FREE MASTER PLANNING TOOL
Build the party once. Assign it, shop it, and run it from one desk.
The Hosting Runbook is the control desk for a real home gathering. Set the crowd, timing, menu, kitchen limits, and room constraints once; then assign owners, track real purchase lines, and merge the entered food timing with day-of ops into one run of show.
THE HOSTING WORKFLOW
Use one tool, or follow the handoffs.
The Runbook is the control desk; the other five tools are specialist modules. Start with the bottleneck you have, or use the numbered order for a full gathering.
- 1Start here for a full eventBuild the runbook
- 2Before the shopping listSize the menu
- 3Days to hours beforeMove prep earlier
- 4Once recipe timing is knownCheck kitchen capacity
- 5Before setup is lockedFix room traffic
- 6Final 60–120 minutesProtect arrival time
No account needed. The Runbook keeps one current event on this device. Share carries the master event, owners, ops tasks, and shopping board in one portable URL.
Starter structure only. Preset dish names, durations, and temperatures are placeholders for planning the workflow. Replace them with the recipe/manufacturer instructions you will actually use before trusting the food run of show.
ONE EVENT, ONE SOURCE OF TRUTH
Enter the party once.
The runbook carries the same guest count, timing, menu, kitchen limits, room constraints, owners, and open loops into one operating plan instead of making you rebuild the event five times.
Assign an owner when someone besides the host is bringing, reheating, assembling, or watching a dish. Leave it blank only when the responsibility is genuinely undecided.
These are household/event jobs, not recipe steps. The food timeline below is generated separately from the durations you entered for each dish.
No manual day-of jobs yet. Use a quick-add button or add only the jobs that matter for this event.
The Runbook does not invent ingredients, package sizes, or prices. Use the Quantity Planner for purchase-unit math, then put the actual product/quantity you intend to buy here.
No shopping lines entered yet. Keep this blank until you know the actual item or package you plan to buy.
WHY A RUNBOOK
Hosting problems compound when every planner sees a different version of the party.
A guest count change affects food quantity, station pressure, seating, and refill volume. A menu change can create a new oven collision or last-hour pileup. The Runbook also makes the open loops visible: who owns each job, what still has to be bought, and what the day-of clock actually contains.
It is intentionally not one giant black-box calculator. Shopping lines are entered by the user, food timing comes from the durations and temperatures the user entered, and each specialist tool still explains its own assumptions and limitations.
Hosting Runbook FAQ
Do I need an account?
No. One current runbook saves in this browser. Sharing creates a portable URL that contains the runbook inputs.
Does the runbook replace the five planners?
No. It is the command center. The quantity, make-ahead, kitchen, flow, and final-hour tools still do the detailed work; the Runbook keeps owners, shopping, and the cross-tool day-of view together.
Does it decide cooking times or safe holding temperatures?
No. Enter recipe and manufacturer instructions you actually trust. The site organizes workload and capacity; it does not invent cooking instructions.