Holiday Schedule Builder
Pick your regular parenting rotation, check the holidays your family observes, and set who has each one. The tool lays every holiday block over the regular schedule and hands you one merged .ics file to import into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook.
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Build and download your holiday calendar
2026 holiday blocks, in order
| Holiday | Dates | Nights | Parent |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Jan 1, 2026 | 1 | Parent B (B) |
| Easter / Spring Break | Mar 30, 2026 - Apr 5, 2026 | 7 | Parent B (B) |
| Mother's Day | May 10, 2026 | 1 | Parent A (A) |
| Memorial Day Weekend | May 23, 2026 - May 25, 2026 | 3 | Parent B (B) |
| Father's Day | Jun 21, 2026 | 1 | Parent B (B) |
| July 4th | Jul 4, 2026 | 1 | Parent B (B) |
| Labor Day Weekend | Sep 5, 2026 - Sep 7, 2026 | 3 | Parent B (B) |
| Thanksgiving | Nov 26, 2026 - Nov 29, 2026 | 4 | Parent B (B) |
| Winter / Christmas Break (first half) | Dec 20, 2026 - Dec 25, 2026 | 6 | Parent B (B) |
| Winter / Christmas Break (second half) | Dec 26, 2026 - Jan 2, 2027 | 8 | Parent A (A) |
holiday-schedule-week-on-week-off-holidays-2026-2026.ics. Covers 2026 with the regular schedule underneath and every checked holiday laid on top. Built in your browser; nothing is uploaded or saved.
This is a planning calendar, not a custody order.
Every holiday date range and A/B assignment above is a common scheduling convention, not a legal requirement. If a court order or signed parenting plan sets different holiday terms, those terms control.
How the odd/even alternation works
Most parenting plans split named holidays instead of leaving them on the regular weekly rotation, so the same parent is not stuck with every Thanksgiving or every Fourth of July forever. The common way to do that is alternation by calendar year: parent A has a holiday in odd-numbered years, parent B has it in even years, and the two trade off automatically as the years pass. That is a scheduling convention many families and mediators use, not a rule any statute sets, and this tool lets you flip which parent starts on odd years for every holiday.
A handful of holidays work differently by long-standing convention. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day usually go to the same parent every single year rather than alternating, so the builder treats those two as "fixed": you pick the parent once and it stays that way across every year you generate.
Winter break gets its own convention because it usually needs splitting rather than a single handoff. This tool treats it as a two-week block running December 20 through January 2, split at Christmas Day: one parent has December 20 through 25, the other has December 26 through January 2, and which parent gets the first half alternates by year. A second common convention divides the break into equal day counts instead of splitting at Christmas; this tool uses the before/after-Christmas version.
Every date range below, from the third Monday of January for MLK Day to the fourth Thursday of November plus its weekend for Thanksgiving, is computed the same way a paper calendar would compute it: named weekdays and fixed dates, not guesses. Nothing here is a legal requirement. If your parenting plan sets different holidays, different dates, or a different alternation pattern, follow the plan and use this tool only to turn it into a calendar file.
The holiday library
Each holiday below has its own page with the specific date-range convention, a worked example for 2026 through 2028, and honest FAQs. Check any of them in the builder above to add it to your calendar.
Single-day holidays
One calendar day each, alternating by year, the shortest exceptions to plan around.
Multi-day blocks
Full weeks or long weekends where computing the right date range is the hard part.
- Thanksgiving Custody ScheduleThursday through Sunday as one four-night block.See the full page
- Winter Break Custody ScheduleTwo weeks split at Christmas Day, alternating who has each half.See the full page
- Easter / Spring Break Custody ScheduleA full week anchored on Easter Sunday, computed for any year.See the full page
Fixed to one parent
The two holidays that commonly do not alternate at all.
No fixed formula
Summer parenting time is negotiated, not computed; here is how families structure it.
Holiday schedule builder FAQs
Is the holiday alternation pattern required by law?
No. Odd-year/even-year alternation is a common convention parents, mediators, and courts reach for because it is easy to track and fair over time, but no statute requires it. Your parenting plan or court order sets the real terms; use this tool to turn whatever pattern you actually have into a calendar.
Why do Mother’s Day and Father’s Day work differently from the other holidays?
Most other holidays alternate by year so neither parent is locked out forever. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day commonly do not alternate: the same parent has the day every year, regardless of the regular rotation, because the day is tied to that parent rather than to a fair trade of a calendar slot. You pick which parent that is when you check the box.
Why are MLK Day and Presidents’ Day unchecked by default?
Many parenting plans name only a handful of holidays, most often winter break, Thanksgiving, and the big summer weekends, and leave the rest, including these two federal holidays, on the regular weekly schedule. They start unchecked so the default preview matches what most plans actually specify; check them if your plan treats them as separate holidays.
How does the tool handle winter break and New Year’s Day together?
If you check both, winter break’s second half runs December 26 through January 2 and covers January 1, so it decides that night instead of the separate New Year’s Day entry. Uncheck winter break’s or New Year’s entry if you want only one of them controlling that date; the tool applies your checked holidays in the order listed, and a later one wins where two ranges overlap.
Can I set a different regular schedule start date?
This tool always anchors the regular rotation to January 1 of the year you pick, to keep the holiday checklist the only thing you configure. If you need an exact custom start date for the regular rotation without holidays, use the plain custody schedule generator instead, then add holiday exceptions by hand after import.
Does the child’s birthday have a default date?
No. Birthdays are not on any shared calendar, so you must type in the month and day yourself. Once entered, the birthday alternates by year like most other holidays, and you can flip which parent starts on odd years the same way as any other holiday.
Is my schedule uploaded anywhere?
No. The merged calendar is assembled in your browser and handed to you as a file. Nothing about your rotation, holiday choices, or parent names is sent to a server or saved by this site.
How to use the merged calendar
Start with the regular schedule, the rotation that runs on every day the checklist below does not claim as a holiday. The builder anchors that rotation to start on January 1 of the year you pick, since the tool does not ask for a separate start date; if your real rotation starts on a different weekday, expect the non-holiday days to shift by a few days from your actual calendar; edit those after import if it matters, or use the plain custody schedule generator for an exact anchor date.
Check only the holidays your family actually observes as separate from the regular schedule. Two federal holidays, MLK Day and Presidents’ Day, start unchecked because many plans leave them on the regular rotation; check them if yours does not.
The preview table lists every included holiday for the year you picked, in date order, with the exact dates, the number of nights, and which parent has it. Check that table against your actual parenting plan before downloading anything.
Download the file and import it the same way as the plain schedule generator: Settings then Import & export in Google Calendar, opening the file directly on Apple devices, or Add calendar then Upload from file in Outlook. Generate a fresh file every year, since the tool only builds one calendar year at a time.
What this estimate includes
- 12 common holidays with their date-range convention stated in plain language
- Odd/even alternation with a flip toggle, plus fixed-parent handling for Mother’s and Father’s Day
- A merged .ics file: the regular rotation plus every checked holiday, ready to import
What it leaves out
- State or district-specific school calendars: spring break and other break dates vary by school
- Exchange times of day: every block is an all-day event; your plan sets pickup times
- Any child support or parenting-time math: use the parenting time calculator for overnight counts
- Legal review of your parenting plan’s actual holiday terms
Sources
This tool makes no legal claims. Every holiday date range and A/B assignment is a common scheduling convention, not a requirement of any statute, computed with standard weekday and (for spring break) Easter-date arithmetic that you can verify against any calendar. The export uses the open iCalendar (.ics) format that major calendar apps share. State-specific child support figures live on our state calculator pages, each with its official sources and effective dates.
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Changelog: tool and holiday library first published with 12 holidays in the builder and 8 dedicated holiday pages. Material changes are dated in the update log.