A menu with the course headings printed and the dishes left to you. Christmas Dinner across the top in a serif face you can retype, a rule under it, then each course as a heading with ruled lines beneath. One to a sheet as it opens, filling the page, or two narrow cards side by side.
Three, four or five courses
Three is the default and gives Starters, Main course and Pudding. Four adds Cheese at the end. Five adds Nibbles at the beginning, so the full run is Nibbles, Starters, Main course, Pudding and Cheese.
Every heading is itself an editable field, so if your household calls it Dessert rather than Pudding, or wants Sides as a course of its own, click the heading and type over it. The ruled lines under each course are shared out from whatever space is left, so changing the course count never pushes the last one off the page.
How many dishes fit under each course
At one to a sheet, three courses gives four writing lines each, four courses gives three each and five gives two each. At two to a sheet, three courses gives three lines each and four or five give two.
That is the arithmetic of a sheet of paper rather than a preference. If you need more room under one course than another, use the smaller course count and write the extra course in as a heading yourself.
One menu or two to a sheet
One to a sheet fills the page at about 184mm by 258mm with a standard weight frame and large type, and it is the version to prop up on a sideboard or pin inside a kitchen cupboard door.
Two to a sheet gives a pair of tall cards about 86mm by 258mm with a cut line between them and a finer frame. Those are the ones for a table, one at each end, or a card per person if you print enough sheets.
Typing it or writing it
Every field on the sheet can be typed into before you print, which is the sensible route if the menu is going up in a kitchen and will be read rather than filled in. The six borders match the invitations and the page borders, so a table can be printed as a set.
Print blank on 160gsm card if the plan is to write the dishes in by hand on the day, which is how most households end up doing it. Ordinary paper is fine for a working list in the kitchen.
Questions
- How many courses can the menu have?
- Three, four or five. Three gives Starters, Main course and Pudding, four adds Cheese at the end, and five adds Nibbles at the start. Each heading can be retyped.
- Can I change the course names?
- Yes. Every heading is an editable field, so you can replace Pudding with Dessert, or use a course slot for Sides or Drinks instead. What you type is what prints.
- How many dishes fit under a course?
- At one menu to a sheet, four lines each for three courses, three each for four courses and two each for five. At two to a sheet it is three lines each for three courses and two for four or five.
- Is there a version for the table rather than the wall?
- Yes. Set Per sheet to 2 and you get a pair of tall cards about 86mm by 258mm with a cut line between them, which stand up well on 160gsm card.
- Is the menu template really blank?
- The course headings and the title are printed, and everything else is a ruled line. You can type the dishes in on screen first, or print it blank and write them in on the day.