If you’re anything like me (and probably 99% of other moms), you’ve been there: You’re on Facebook or Instagram, scrolling through your friends’ posts, when you see photos from a family-friendly event, a festival, an annual celebration or some other outing that happens once a year. But you didn’t get the memo, and you didn’t plan for the event, and you missed out.

Ouch.

This used to happen to me all the time. We went to the Tulip Festival on the last possible day, after most of the flowers had lost their petals, because I’d completely spaced when it started. I found out about Dozer Day, when kids get to drive bulldozers and big rigs themselves, after the fact. I was busy and neglected to plan a family volunteering opportunity for Earth Day. In short: Everyday life got in the way of planning fun family activities.

Then last year I got wise. I started setting up reminders in my Google calendar for a year in advance.

Before you write me off as a neurotic overplanner, hear me out! Read on to see how this google calendar hack can help you hit up all the events you’ve always wanted to attend—without missing out.

Never miss another family-friendly event

Here’s how my Google calendar hack works:

1. Make your calendar proactive.

When I find out about a cool family-friendly activity—even one that already happened—I add an event in my Google calendar for two weeks before the event will happen. So if I read a blog post about the Waterfront Blues Fest, which starts 4th of July weekend, I’ll make an event for June 15.

The two-week timeframe works for me, but you may want to adjust based on your family’s schedules. I find that setting the event for earlier makes it too far away, and later means I’ve probably already made plans.

2. Include event details.

The whole purpose of this Google calendar hack is to save you time, so in the calendar event, add details in the event description. What to include:
-url of the event’s web site
-blog post summarizing the event
-details such as costs, parking information, etc.

3. Plan your outing in real time.

You’ll get an alert on the day you set your calendar event. You probably forgot about entering the event way back when, but now you have roughly two weeks to work it into your family’s schedule!

4. Push the event to next year.

I know, I know, between gymnastics meets and birthday parties, you may not have the flexibility to go to the super-cool event you flagged for your family. That’s ok, life happens. This Google calendar hack makes it super-easy to push the reminder to next year. Simply go into the event and change the date to next year. Then you’ll get another reminder—with hopefully the opportunity to actually go!

Busy moms: You don’t have to remember everything!

Here’s the thing: We moms (and dads, too!) want to take advantage of all sorts of fun family activities, especially the ones that only come once a year: After all, they’re often tied to the seasons or holidays or things you can only get during a given month. But because festivals and other events aren’t on your radar year-round, you’re likely to forget about them—until your social media feeds are blowing up with that thing you totally missed.

But you have enough on your plate. You’re busy raising kind, strong, compassionate, curious kids—not to mention packing somewhat nutritious snacks and picking up the dry-cleaning and paying the credit card bill.

So anything that helps busy moms (and dads) make life easier gets a big ol’ thumbs-up in my book.

So give my Google calendar hack a try. I bet it’ll help you and your family enjoy more outings this year—and say goodbye to #fomo for good.

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