Planning Thanksgiving dinner can be really stressful.
I’ve been hosting for several years now, so I know how important it is to have a plan of attack.
At this point, I also know exactly how to plan to make things the easiest they can be!
I decided to design a Thanksgiving planner printable for myself to help make things easier each Thanksgiving.
Since I want you to have a wonderful, less-stressed holiday, I’m sharing it with you!
Inside the Thanksgiving Dinner Planner Printable
For the Thanksgiving dinner printables, I’ve created the following coordinating pages:
- Thanksgiving binder cover
- To-do list
- Guest list
- Menu plan
- Recipe references
- 3” x 5” recipe card cutouts
- Shopping list
- Countdown checklist
- Thanksgiving week schedule
- Wednesday prep schedule
- Thanksgiving Day schedule
- Notes page
I used a bright, beautiful Thanksgiving color scheme that includes red, orange, mustard yellow, green, and purple.
And I want to give away some of these pages to you for FREE, just for reading!
But first I want to show you more of the pages up close and go into a little detail on how to use them.
To-Do List and Thanksgiving Guest List Template
These two pages are the best way to start planning.
You know there are things you NEED to do for Thanksgiving, and the simple act of writing them down is the easiest way to get them done (without having anxiety about them).
If you’re having a small Thanksgiving gathering, having a guest list written down might not seem necessary.
But if you’ve got out-of-towners coming, or a lot of family members you really only see during the holidays, you’ll want a way to keep track.
Just because someone is on your mental list doesn’t mean they’ve actually confirmed they’re coming, either!
This guest list also separates adults from kids (because you need to know how many chairs you should put around each table, of course) and has a place for what dish guests might be bringing.
Printable Thanksgiving Menu Planner and Grocery List
When planning a Thanksgiving dinner menu, some people start out by looking for recipes, while others already have a general idea of what dishes they want to find recipes for.
I’m the latter! I know I want a hot cheesy dip, a side of stuffing, mashed potatoes, my delicious sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, coffee, and so much more.
My Thanksgiving menu planner can accommodate either kind of person.
There are boxes for writing in your desired appetizers, soups and salads, main dishes (even if you go with turkey, there are many ways to prepare it), side dishes, desserts, and beverages.
Once you have your menu, you can go through your recipes and make your shopping list!
So I made a cute coordinating page for writing down everything you need to get from the store.
Don’t forget plates, cutlery, condiments, and spices if needed.
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Thanksgiving Recipe Cards and Reference Notes
I feel like my mother never needs a recipe for anything.
She just knows it all by heart and puts it together in roughly the same way every year.
I am NOT like that at all!
I need to follow recipes for almost everything I cook or I get anxiety about forgetting something.
Some recipes just scream “make me at Thanksgiving!”
So I made a set of four adorable, simple 3×5-inch recipe cards to cut out and write my favorite Thanksgiving recipes on.
You can print as many pages as you need and store all of your recipes in a card storage box.
This bamboo box is super nice and has four compartments to separate your appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, and desserts.
On Thanksgiving, though, you sometimes need to have some quick facts at hand about each recipe since you’re cooking so much at once.
So I also created a Recipe Reference sheet where you can jot down important facts about each dish, like what temperature it cooks at, how long it takes to make, and – perhaps most importantly – whether or not it can be made ahead of time!
Thanksgiving Countdown Checklist and Week Planner
Once you know who’s coming and what you’re cooking, it’s time to get down to business.
People who have never hosted Thanksgiving probably have no idea how much goes into it!
It’s not just a day or two of cooking.
For someone with an obsessive-compulsive personality like me, it’s also a lot of planning, cleaning, designing, and decorating.
Getting all of those tasks done can be overwhelming, so I created a month-long timeline for getting it all done.
It might seem like a TON of stuff – and maybe some of it isn’t necessary for your particular Thanksgiving style – but having it all laid out helps me keep track of what I need to do and when.
The week of Thanksgiving is the most important part, of course, so I have a whole separate sheet for Sunday through Thursday of that week for writing down the most essential tasks that are left.
Wednesday Prep and Thanksgiving Day Agenda
Once you’ve made it to the day before Thanksgiving, it’s time to get serious – and no matter how much you’ve already done, there’s always a lot left to do.
After all, you can’t spread out ALL of the cooking over the weeks before Thanksgiving!
I’ve created TWO separate schedules – one for Wednesday preparations as well as a Thanksgiving cooking schedule printable.
A lof of the planners I found premade only had slots for every hour, and quite frankly, I’m a much more detailed planner than that!
So I made mine with lines for every half hour.
Even if I don’t need them all, I’m happy knowing I can squeeze in things I’ve forgotten as I go.
The last page of my planner is just a blank Notes page with plenty of space for writing down anything else I need to keep track of!
FREE Printable Thanksgiving Menu Planner
I hope you’ve enjoyed looking over my Thanksgiving planner!
I’m willing to bet YOU could use some help planning your Thanksgiving, too – so I’m giving away three of these pages for FREE!
And they’re essential ones, too.
In the download below you will get the following Thanksgiving planner printable pages in PDF format:
- Menu planner
- Countdown checklist
- Thanksgiving Day schedule
The pages are super cute, designed for printing at home (and looking nice without using a lot of ink), and are date-free so you can use these designs year after year!
If you’re in need of the whole printable 12-page Thanksgiving planner binder, just click on the button below!
I hope you like my Thanksgiving planner printable!
We don’t have out-of-town guests, but I know a lot of you do, so I made sure to include those tasks in the Countdown Checklist!
Are you hosting Thanksgiving this year? What parts of this Thanksgiving planner will be most valuable to you? Let me know in the comments below!
Be sure to check out my ultimate list of Thanksgiving recipes as well as my post dedicated to Thanksgiving desserts for some new ideas to try out this year.
I more of a fly by the seat of my pants kinda girl, but this is right up my sister and mother-in-law’s alley. I can’t wait to share this with them…they’re going to love it! Thanks for posting this!!
Thank you so much! I’m not usually the one in charge of Thanksgiving. This year I NEED this! I’ll let you know how it goes. 🙂
What a great idea with Thanksgiving planners! I think this makes the idea of hosting a Thanksgiving of Friendsgiving much less stressful. This would be great as a Christmas edition as well. Thank you for sharing these templates!