Birthday and baby shower catering that keeps you out of the kitchen

A birthday or baby shower at home should not turn the host into the help. My fix is simple: order food that arrives hot, goes into a chafing dish in its own husk, and serves itself for three hours without anyone standing at a stove. For a home party, plan two of our big tamales per adult and one per child, add rice, beans, chips, and salsas, and have it delivered about an hour before the first guest. Then sit down. You are the host, not the kitchen staff.

I say this as someone who cooks for a living and who still catches herself at family parties, standing over a pot while everyone else is laughing in the other room. It is a hard habit to break. Good catering breaks it for you.

The host who never sits down

You know this person. Maybe you are this person. The shower starts at 2, and at 2:15 she is still warming the enchiladas, at 3 she is refilling the queso, at 4 she is scraping plates, and the only photo of her from the whole party is one where she is holding a dish towel.

The cause is nearly always the same: a menu that needs tending. Anything fried, anything with a crispy top, anything that must be assembled or sliced or plated to order chains the host to the counter. The solution is not to cook less. It is to choose food that is finished when it arrives and stays finished.

That is exactly what a tamal is. It was cooked in its husk, it stays in its husk, and it waits in the steam for as long as you need it to. Nobody has to plate it, slice it, or babysit it. A guest peels one, spoons on salsa, and goes back to the conversation. You do too.

A menu that serves itself

This is the home-party menu I send most often, and it matches what we describe on our parties and celebrations catering page:

• Pork tamales in red salsa and chicken tamales in green salsa, in their husks, in a chafing dish or a slow cooker on warm with a splash of water. That is the whole main course.
• Mexican rice and beans in a second chafer or two slow cookers. They stretch the meal and give the kids something plain.
• Chips, salsa roja, salsa verde, and guacamole, out before the first knock on the door.
• A toppings tray: crema, cotija, cilantro, lime wedges, pickled jalapeños. This is the part guests enjoy most, and it needs zero work from you.
• Drinks in a tub of ice in a different room from the food, so the two lines never cross.

Every tamal is made with gluten-free masa, the chicken is breast meat, and there is no cream sauce or cheese layer hiding in anything, so the guest with a gluten allergy and the guest who eats lightly both get a full plate without a conversation at the door. If you are hosting for someone with celiac disease, my article on what our masa means for gluten-free guests goes into detail.

For a birthday, add the cake and you are done. For a baby shower, add a fruit tray and the little desserts you were going to make anyway. Please do not add a second hot entrée. It doubles the tending and nobody finishes it.

How much to order for a home party

Home parties are smaller and the headcount is firmer than a graduation open house or a wedding, so the math is easy. Two big tamales per adult, one per child under ten, and one extra dozen for the plates that go home with the grandparents. I explain the portions in more detail in my guide to how many tamales to plan per person.

Those are the prices on our regular tamale menu, where a dozen is $60 and a half-dozen is $30. For a party order I add the rice, beans, salsas, and serving setup and send you one quote for the whole thing. For a small gathering of a dozen people, a couple of dozen tamales ordered by the dozen may be all you need, and our ordering page explains when to use DoorDash and when to use the quote form.

Baby showers: the specifics

Most baby showers I cater are afternoon parties, mostly women, 20–40 guests, with games, gifts, and a mom-to-be who is tired and hungry and would like something more substantial than cucumber sandwiches. Tamales are that something. A few things I have learned:

• Lean toward chicken in green salsa. It is lighter and brighter than the pork, and the tomatillo salsa is mild. I send a 50/50 split for showers instead of my usual pork-heavy mix.
• Time the food for the middle of the party, after guests have arrived and settled but before the gifts. A buffet that opens while everyone is watching the gift opening is a buffet nobody visits.
• Plates and forks on the table, not in a stack across the room. Showers are crowded. Keep the walk short.
• Make a plate for the guest of honor first. She is not going to get up and make one herself, and she should eat.

Brunch showers work too. Tamales with eggs and salsa are a real breakfast in every Mexican household I know, and they hold in a chafer just as well at 10 AM as they do at 3 PM.

Birthdays: kids’ parties and grown-up parties

Kids’ birthdays

Children eat one tamal, sometimes half, and they eat the chicken in green salsa because it is mild. Order one per child and two per adult, because the parents who stay always eat. Put out rice for the picky ones. Skip the pickled jalapeños on the kids’ table. The cake is the point of the party and the tamales are the reason the adults do not leave early.

Milestone birthdays

A fortieth, a sixtieth, an abuela’s eightieth. These are the parties where the food carries the meaning. A tamal is a family food, made from recipes the women in my family passed down, and putting a platter of them on the table at a milestone birthday says something that a sandwich tray cannot. For these, I send the full menu, the toppings bar, and enough extra for the plates that get wrapped in foil and sent home. If you are in Richardson, our Richardson catering page covers the neighborhoods we deliver to most, and the surrounding suburbs work the same way.

The hour before guests arrive

Here is the checklist I text to hosts the day before:

1. Clear a table for the food and a separate spot for drinks.
2. Have a chafing dish with fuel, or a slow cooker or electric roaster, ready with an inch of hot water in the bottom.
3. Put out plates, forks, napkins, and serving spoons before the delivery arrives.
4. When we arrive, tamales go straight from the insulated carrier into the chafer, husks on. Rice and beans go into their pans. Salsas and toppings go on the table.
5. Lids on. Walk away. Go get dressed.

That is the entire job. The food stays at the same temperature when the last guest makes a plate as it was when the first one did, and you get to spend the party in the room with the people you invited.

Leftovers, reheating, and ordering

Whatever is left goes into the refrigerator in the husk and reheats in a steamer, a covered pan, or a microwave with a damp paper towel. My guide to reheating tamales so they taste fresh covers all the methods. Most hosts tell me the leftovers were dinner for two more nights.

To order, send the date, the address, the number of adults and children, and the party start time through the quote form, or call the kitchen between 9 AM and 2 PM on a day we are open. I confirm every quote personally. Weekend afternoons book up, especially in spring and around the holidays, so the sooner you reach out, the more likely I can hold the delivery window you want. Then, on the day, sit down with your guests. That was the whole idea.

Frequently asked questions

How much food do I need for a baby shower of 30 guests?

Plan two of our big tamales per adult, so about 60 tamales or 5 dozen for 30 guests, plus rice, beans, chips, salsas, and a toppings tray. Lean toward chicken in green salsa for a shower crowd, about a 50/50 split with the pork. Add a fruit tray and the desserts, and skip a second hot entrée; nobody finishes it and it doubles the tending.

What is the easiest catering for a birthday party at home?

Food that is finished when it arrives and holds without attention. Tamales in their husks sit in a chafing dish or slow cooker on warm for hours and stay moist, so the host makes no trips to the stove. Add rice, beans, chips, salsas, and a toppings tray, put drinks in a separate room, and the whole spread serves itself while you enjoy the party.

How do I keep tamales warm at a party without drying them out?

Keep them in the husk and hold them over gentle steam: a chafing dish with hot water in the bottom pan, or a slow cooker or electric roaster on warm with an inch of water. Lids on between guests. The husk and the masa protect the filling, so they taste the same at the end of the party as they did when we delivered them.

Can I get tamales for a small birthday party through DoorDash?

Yes, for a small group. A plate of three tamales, a half-dozen, or a dozen or two for a family dinner goes through DoorDash. Once you are feeding a room, use the quote form or call the kitchen: a catering order comes with rice, beans, salsas, toppings, and the serving setup, and I plan the delivery time around your party instead of a driver’s schedule.

Are your tamales safe for guests who are gluten-free?

All of our tamales are made with gluten-free masa, both the pork in red salsa and the chicken breast in green tomatillo salsa. Tell me when you order that you have gluten-free guests and I will walk through the sides and salsas with you so the whole plate works for them. Many hosts pick tamales for exactly this reason.