Sample Parenting Plans – Holiday Schedules

Creating a holiday schedule as part of your custody arrangement is crucial for ensuring that both parents share special moments with their children. Holidays hold significant emotional value, and a well-thought-out schedule can help prevent conflicts while making sure each parent has the opportunity to celebrate with their child. Whether you’re alternating holidays, splitting the day, or creating a rotating schedule, it’s essential to prioritize the child’s happiness and sense of stability. On this page, we provide guidance and sample holiday schedules to help you create a plan that works best for your family.

*Sampleparentingplans.com is not a substitution for legal advice. These are provided as examples only. Please consult your attorney for advice regarding your particular situation.

Cultural differences will guide some of the holidays listed. These are the most common holidays that are addressed in coparenting plans, though this list is non-exhaustive.

  • Christmas Eve
  • Christmas Day
  • Thanksgiving
  • New Year’s Eve
  • New Year’s Day
  • Easter
  • Fourth of July
  • Halloween
  • Memorial Day Weekend
  • Labor Day Weekend
  • Mother’s Day
  • Father’s Day
  • Spring Break
  • Winter Break
  • Child’s Birthday
  • Parent’s Birthday

Often, the following holidays are alternated each year with one parent getting the child on the holiday one year and the other parent having the child the next year. As discussed on the page on physical custody, parents with a week on/week off schedule may opt just to have the child(ren) remain with whichever parent has custody during the holiday. Those holidays are: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (often whichever parent has Christmas Eve will not have Christmas Day), New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving.

Typically, Mothers will have custody on Mother’s Day and Father’s on Father’s Day.

Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends can either identify custody for the entire weekend or just Labor and Memorial Day. Parents should consider one parent having Memorial Day and the other Labor Day and then switching the next year.

Spring Break and Winter Break are handled depending on whether the children are in school and the anticipated length of the break. Some parents alternate the break (with specific visitation set for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Easter) each year. Some parents split the break into two equal parts. For plans that split the break, a good coparenting agreement will define what the midpoint is to ensure there is no ambiguity or conflict. It also may help to look at school calendars several years out to ensure the break is evenly split in future years. Also consider the wording if the district were to change their policy or a move were to occur. For example, a parenting plan that states that Parent A shall have the children until Christmas Eve and then Parent B shall have them after Christmas until New Year’s Eve may not work if the school gets out on December 22. Alternately, a plan that states the following may provide more clarity: Winter break shall be divided equally between the parties. Winter break shall be defined as starting on the first full day after school releases and ending the last full day before school resumes. If break is an even number of days, the parties shall exchange the children at 8am on the morning of the day following the division of the week (ie the morning of Day 6 for a 10 day break). If the break is an odd number of days, the parties shall exchange the children at noon on the day dividing the break. While such specificity may seem overdone, conflict tends to arise when the agreement is vague and there is a disagreement on how to interpret the language.

See also: Vacation