--- title: "Friendsgiving Planner: Menu, Diets & Oven Plan | Friend Fête" description: "Balance a Friendsgiving potluck: spot missing mains, sides, desserts, drinks and ice, check vegetarian, gluten-free and nut-free dishes, and oven clashes." url: https://friendfete.me/friendsgiving-planner/ --- Friendsgiving planner · potluck menu balancer # Friendsgiving planner: balance the menu before the day List your guests and what each one is bringing. The planner shows **which courses are missing**, whether vegetarian, gluten-free and nut-free guests have something in every course, and **which dishes need the oven at the same time**. US Thanksgiving is on Thursday 26 November 2026; your Friendsgiving can be any day you like. ## How to plan a Friendsgiving menu that adds up A sign-up sheet tells you who is bringing what. It doesn’t tell you that nobody is bringing ice, that every dessert contains flour, or that four dishes need a hot oven in the same half hour. This planner looks at the menu as a whole: 1. **Add the guests** and tick any dietary needs: vegetarian, gluten-free or nut-free. The host counts as one more person. 2. **Add each dish** with who brings it, what kind of dish it is, which needs it suits, and whether it needs the oven. 3. **For oven dishes**, give the temperature, how long it needs, and how many minutes before dinner it goes in. 4. **Read the plate**: missing courses, dietary coverage and oven clashes, then print the menu for the table. ## Gaps by course: our rule of thumb There is no official formula for a potluck, so the planner uses a simple rule of thumb of our own and tells you exactly what it is. For a group of *n* people (host included), it looks for at least: | Course | Rule | For 8 people | For 16 people | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Mains | 1 per 12 people | 1 | 2 | | Sides | 1 per 4 people, at least 2 | 2 | 4 | | Vegetables & salads | 1 per 8 people | 1 | 2 | | Desserts | 1 per 8 people | 1 | 2 | | Drinks | 1 per 6 people | 2 | 3 | | Ice, serving gear | Somebody brings it | 1 each | 1 each | These are counts of dishes, not amounts of food. For how much turkey or how many potatoes to buy, use a quantity calculator such as our sister site [Kindred Picnic](https://kindredpicnic.cyou/). ## Dietary coverage For each need in the group, the planner counts the dishes marked as suitable in the mains, the sides and vegetables, and the desserts. A zero is a gap: in the example, Ollie eats gluten-free and every dessert contains flour, so someone should bring a gluten-free one. - **Gluten-free.** In the US, a packaged food labelled gluten-free must contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten (FDA). For homemade dishes, ask the cook about ingredients and shared surfaces. - **Nut-free.** Peanuts and tree nuts are two of the nine major food allergens in the US, with milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, wheat, soybeans and sesame (FDA). The planner lists every dish not marked nut-free so you can ask and label it; a chestnut stuffing or a pecan pie is easy to miss. - **Vegetarian.** Check the gravy and the stuffing: both often use meat stock. This is general information, not medical advice. Ask a guest with an allergy what is safe for them, and keep their dish labelled and separate. If someone has a severe allergic reaction, use their adrenaline auto-injector if they have one and call your local emergency number straight away; in the UK the NHS says to call 999. ## The oven plan Most home kitchens have one oven, and a Friendsgiving asks a lot of it. The timeline shows when each dish is in, measured back from dinner time, and flags two kinds of clash: - **Too many dishes at once**: more than the number you set for “dishes the oven holds at once”. - **Different temperatures at the same time**: two dishes more than 25 °F (about 14 °C) apart. That threshold is our own rule of thumb; check each recipe. In the example the turkey roasts at 350 °F for four hours and comes out 45 minutes before dinner. Marco’s wellington goes in at 400 °F 50 minutes before dinner, so the two overlap for five minutes at different temperatures: put the wellington in when the turkey comes out. Then, from 30 to 10 minutes before dinner, the wellington, the sweet potatoes and the mac and cheese all need the oven, but it holds two. Ask Sam to bring the mac and cheese hot and keep it warm, or bake it before the turkey goes in. ## Keeping the food safe FoodSafety.gov, run by the US government, gives these temperatures: cook poultry, including stuffing cooked inside the bird, to 165 °F (74 °C), and reheat casseroles and leftovers to 165 °F too. Keep hot dishes at 140 °F (60 °C) or above until they are served, using a slow cooker, chafing dish or warming tray. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours, or within 1 hour if the food is somewhere above 90 °F (32 °C). Use a food thermometer to check. ## Common mistakes - **Five desserts and no vegetables.** Ask people what they are bringing before they start shopping, and check the course gaps. - **Nobody brings ice, foil or serving spoons.** They count as items here so somebody owns them. - **Forgetting the host.** The host eats too, and usually cooks the main. - **Everyone arriving with a dish to “just pop in the oven”.** Agree who reheats when, using the timeline. - **Unlabelled dishes.** Print the menu: it lists every dish with V, GF or NF as marked by the cook, and who made it. Still choosing the day? Send a [find-a-date poll](https://friendfete.me/find-a-date/). Splitting the shopping? The [expense splitter](https://friendfete.me/) shares the costs. ## Questions **When is Thanksgiving in 2026?** US Thanksgiving Day is Thursday 26 November 2026, the federal holiday listed by the US Office of Personnel Management. A Friendsgiving can be held on any day around it. **How many dishes do we need for a Friendsgiving potluck?** Our rule of thumb for 8 people: one main, two sides, one vegetable dish or salad, one dessert, two drinks, plus ice and serving gear. Add a main for every 12 people and a side for every 4. **How do I make sure gluten-free guests can eat?** Mark each dish’s suitability and check the coverage table: every course should have at least one gluten-free dish. Ask cooks about stuffing, gravy, crumb toppings and desserts, which often contain flour. **What if two dishes need different oven temperatures?** Stagger them: bake one while the other rests, or ask a guest to bring theirs hot. The timeline shows which dishes overlap and by how many minutes. **Is this a sign-up sheet?** No. It checks a menu you already have. Your plan is saved in this browser only; print the menu or share the dish list in your group chat. ## Sources - Thanksgiving Day 2026, Thursday 26 November: [US Office of Personnel Management, Federal Holidays](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/) (read 3 November 2026). - The nine major food allergens: [US Food and Drug Administration, Food Allergies](https://www.fda.gov/food/nutrition-food-labeling-and-critical-foods/food-allergies) (content current as of 11 March 2026). - Gluten-free means less than 20 ppm gluten: [FDA, “Gluten-Free” Means What It Says](https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/gluten-free-means-what-it-says) (content current as of 4 May 2023). - Safe minimum internal temperatures: [FoodSafety.gov, Cook to a Safe Minimum Internal Temperature](https://www.foodsafety.gov/food-safety-charts/safe-minimum-internal-temperatures) (last reviewed 21 November 2024). Keeping food hot and the 2-hour rule: [FoodSafety.gov, 4 Steps to Food Safety](https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep-food-safe/4-steps-to-food-safety) (last reviewed 18 September 2023). - What to do in anaphylaxis: [NHS, Anaphylaxis](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/anaphylaxis/) (last reviewed 21 June 2023).