how to throw an easy DIY taco party

I really, really love throwing parties and little get togethers. 

there's something so fun and satisfying about getting a group of friends together in your home, spotify playing good jams in the background and enjoying food together. if eugene and I lived closer to our friends - we would have people over all the time! having your own place provides you the unique and amazing privelige to serve people you love. this is definitely one of my favorite things to do!  however- i confess it can definitely be a lot of work trying to cook enough food for a party (even if the party is just a party of 6 - especially if that party is full of hungry boys!) 

somethings I always try to be mindful of when hosting parties:

1) prepare as much of the food in advance as possible - to avoid wait time, of course!

2) find out if people have any allergies or huge dislikes before planning the meal

3) avoid spending the entire time in the kitchen -  enjoy the time with your guests!

4) do the prep but let the people make/arrange/serve the food themselves

i love all things DIY. so of course - i love DIY food parties. DIY food parties cut your cooking time in the kitchen in half and allow people to individualize + personalize their meal to their liking. and its so much fun! 

one of my favorite DIY food parties to host (besides spring roll, california roll making parties) is a DIY taco making party. tacos are so easy to prep for and you can be creative with it by changing up the meats (surf + turf, fried fish, carnitas, korean bbq). a few months ago - i hosted a surf-and-turf taco making party. I made salsa + guacamole (of course), cabbage slaw and a chipotle-inspired corn and bean salsa. of course we had limes, lots of limes! I cooked a medium rare steak on my cast iron and cut it into bite sized pieces and fired-up some cajun-lime shrimp. we served it with 4 different types of sauces: sour cream, creama mexicana, tapatio and a thousand island cream base spread. I toasted a few fresh tortillas (from Costco!) on the grill and it was go time! 

if you can imagine, it made for a pretty amazing taco slash burrito.

on our recent trip to the anchored conference, we rented a huge house with an amazing kitchen. we did DIY tacos/taco bowls with the leftover carnitas + steak that we had. we also had a bunch of day-old rice we needed to use, so we added some broth, salsa and fresh cilantro to make mexican rice. DIY parties are always amazing. 

you're gonna have to trust me on this one!

xoxo,

sharon