How it works
Whatever your regular custody schedule is — week-on/week-off, 2-2-3, every other weekend — holidays usually override it for their own dates, then hand back to the regular rotation right after. The common convention:
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's are grouped together and flip to the other parent every calendar year: one parent has all three in even years, the other has all three in odd years. Simple to remember, and it keeps the big holiday stretch intact for whoever has it.
- Mother's Day and Father's Day are fixed to the relevant parent every year, regardless of the regular rotation or the winter-holiday alternation.
Why group the winter holidays instead of alternating each one separately?
Some families do split them apart — Parent A always gets Thanksgiving, Parent B always gets Christmas, with neither ever alternating. That works fine too, and tends to suit families where one parent's extended family hosts a big Thanksgiving every year and the other's hosts Christmas. The even/odd grouping above is simply the more common default when neither holiday is anchored to one side of the family, since it keeps things fair across years rather than fair within a single year.
A note on Christmas specifically
Some plans split Christmas Eve and Christmas Day between both parents every single year (one parent always has Christmas Eve through Christmas morning, the other always has the rest of Christmas Day) rather than alternating the whole block by year. Either approach is common — pick whichever matches what you've actually agreed, and treat the generator below as a starting point to adjust, not a fixed rule.
What this doesn't cover
Spring break, summer vacation, and three-day weekends vary too much by school district, travel, and family agreement to have a single common default — they're worth deciding directly rather than assuming a convention. Religious and cultural holidays beyond the five above (Easter, Halloween, Hanukkah, Eid, and others) are similarly family-specific.
FAQ
Does the holiday schedule replace our regular custody schedule?
Only on the holiday's own dates. If Thanksgiving falls during what would normally be the other parent's week, the holiday assignment takes over for that day, and the regular rotation resumes right after.
Why do Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's alternate by year instead of each having its own rotation?
Grouping the winter holidays together and flipping the whole group each year is the most common convention in parenting-plan templates — it's simple to remember ("even years" or "odd years") and keeps the big holiday stretch with one parent at a time instead of splitting it into fragments.
Why don't Mother's Day and Father's Day alternate?
Convention treats these as fixed to the relevant parent every year, regardless of the regular custody rotation or the winter-holiday alternation — the day is tied to the parent, not to a turn in the schedule.
What about Easter, Halloween, or a holiday specific to our family?
Plans vary widely here by religion, region, and family tradition. There's no single common default the way there is for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so it's worth agreeing on these directly rather than assuming a convention.