castillo/ Alexx Henry Studios, LLC.
This is the most adorable valentines day snack board! I can’t wait to try this out. I LOVE this!
This board is beautiful! Can’t wait to share it with my girl friends for Galentine’s!
This is too cute!! I will be remaking this!