Friendsgiving Party Printables & Planner

This Friendsgiving kit has two parts that do different jobs. An Excel workbook carries the planning in the weeks before, and a 64-page printable set dresses the table on the night. The art is autumn still life in burgundy, pumpkin orange, sage, gold and blush: pumpkins with tall candles and a sliced pie, red pears on a branch, a loaf of bread, a folded napkin on a plate.

What the workbook keeps track of

The Dashboard holds the party date and host details, four summary tiles and a link to every other tab. Each tab has a link back. The trackers have 100 ready rows each. White cells take your entries, shaded cells calculate.

• Guest List: one household per row, with adults and kids counted apart. It shows invited people and, separately, people whose RSVP is Yes.
• Potluck: dish, course, who is bringing it, status and servings. A count per course shows if you have five desserts and no sides. Two dishes with exactly the same name get flagged. “Pie” and “Pumpkin pie” do not.
• Budget: a spending cap (the cell starts at 500, so change it), estimated and actual cost per item, money remaining and a column chart of spending in six categories. Amounts are in US dollars.
• Timeline: ten starter tasks grouped from two weeks before to party day. Type your date on the Dashboard and every task gets a calendar date.
• Recipes, Shopping, Decorations, Activities, Gratitude, After Party: six recipe cards with prep and cook minutes, a shopping list with check marks and a percent-done figure, a decor plan by area of the house, four starter activity ideas, four write-in memory panels, and an after-party list for leftovers, thank-you messages and photos.

Google Sheets works too. Upload the file to your own Drive and save it as a Google Sheet. The guide says to check dropdowns, tab links and picture placement afterward, because some may not carry over.

The printables, page by page

Every menu lists appetizers, main course, sides, desserts and drinks with lines to write on. Five pictures and several border colors rotate through them, and the courses sit in one column on some and in two columns on others. The place cards fold into a tent: the front has a name line and “so glad you are here”, and the back carries “A seat at our table”, printed upside down so it reads the right way once folded.

Gratitude cards give an unfinished line, such as “A memory I treasure:”, with space below for an answer. Conversation cards ask a question, such as “Which dish reminds you of home?”, and are meant to be passed around the table. Twenty-four of the food labels name a dish, from turkey and gravy to cider and hot chocolate. The other six are general, such as Dessert or Made with Love. Each label has lines for “Made by” and “Ingredients”.

Print the file that matches your paper at 100% or Actual Size, on matte cardstock if your printer takes it, then trim on the corner marks. Everything prints on one side.

Questions

Does the kit include an invitation?

No. The printables are for the table on the day - menus, place cards, prompt cards and food labels. Inviting guests appears only as a task on the timeline and the checklist.

Can I type into the PDFs?

No. The PDFs are made to be filled in with a pen after printing. Typing happens in the Excel workbook.

Do I need Excel?

The guide starts in desktop Excel. You can also upload the file to your own Google Drive and save it as a Google Sheet, then check that the dropdowns, tab links and header picture came through.