Event planning never seems to go away — even on your days off. You might shut off your work email, but somehow you always get roped into planning in your free time. The school bake sale, your friend’s baby shower, or the community walk-a-thon — you name it, you’ve (begrudgingly) planned it.  

Which of these events for family, friends and local groups have you stepped in to plan?

1. A fundraising event at your child’s middle school

The only thing harder than planning a fundraising event is planning a fundraising event at your child’s school. You have to deal with helicopter parents, tight budgets, and strict guidelines. But the parent/teacher association nominates you because you’re a pro at negotiating price, securing volunteers, and working your charm to secure donations. And you can’t say no or you risk being the pariah at PTA meetings.

2. Every bachelor or bachelorette party

Bachelor and bachelorette parties have evolved from a small dinner with friends to limo rides, matching outfits, and even full-fledged trips to exotic islands or Las Vegas. Then there’s the guest list, creating a schedule, booking any travel, making reservations, and collecting payment. You’ve begun to suspect people only ask you to be a bridesmaid or groomsman so that they don’t have to pay a professional.

3. Your neighborhood yard sale

Getting the word out and driving up attendance through event promotion is something you do well for your work events. You know how to advertise and run marketing campaigns on the local level and on social media. Which of course means that you’d be the perfect person to spread the word about your neighborhood yard sale — except now it means you’re the one with a garage full of all the leftover items no one bought.

4. Your high school reunion

While this might not apply if you’ve moved to a new city after high school, those who decided to stay know all the hot spots in town. Plus, your alumni committee will surely comment, you also happen to have venue and vendor connections around the area that can accommodate a high school reunion of any size. You know all about setting up a registration and ticketing process that can keep everything organized, collect payments, and ensure a proper headcount. On the bright side, at least this means you’ll get a sneak peek at who is on the guest list to make sure you catch up with (or avoid!).

5. Your in-laws anniversary party 

If you were a doctor, you’d be fielding calls about your mom’s recent eye surgery or your father-in-law’s new pain in his hip. But as an event planner, your duties are all about logistics and planning. So it’s natural that your sister-in-law expects you’d just love to be part of (translation: plan) your in-laws anniversary party. If you’re lucky, you might be able to squirm your way out of doing the seating chart.

No matter how big or small the events going on around you are, it’s second nature for you. Sometimes this means you’ll end up taking over a side project you’d just rather ignore. But hey, if you didn’t love doing it, you wouldn’t be the amazing event manager that you are. 

Whether it’s a work or off-the-clock event, keep stress levels low with Eventbrite’s pre-event destress checklist.