Who else can’t live without nachos or better yet A NACHO BAR PARTY?! Easily one of the best dishes on the planet that you can make a food bar out of and have a whole nacho fest. This is a perfect meal for Cinco de Mayo, graduation, a birthday, or just because, and bringing your family/friends together!
Nacho Bar Party
I’ll say keep it saying it, nachos are one of the easiest meal ideas you can have for an occasion. If you’re wanting to serve something that’s simple but everyone will love, a nacho bar party is definitely the way to go. The main preparation is in the nacho bar toppings and ingredients that you’re wanting. We had a nacho bar party station set up on our kitchen island we rolled out and it was the perfect amount of space. I went to town decorating the living area, stringing plastic flags across the room for a full fiesta look! Some of the best parties involve finger food and fun decorations, and that’s what a nacho bar party will bring! There are some fun and clever nacho bar ideas in this post that will have you throwing the best nacho party you’ve had.
Other related posts to a Nacho bar party you may like are our walking taco bar, a taco bar, 30+ food bar ideas for parties, or 35 graduation party food ideas!
Ideas for Nacho Bar Buffet
Make the Guest List
Who do you want at your party?! How do you plan to invite them? This is the first step to your Nacho bar party. What friends or family do you want to celebrate with, regarding the occasion? Who loves nachos? Sending out invitations or making a Facebook event or sending a group text is recommended! Either of these is a great way to get the word out!
Planning Decorations
Decorating for the party is just always going to be one of my favorite parts. I went and ordered a bunch of decorations because sometimes you don’t know what you actually need or what will look good in person. I thought hanging flags across the main living area and over the nacho bar party seemed appropriate. Decorations defintely make the difference and make you feel like you’re at a good party. I did a lot of adjusting, working with what looked best with the nacho station. If you also choose to make or buy decorations, stringing them across the room will make the area feel even bigger! There are several awesome nacho bar ideas for going about decorating and it’s almost better to have too many decorations than not enough.
Planning the Nacho Bar Menu
The nice thing about a DIY nacho bar is there’s really not that much to the menu. When planning the menu, think about everything you would want to be included if you showed up to a party and had nachos. What would you want on them? The more options for nacho toppings the better. Rather than having one kind of salsa, serve three. It’s more fun with a variety and more yummy! You can also ask guests to help bring food to keep costs down and have a variety to enjoy. Whether it be homemade or something you buy, here are ideas of what we had on our Nacho bar party menu:
- tortilla chips
- cheese
- choices of meat
- beans
- choices of salsa/ hot sauce
- guac
- sour cream
- olives
- onions
- tomatoes
Shopping
Now to make the Nacho bar party happen, shopping! The best thing you can do is make a list of EVERYTHING that you might need or want for the party. You can set a budget for yourself and write down the absolute needs, or just keep track of everything you want to make/buy. I found Amazon to have some of the BEST decorations and arrived so quickly! Fast shipping, affordable, and super cute decor ideas for a nacho bar party! Here’s the shopping list that we went off of:
- A TON ON CHIPS (maybe get a couple of different kinds)
- toppings (every topping you can think of)
- plates/napkins/silverware
- beverages
- juice/soda
- ice
- nacho bar menu sign
- succulents or cacti
- balloons
- backdrop or taco party sign
- fun props
- paper tassel
- table runner/cover
- napkins
- decorations (from Amazon or dollar store)
Setting Up the Day Of
To make things as smooth as possible I recommend setting up the day before your Nacho bar party or getting up early to make sure you have enough time for everything to be ready! The more you have ready and set up, the less stressful it’ll be and you can just have fun! Create a space that will be easy for guests to access and walk around when they go to dish up. When deciding where to place the food, I found it helps to arrange dishes in a certain order- whatever makes sense to you! Decorating is the best part and once you have your nacho bar in position, it’s easier to have an idea where to decorate and how much to decorate! There is no right or wrong way to set up a nacho bar party, whatever looks best and feels like a fiesta to you! Just know ahead of time how long drinks and food will take to prepare and then you can work around that with setting up.
More Food Bar Ideas
How to Throw a Nacho Bar Party
Who else can't live without nachos or better yet A NACHO BAR PARTY?! If you're wanting to serve something that's simple but everyone will love, a nacho bar party is definitely the way to go! A simple, easy, cute, and affordable party idea everyone will appreciate.
Materials
- A TON ON CHIPS (maybe get a couple of different kinds)
- cheese sauce
- choices of meat
- beans
- choices of salsa/ hot sauce
- guac
- sour cream
- olives
- onions
- tomatoes
- plates/napkins/silverware
- beverages
- juice/soda
- ice
- nacho bar menu sign
- plants like cacti
- balloons
- fun props
- paper tassel
- table runner/cover
- napkins
- decorations (from Amazon or dollar store)
Instructions
1. Make a guest list
2. Send out invites
3. Plan decorations and brainstorm
4. Plan out what food/beverages/ingredients are needed
5. Go shopping
6. Set out dishes in the order the food will be placed (have plenty of space for a big thing of chips)
7. Decorate for the party
8. Set everything up the day of
Be sure to pin the nacho bar party pin for later on Pinterest so you can get back to it!
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