Among relaxing at home binge-watching Netflix or seeing your firstborn swaddled in your arms, spending time with your friends at the local bar or having a fun high school reunion can be just as satisfying.

There are, however, a lot of things that can go wrong, even during a small social gathering. If you’re the host of the event, regardless of how small or little, then anything that befalls one of your guests leaves you legally responsible.

Therefore, if one of your guests loses a finger, then you’re going to have to pay for it, and that’s going to come out of your own pocket.

The solution to this problem is insurance.

Insurance? For an Event?

Exactly so! If anything, events are particularly prone towards sustaining some manner of accident. “Event” can mean many things, from a sports game with thousands of spectators, to a quiet (or loud!) wedding, to a little party thrown over the weekend in order to honor one of your friends’ recent promotions.

While not many would think of it, the truth is that events attract a lot of bad luck. You know how it is: there’s something you really enjoy and look forward to, so you prepare for it, and then when it finally comes around, an unpleasant surprise rears its head in at the last moment.

This is what all event hosts are liable to. On the other hand, vendor insurance for events is a concept that many experienced hosts religiously subscribe to.

What Does Event Insurance Do?

Let’s say, for example, that one of your guests breaks one of their bones. You will, of course, have to call an ambulance in order to take them to the hospital, where they will receive medical treatment and advice so they can recover.

The downside? You’ll be paying for everything because you are held responsible for their injury.

Event insurance can help cover any financial fees that arise out of an event complication. There are some areas that insurance does not cover, though the average event host will find everything they need and more from most packages.

Understanding Event Liability Insurance

To keep it as simple as possible, the legal concept of liability means “responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated,” which essentially means a duty or an obligation towards resolving an issue that has been attributed as originating from you.

Anything that can go wrong during your event is classified as a liability. For the purposes of this article, we’ll be describing two types of liability.

General Liability

If anyone or anything becomes injured or damaged, then you’re responsible for it. Business owners almost always have liability insurance purchased for their venues, since it’s going to make recuperating the losses from a drunken brawl or a biker fight significantly easier

Unfortunately, just because the owner of the venue you’re hosting at has insurance does not specifically means it applies to you. An example would be if you invite a vendor to the event and they sustain an injury, in which case any claims they make against you will not be insured.

A general liability insurance package covers that possibility from affecting you negatively. Conversely, vendor liability insurance is specifically aimed at protecting your vendors.

Product Liability

If you are the creator of a product, then product liability insurance is what will protect you if someone decides they received food poisoning from it. Determining who is responsible for a faulty product can be difficult, though if the accusing party wins, then you’ll be having a lot of trouble.

Product liability is almost a necessity if you own any commercial product. There is nothing stopping a person from coming in saying their dog died after looking at your vibrantly colored packaging for a couple of seconds.

What’s worse is that is a valid legal argument within the United States. Just pray your name doesn’t show up in these cases.

Protect Your Business and Your Pocket

Anything can happen during an event that you’re hosting. You might sit back, relax, and believe everything is sweet, only to close your eyes for a minute and reopen them to the event venue on fire and police helicopters swarming all over.

That’s an extreme example – but don’t take any chances. Purchasing liability insurance is your way of getting out of a pickle!