Thanksgiving dinner planner spreadsheet

Hosting a holiday dinner is mostly a timing problem: what to buy, who is bringing what, and when each dish goes in the oven.

In the Holiday Meal & Party Planner you type your event date, serve time, guest count and budget once. Servings for every dish follow the number of guests who said yes, prep dates follow your event date, and your cooking timeline turns 'minutes before serving' into real clock times. The dashboard shows the countdown, who is coming, which dishes still need a cook, what you have spent and what is next in the kitchen.

It works for Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner or any holiday party, in Excel and Google Sheets.

What you get

You get two files, a blank template and a filled-in example, plus a Start Here guide. Open them in Microsoft Excel, or upload them to Google Drive and open them with Google Sheets (free). You type in the input cells; the formulas, totals and charts update themselves.

Tips

• Fill in the guest list first so servings are right.
• Work backward from serve time for oven-heavy dishes.
• Assign side dishes to guests early.