Tamale bags for San Diego shops. Dozens out the door, your name on each one.

The season when your counter never empties

For a lot of families in San Diego, December means tamales. Some make them at home in a long assembly line around the kitchen table. Many more order them, by the dozen, from the shop, the market or the lady down the street who has made them for thirty years.

That makes the weeks before Christmas and New Year the busiest time of the year for anyone who sells tamales. Preorders pile up. The line on the 23rd and 24th wraps outside. Every one of those orders leaves in a bag, and every one of those bags goes to a family party where twenty people will ask where the tamales came from.

That question is the whole reason to print your name on the bag.

A dozen tamales is heavier than it looks

Masa is dense. Add the filling, the husk and a little steam, and a dozen tamales weighs a lot more than a dozen tacos. A family that orders three or four dozen, plus a tub of salsa and a bag of champurrado mix, is carrying a real load to the car.

Thin bags fail right here. The bottom tears in the parking lot, or the handle pulls off at the door. Our bag is 12″ × 7″ × 14″ in 110 GSM kraft paper with flat paper handles taped inside. It carries up to 22 lb. That is why the free tool at the top of this page asks for your own weights: so you know before the rush whether your biggest order goes in one bag or two.

How to pack a tamale order so it arrives warm

Tamales hold heat well if you let them. Pack the dozens in foil pans or lidded trays and set them flat on the square bottom, heaviest dozen first. The 12″ by 7″ floor fits two half pans side by side.

• Trays flat, lids on: stacked trays stay level when the base is square.
• Salsa upright in the side folds: the 3.5″ side gussets hold small tubs so they do not tip into the husks.
• A towel or foil tent on top: it keeps the steam in for the drive home.
• Seal the top: one of the free food tamper-evident stickers keeps the bag shut until the party.

If the order is cold, for families who steam them at home on the day, tell them on the sticker or a note so nobody is surprised.

Your name in the middle of the holiday table

Tamales are a gift food. People bring them to an aunt's house, to the office, to the neighbors. A plain bag sits on the counter at that party and says nothing. A bag with your name, your phone number and the word tamales in big letters tells every guest where to order next year.

We print your logo up to 12 × 14 in on the front of the bag. Setup is $0. Most printers charge $150+ just to set up the plate, which eats the profit on a small seasonal run.

Bold, warm colors read best on brown kraft: deep red, dark green, black. If your logo uses gold or light colors, the bright white bag shows them better.

Order before the preorders open

The worst time to think about bags is the week of the 24th. Boxes arrive 3 to 4 days after they ship, and you want to see the proof and hold the bags in your hand before the first preorder is picked up.

A full box on Subscribe and Save is $85 for 150 bags, which works out to 56.7¢ a bag. A two box bundle drops it to 50.7¢ a bag. If you only sell tamales in December, the one time box is $94 for 120 bags.

Shops that also sell burritos all year can read our California burrito bag guide. For prices and sizes for every kind of shop, start at the San Diego logo printed takeout bags home page.