Party catering
Party catering across the Fraser Valley
Birthdays, engagements, showers and anniversaries, Armenian and Middle Eastern
Salma's Kitchen caters birthdays, engagement parties, baby and bridal showers and anniversaries across the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver, cooked in our Abbotsford kitchen and delivered laid out ready to serve. Two to four weeks of notice suits most parties. Call us with your date, your guest count and the address.
- Event Birthdays, engagement parties, baby and bridal showers, anniversaries.
- Where Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver, cooked in our Abbotsford kitchen.
- Notice Two to four weeks suits most parties. Four to six for a milestone.
- How it arrives Delivered laid out ready to serve, or collected from our kitchen.
- To book Phone only. Call (819) 743-5953 with your date, guest count and address.
The occasion
Which kind of party are you feeding?
The food is much the same across all of them. What changes is the one question the order turns on, and how much notice the date needs. Find your row and you already know most of what we will ask on the phone.
| Occasion | What the order turns on | When to call |
|---|---|---|
| Birthday at home | Whether children are eating too, and how long the door stays open. | Two to four weeks ahead. |
| Engagement party | How long guests will graze, because a long evening eats more per person than a dinner. | Three to four weeks ahead. |
| Baby or bridal shower | Fridge space before guests arrive, and setting the table once rather than tending it. | Two to four weeks ahead. |
| Milestone anniversary | Whether it is seated or a buffet, and whether the room is a home or a hall. | Four to six weeks ahead. |
| Reunion or housewarming | A guest count that keeps moving, and whether the food sits outdoors. | Two to four weeks ahead. |
If you are still choosing between a grazing table, a seated meal and an afternoon spread, our journal compares them properly in catering an engagement party or baby shower, and there is a companion piece on birthday and family celebration catering.
How far ahead should you order?
Two to four weeks for most birthdays, showers and family gatherings, and four to six weeks for a milestone or anything in a booked hall. That window lets us plan quantities properly and lets you change your guest count once or twice, which every party needs.
Short notice is often still workable, especially for a pickup order of platters and dips close to home. What narrows is the range of the menu, not the quality of the food, so call before you rule it out. The full set of timings by event type is in our note on how far in advance to book a caterer.
How much food does a party need?
Enough that nobody is counting portions, which is the whole point of a shared table. We work it out with you from your headcount and how long people will be eating, and we plan on the generous side.
Twenty guests do not need every dish on the menu, they need a few done properly: two grilled mains, a vegetarian main, rice, a salad or two, warm bread and two dips. Fifty is where the arithmetic starts to matter, because small errors multiply, and a grazing evening eats more per person than a tidy afternoon. Our guide to planning food for 20, 50 or 100 guests does the math with you before you call.
Do you deliver, or should you collect the order?
Both work. We deliver across the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver with everything laid out ready to serve, so the person hosting actually gets to attend their own party. Pickup from our Abbotsford kitchen is always an option instead.
We are a drop off kitchen, which is what a home party wants. You already have a table, plates and a kitchen, so trays of food and a few dips is the whole job. Where a longer event in a hall with no kitchen needs something more hands on, say so on the phone and we will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do rather than working it out on the day. Our note on drop off against full service explains the difference in plain words.
Outdoors in summer, the cold dishes are the thing to watch. Our note on keeping food hot and cold at an outdoor event covers what a backyard table needs.
How do you handle dietary needs at a family party?
By building a table almost everyone can eat from. Much of a Middle Eastern spread is already vegetarian and several dishes are vegan, so those guests eat from the main table rather than getting handed something separate.
Sesame, nuts and dairy run through this cuisine, so raise allergies when you call rather than on the day. On halal we say the same thing to everyone: we are a small family kitchen, not a certified halal facility. We will tell you exactly what goes into each dish so you can decide for your own guests.
What arrives, and who sets it out?
Trays and platters arranged to go straight onto the table: grilled kabab and shish tawook, toshka, kibbe, rice, tabouli and Armenian salad, warm bread, and dips by the half kilo. Anything on our menu can be ordered as a party spread.
You set it out, or better, somebody who is not the host does. That one decision is the difference between a host who enjoys the party and a host who spends it at the counter. We deliver across our whole service area, most often to Abbotsford, Langley and Aldergrove for parties at home.
A short host checklist
- Clear the table before the delivery window, not during it.
- Name one person who is not the host to own the food table.
- Make fridge space for the salads and dips ahead of time.
- Decide whether plates, napkins and serving spoons are coming from you or the venue.
- If the party is outdoors, plan shade for the table and keep the cold dishes cold.
Before you call
Party catering questions, answered
How far in advance should I book party catering?
Two to four weeks is comfortable for a birthday, shower or family gathering of 20 to 60 people. A milestone anniversary or anything in a booked hall deserves four to six weeks. Smaller pickup orders of platters and dips often need only a few days, so call before you assume it is too late.
What kinds of parties do you cater?
Birthdays, engagement parties, baby and bridal showers, milestone anniversaries, reunions and housewarmings, anywhere in the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver. Anything built around a shared table works well, because a mezze spread scales by adding trays rather than by re-planning the menu.
How much food should I order for a party?
It depends on your headcount and how long people will be eating. Twenty guests need a few dishes done properly. Fifty needs three or four grilled mains, rice in quantity, several salads and all the dips. A grazing evening eats more per person than a two hour lunch, so tell us the shape of the day.
Do you deliver to home parties, or do we collect?
Either. We deliver across the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver, laid out ready to serve, so the person hosting is not stuck in the kitchen. Pickup from our Abbotsford kitchen is always an option and takes the delivery window out of your morning.
Can you cater a party with vegetarian, vegan and allergy needs?
Much of a Middle Eastern spread is already vegetarian and several dishes are vegan, so those guests eat from the main table rather than a separate plate. Sesame, nuts and dairy run through this cuisine, so raise allergies when you call. On halal we are straight with you: we are a small family kitchen, not a certified halal facility.
How do we place a party order?
By phone. Call us on (819) 743-5953 with your date, a rough guest count, the address and the kind of party. There is no ordering form and no email address. One short conversation settles the quantities better than a form would.
Party catering by city
From our kitchen to your table
Tell us the date, the guest count and the kind of party. We will shape the spread with you.
Call (819) 743-5953