Free Printable Holiday Menu Planner

This free printable holiday menu planner will help you organize all of the details for your upcoming gathering! It also has space to plan out your grocery list so you don’t forget any important ingredients.

Free Holiday Menu Plan Printable, Part of the Organized Home Management Binder at freeorganizingprintables.com

Hosting family and friends for the holidays is a big job. There are lots of details to coordinate to make sure that everyone feels welcome, comfortable, and well fed.

Food is the center of so many holiday gatherings, so we want to make sure we have an organized holiday meal plan well in advance. We’ve created a pretty printable to help keep track of all of your most important holiday menu details in one spot!

(And we’re sharing lots of yummy recipe ideas for each category to make it even easier to create your meal plan!)

Hopefully having the food portion of the day organized ahead of time will lessen stress levels and allow you to spend more quality time with your loved ones.

Free Printable Menu Planner for the Holidays

As with all of our printables, the holiday meal plan comes in two cute color scheme options so you can choose the one that suits you best! Snag both color options by clicking on the button below.

Holiday Meal Plan Printable, Part of the Free Printable Home Maintenance Binder at freeorganizingprintables.com

Click here to download your free printable holiday menu planner!

Now that you have the printables you need, let’s start planning the menu.

How to Use the Holiday Meal Planning Printable

The best thing about holiday meal planning is that you can make your own rules. Go traditional or start a brand new tradition. Take the opportunity to get a little fancy or keep it simple. Serve a similar menu each year or switch it up to keep people on their toes!

We tend to put all this pressure on ourselves around the holidays, but it doesn’t have to be stressful. Let’s take it one step at a time.

Holiday Meal Plan Main Course Ideas

Typically our holiday meals center around the main course. Everyone has their own traditions when it comes to the star of the show, but if you’re looking for some simple recipes to try that will wow your guests, consider these options:

Free Printable Holiday Meal Plan from freeorganizingprintables.com

Holiday Appetizers for Your Menu Plan

Guests always appreciate yummy appetizers to tide them over until dinner. While others often pitch in and help with the appetizer portion of the day, here are some recipes to consider if you’re making appetizers yourself:

Vegetable Ideas for Your Holiday Menu Printable

Don’t forget the veggies! Whether it’s a fresh salad or yummy roasted root vegetables, they’re the perfect companion to any holiday meal. Consider these delicious vegetable options:

Holiday Breads and Starches

Please pass the rolls! If you’re looking for some delectable bread and/or starch options to add to your holiday menu, these recipes just may fit the bill:

Free Printable Holiday Menu Planner, Part of the Home Management Binder at freeorganizingprintables.com

Holiday Dessert Ideas for Your Meal Plan Printable

We tend to have a bit of a sweet tooth around here, so dessert is always our favorite course. These dessert options will be the perfect ending to your holiday meal:

Drink Ideas to Add to Your Holiday Meal Plan

Feel free to keep it super simple with drinks! But if you’re looking to offer something extra special in the drink category, these ideas may help:

Making a Shopping List for Your Holiday Meal

After you’ve filled in the menu portion of your holiday meal planning printable, simply add the ingredients you’ll need for each recipe to the shopping list at the bottom of the page!

With all of the recipes and ingredients in one place, you can make sure you’re not forgetting anything important, saving yourself from extra trips to the store.

There’s more where that came from!

The holiday menu planning printables are part of our Home Binder! See all of the pages included in the Home Management Binder in this post.

Printable Holiday Menu Planner: Final Thoughts

We hope this post has helped to give you a good start on your menu planning for your next holiday gathering or group get-together! Hosting can feel overwhelm, but we aim to alleviate that and help make the planning process as simple as possible.

Planning ahead can reduce stress and help your entire event go off more smoothly! We’ll be cheering for you as you execute your next holiday party!

Free Holiday Meal Plan Printable: Frequently Asked Questions

We recommend starting by choosing your main dish. Then it’s easy to choose coordinating appetizers, sides, veggies, and desserts.

Be sure to keep in mind how many people will be attending your gathering, food allergies and preferences, what you can prep in advance and what will need to be put together the day of, and how much space you have in your oven/cooktop to accommodate your dishes.

If you’re not sure what you’d like to make for your holiday meal, there are a bunch of different menu ideas for each category in this post that can help!

If your family has a traditional meal they typically eat at Christmas, that may be a good place to start!

If you want to get a little creative, use your traditional meal as inspiration but put your own twist on it. (You could make turkey tenderloin instead of a full turkey, for example. Or try twice baked potatoes rather than standard mashed potatoes.)

If you don’t really have any traditions yet, this is a great opportunity to start some! There are no rules. If there are foods that you and your loved ones really enjoy or that are important to you in some way, make those! Your friends and family will love creating memories that are unique and special.

Want to save this post for later? Be sure to pin the image below so you can find it easily!

Free Printable Holiday Menu Planner at freeorganizingprintables.com

Happy Organizing!

Free Printable Holiday Menu Planner

Free Printable Menu Planner for the Holidays