Celebrations
Medellin Elite Catering caters grown-up birthdays in Medellín, from a 30th on a rooftop with a DJ to a 100th with four generations around one long table. Our kitchen has cooked for celebrations in apartments, rented villas, fincas and private salons since 2019.
We work with locals marking a round number, expats throwing a party far from their home country, and adult children organizing a parent's 80th from abroad. Coordinators plan in English or Spanish, and every quote lists each item line by line.
Each decade asks for something different: more bar at 30, a proper dinner at 50, soft food and shade at 90. Whether it is a quiet lunch for 10 or a night for 150, we plan the menu around the person turning that age, not around a set package.
Plan your event
We cater adult birthdays for 10 to 150 guests, with the menu, cooks, servers, bartenders, tableware, setup and cleanup in one quote. Parties take place in homes and apartments, rented villas in El Poblado, rooftops, salones sociales and fincas in Llanogrande or Santa Fe de Antioquia. Rooftop and villa birthdays are a large share of our catering in El Poblado.
Small dinners for up to 12 guests can be a private chef evening cooked in your own kitchen. Larger parties choose between finger food, a buffet or a plated dinner, and many add a bar, a live station or a dessert table.
Colombian birthdays have their own rituals, and we plan around them. A midnight serenata by a mariachi band or a trío of guitars is common at milestone parties, so we hold the cake until the last song ends and keep the coffee hot for it.
The age on the cake tells us a lot about the party. Younger crowds stand, drink and graze late into the night; older guests sit, eat earlier and want food that is easy to chew.
These are starting points, and any decade can borrow from another. A 40th can be a formal dinner and a 70th can end on the dance floor.
Thirtieth and fortieth birthdays are usually evening cocktail parties with music, so the menu is built from passed canapés, one or two food stations and a full bar. We plan 10 to 12 canapés per guest over four hours, then add a taco or slider station around 10 p.m. when the bar has done its work. The bar can run as an open bar for the full 5 hours or as a bar by consumption, with bartenders at 1 per 50 to 75 guests.
Fiftieth and sixtieth birthdays tend to be seated dinners where the toasts matter as much as the food. A three-course plated menu might pair a palmito and avocado salad with a Chilean sauvignon blanc, then a beef tenderloin in coffee and panela reduction with a Malbec. We schedule a toast course between the starter and the main, so the speeches happen when everyone has a full glass and nobody's plate is getting cold.
Birthdays from 70 to 100 are best as daytime family lunches, served around 12:30 p.m. at the table rather than from a buffet queue. We cook soft-texture dishes such as ajiaco, sancocho with tender chicken, slow-braised posta cartagenera and creamy mashed potato, and we keep the salt low on request. For guests with diabetes, our diabetic-friendly catering menu swaps the dessert for low-sugar options without making it obvious.
Seating and shade matter as much as the menu. We ask your rental supplier for chairs with arms, keep the table close to restrooms and serve the grandparents first.
Choose finger food for a mingling party, a buffet for a relaxed family crowd and plated service for a formal milestone dinner. Here is what a typical menu looks like in each format.
| Format | Best for | Sample menu |
|---|---|---|
| Finger food and canapés | 30 to 100 guests standing, evening | Mini arepas with hogao, chicharrón bites, shrimp in coconut, beef skewers with chimichurri, empanadas with ají |
| Buffet | 25 to 150 guests, lunch or dinner | Pork loin in tamarind sauce, grilled chicken, coconut rice, maduros, avocado salad |
| Plated dinner | 10 to 80 guests seated | Palmito salad, beef tenderloin in panela sauce, chocolate and passion fruit tart |
Our finger food catering page has the full canapé list, and our dinner party catering service covers intimate seated birthdays at home. Every format can carry vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free dishes on separate, labeled trays.
A surprise party works when the catering arrives, sets up and goes quiet before the guest of honor walks in. We agree on a setup window with one family contact, usually 90 minutes while someone takes the birthday person to lunch or a spa, and our team arrives through the service entrance with the food already cooked and held hot in insulated carriers.
The van parks around the corner or in visitor parking rather than at the front door, and staff stay out of sight in the kitchen during the reveal. In residential towers we register our team with the portería under your name ahead of time, so the doorman does not announce a delivery to the wrong apartment. Once the shout of surprise is over, the bar opens and the first trays go out within five minutes.
Questions and answers
Yes, surprise parties are routine for us, and the secret holds as long as one family contact controls the timing. We agree on a setup window while the guest of honor is out, arrive through the service entrance, park the van away from the front door and have the food ready to serve before the reveal. Your coordinator sends status updates only to that contact.
We make the desserts and simple celebration cakes in our own kitchen, such as tres leches, chocolate fudge or a fruit and cream torta. Tiered or sculpted designer cakes come from a partner bakery, itemized on the same quote. If you already have a baker, we receive the cake, keep it chilled, cut it after the candles and plate it for every guest.
Reserve your date
Tell us whose birthday it is, the age, the date and the venue, and we will send an itemized quote within 24 hours. Prefer email? Write to info@medellincatering.com.