Party Timeline Maker
The running order for the day, written for your guests to read — arrivals, dinner, cake, dancing, home time.
Free · No sign-up · Runs in your browser
Your party
The time on the invitation, not the time you want people there.
Drives when the food lands and how long people spend eating.
What's happening
4:00pm
Runs from
8
Entries
9:00pm
Until
The day itself
Your party timeline
Written for your guests to read. Rename anything, change the times, delete what you’re not doing and add your own — entries re-order themselves by start time.
- –30 min
Come when you can — there's a drink waiting.
- –50 min
- –10 min
Everyone together, before we eat.
- –50 min
- –15 min
- –1 hr 55 min
- –30 min
- –
Worth knowing
- Guests arrive 15–30 minutes after the time on the invitation. Nothing important is scheduled in that window above, and nothing should be.
- Open both ends of the buffet table so two queues form instead of one. It halves the wait at no cost.
- This timeline is written to be shared. Print it, put it up where guests can see it, or send it round with the invitation.
Free on iOS & Android
A timeline everyone helping can see, not one taped to the fridge
- Every time on your phone, with a reminder as each one comes up
- Assign the drinks, the grill or the music to a named person
- Change one time and everyone helping sees the new version
Birthdays, weddings, baby showers, graduations, Halloween, Christmas — PlanIt Party Planner handles every party you’ll throw this year, not just this one.
Free to download, no account needed. Nothing on this page is sent anywhere — it all runs in your browser.
Got the day mapped out? build your party plan
The method
How these numbers are worked out
Everything is anchored to when people really arrive
Guests turn up 15 to 30 minutes after the time on the invitation. Nothing that matters is scheduled inside that window, and the first real event on your sheet sits after the arrival peak rather than at the stated start.
Fixed blocks claim their time, the rest flexes
The meal, the speeches, the cake and the wind-down have known lengths and get those minutes first. Whatever is left over is shared between the open stretches — mingling, dancing, free play. That means a three-hour party and a six-hour party both produce a sensible sheet instead of the same one stretched or squashed.
The set pieces are placed where they work
Cake at roughly two thirds, so people are still there. Speeches after the main course, before dessert. Group photo before the food, while everyone is present and tidy. Kids' games once nearly everyone has arrived rather than at the door.
It tells you when your plan doesn't fit
If everything you have selected needs more time than the party has, the timeline still lays out in order but says so, and shows the time it genuinely finishes rather than quietly printing your stated end time and hoping.
Written for the people reading it
The entries say what is happening and when, in plain words a guest can follow. The tactics that only concern you — open both ends of the buffet, light the coals early, hold the speakers to their limit — sit in the notes underneath rather than in the schedule itself, and times are rounded to five-minute boundaries so it reads like a timetable rather than a calculation.
Then you take it over
The generated schedule is a starting point, not the answer. Every entry can be renamed and retimed, removed, or joined by one of your own — so the finished timeline is yours, with your names on it, in your order.
Common questions
What time should I serve dinner at a party?
About 60 to 90 minutes after the time on the invitation. Guests arrive 15 to 30 minutes late, and they need a drink and a conversation before they eat. A buffet can open at the 60 minute mark; a sit-down meal is better at 75 to 90, with people called to their seats 10 minutes before that.
When should we cut the cake?
Roughly two thirds of the way through, not at the end. People start leaving in the last hour, and cake is the thing they most regret missing. At a kids' party the same rule puts it at about the 75% mark, before the energy crashes.
How long should a kids' birthday party be?
Two hours. The standard shape is 20 minutes of arrival and free play, 35 minutes of games or an entertainer, 30 minutes of food, 15 minutes of cake, then free play and goodbyes. Past about two hours you get tired children and restless parents.
What time do guests actually arrive?
Fifteen to thirty minutes after the stated start, with the peak at around 30 minutes. This is the single most common party timing mistake: hosts schedule food or a speech at the stated start and end up doing it for a third of the room.
When should speeches happen?
After the main course and before dessert or cake, when everyone is seated, fed and still sober. Ten minutes total for a party and twenty for a wedding, and tell each speaker their limit in advance rather than hoping.
How much of the party should I leave unscheduled?
At least 30 minutes, and more for a long party. Every element runs over, and a run sheet with no slack in it is fiction by mid-evening. The schedule here deliberately leaves an open stretch rather than filling every hour.
Is this timeline for me or for my guests?
For your guests. Every entry is written in the words you'd put on a schedule people read — arrivals and welcome drinks, dinner is served, cake, music and dancing, party ends. Your own setup times are off by default and can be switched on as clearly marked host-only rows, so you can keep them for yourself and share the rest.
Can I change the timeline it gives me?
Yes — every entry is editable. Rename it, change its start and end time, delete the parts you're not doing, and add your own with the button underneath. Entries re-order themselves by start time as you go, so the running order always stays correct.
Is this the same as a party plan?
No, and they are separate tools here for that reason. A party plan covers the weeks before the party — booking, ordering, shopping — as a dated countdown. This timeline is the day itself, hour by hour: when guests arrive, when food goes out, when the cake happens. Most people need both.
Free on iOS & Android
PlanIt Party Planner — one free app for every party, all year
Birthdays in March, a summer BBQ, a wedding in September, Halloween and Christmas after that. PlanIt Party Planner holds the guest list, budget, menu, shopping list and countdown for every one of them.
- Birthdays
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- Baby showers
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- Halloween
- Christmas
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Free to download. Start with one party and keep the app for the next one.