another splitting the bill thread (a question)

spaghetti_monster

Going out to eat with whole family (plus some extended) this weekend and puzzling how to split the bill (it will be my responsibility to sort it out).

Grandma has said she wants to pay the first 100 pounds.
Breastfeeding babies aside, these are the smaller groups:
My Mum
Uncle
Uncle + 5 and 7 year old
Sis + OH
Bruv + OH
Me + OH + 2 year old
Cous + OH + 2.5 year old

I think it's the children that are confusing me. I'm not sure what the 5 and 7 year old will eat (probably not a full adult meal I'm guessing). Our 2 year old is a typical picky eater and will eat from our plates, not sure about the 2.5 year old.

Any ideas? Everybody is quite relaxed and won't mind a split the bill x ways suggestion....

tyllwyd

Is there a children's menu? If not, personally I'd leave out the toddlers (assuming that the parents will make them a plate from their own meals) and then split it according to the number of people eating including the older children.

BUT will all items on the menu cost the same, will you all be drinking the same amount (any alcohol), will you all have starters and dessert? That can make a big difference to the bill.

sweetcheekz

Since Grandma is going to pay the first £100 I would consider that the childrens meals and her own paid for, so I would split the balance between the remaining adults.

silvercar

To make it simple-ish, I would split the remainder 6 ways. Your Mum and single uncle pay one sixth between them (ie one twelfth each) then each other line of your list pays one sixth.

Roughly speaking the 2 and 2.5 yr old won't eat much and the 5+7 year olds could share an adult meal or have a childs meal each.

Makes it simple and tidier in front of grandma who wouldn't want to see squables. Everyone can feel they are getting a good deal because grandma's £100 means no-one is paying full whack.

peachyprice

As everyone is benefitting from Grandma paying the first £100 I would split the remainder equally between each family unit and for the sake of the exercise make your mum and uncle a family unit, so say bill is £175, Grandma's contribution is £100 leaving £75 to be split 6 ways with your Mum and uncle sorting their half of their 1/6 between them.

Edit:
Great minds Silver Car, you posted while I was typing

browneyedbazzi

I hate these types of things because it always feels like someone loses out (usually whoever isn't drinking). I grew up in Canada where it's pretty common to ask for separate bills so people pay for what they actually have rather than small eaters subsidising the person who likes the most expensive thing on the menu. That way if you're a bit tight for cash you can order something based on your budget and not be worried about what others do.

In your situation I would be tempted to use the money offered by your grandmother to pay for drinks and/or desserts (depending on how much you all drink and the prices where you're going) and for the remainder people get separate bills and pay for what they had.

Igottawii!!

silvercar wrote: »

To make it simple-ish, I would split the remainder 6 ways. Your Mum and single uncle pay one sixth between them (ie one twelfth each) then each other line of your list pays one sixth.

Roughly speaking the 2 and 2.5 yr old won't eat much and the 5+7 year olds could share an adult meal or have a childs meal each.

Makes it simple and tidier in front of grandma who wouldn't want to see squables. Everyone can feel they are getting a good deal because grandma's £100 means no-one is paying full whack.

peachyprice wrote: »

As everyone is benefitting from Grandma paying the first £100 I would split the remainder equally between each family unit and for the sake of the exercise make your mum and uncle a family unit, so say bill is £175, Grandma's contribution is £100 leaving £75 to be split 6 ways with your Mum and uncle sorting their half of their 1/6 between them.

Edit:
Great minds Silver Car, you posted while I was typing

And I was about to post to suggest similar too

Meadows

Agree with sweetcheekz let the money from Grandma pay for her meal and the kids, the remainder going towards everyone's meal, then whatever the outstanding bill is divide it by the adults.

lazer

Meadows wrote: »

Agree with sweetcheekz let the money from Grandma pay for her meal and the kids, the remainder going towards everyone's meal, then whatever the outstanding bill is divide it by the adults.

Thats not very fair on Mum, Uncle and the 2 couples without children

I think take the grandmothers £100 off the bill, and divide the remainder by 6 is the fairest (with mum and uncles paying a 1/6 between them).

Meadows

lazer wrote: »

Thats not very fair on Mum, Uncle and the 2 couples without children
I think take the grandmothers £100 off the bill, and divide the remainder by 6 is the fairest (with mum and uncles paying a 1/6 between them).

4 child meals and one adult meal leaves plenty towards the adults meals. Then as there are three single people Mum, Uncle & Uncle along with four couples how do you get 1 6th of the bill?
So you say let the couples only pay as one.

What is not made clear here is, is Grandma the Mum mentioned or is Grandma not part of the meal?

If mum is not Grandma then we have 11 adults and three children.

pollypenny

I'm with sweetcheekz too. It's good to have the family together for a meal like this. Not worth spoiling the atmosphere for a couple of quid or so.