Splitting family holiday costs

Lizabeth21

So we go on holiday as a family - four households =2+2+2+4. The family with 4 need two rooms everyone else needs one so we divide the cost by the number of rooms then multiply by the rooms needed per family. This is based on the fact that a family of 2 can’t expect to go on a holiday for the same price as a family of four.

As for other expenses such as entrance tickets - each pay their own.

Fuel (if driving) is paid per car so if two couples are in one car the cost of that car is divided by two. Same with tolls (French motorways). If all are in own cars it has been known for us to supplement each other by adding up the cost of all the fuel and dividing it by families!

Food when we’re there - accommodation cooking - each family takes a night and buys the ingredients for their meal and feeds the whole party. Eg one night I’ll cook next night my daughter then daughter in law then my sister in a rotation and if we eat out then each pay their own.

Completely agree that the most important thing is the spending of time together. (Though difficulties can arise if some like to do different things then communication is essential)

However you all decide to sort the finances I hope you all have an enjoyable and memorable time for all the right reasons.

happyandcontented

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

When my parents were alive and we were working, we paid for them to come on holiday with us. We wouldn't have dreamed of expecting them to pay for us!

I think that it depends on what is usual in your own family. If we rent a villa and one or other of the adult children want to come with us we look at it as family time and we rarely rent small apartments (unless it is a city break) so they are just using what would otherwise be empty rooms. They then pay for their flights and meals out.

If we were going on a holiday where we paid per person then, of course, they would pay their own share and for any children if they come along.

When my parents were alive we did holiday with them occasionally and they did the same thing. If we stayed in a hotel then we all paid individually.

Maybe it depends on who initiates the holiday and the family dynamic?

silvercar

It all depends on families, which is why I think a 3 way split is fine.

Our kids are grown up now, to get them to join us on a family holiday we would probably need to bribe them by offering it as a freebie! Firstly because it wouldn't be their holiday of choice and secondly because they don't have much disposable income.

That aside we have one set of parents who would always insist on paying and the other set would who prefer to be treated (but would do a lot of entertaining and babysitting).

maman

I think the point here is that the 3 families have already made the decision to go on holiday together. As one family has school aged children then when to go is a given so I don't see that as a factor. If the question was how to have a cheap holiday then that would be different.

There's never going to be one right answer. Of course I understand that many people are better off than than their parents so like to treat them. That's not always the case though. There's an elderly lady on here that saves up all year to pay for her DD, SIL and grandchildren to have a holiday on the Isle of Wight. I think she does it because she enjoys their company and the daughter is strapped for cash with 4 or 5 children.

warby68

As OP is happy to carry some extra cost but doesn't want to fully subsidise sister, I think I'd go for adults full price and children half price. So 6 adults and 4 children is 8 full shares of which OP pays for 2.5, parents 2 and sister 3.5. Sister gets half the accommodation for less than half the cost so hard to say that's unfair. Parents pay for one room out of 4 which is spot on. OP pays for sister's discount but it isn't a big one.

Even if the others disagree they can't really accuse OP of trying to be unfair.

I wouldn't like to be the one tasked with divvying it up though. In my view sister should be explicitly volunteering to pay in relation to size of their family and make it clear they don't 'expect' a subsidy.

oystercatcher

It does seem to vary between families a lot. When our children were small if we went away with the grandparents they insisted they paid for all the accommodation because they wanted to give everyone a nice holiday.

To my mind children go free so in OP's situation I would keep it simple and just split the cost 3 ways between the 3 families. Surely between family you're not going to be squabbling over who's children take up more space or eat more, it's family. Maybe in a few years OP will have more children and the older children won't come , who knows. It all equals out eventually and isn't worth fussing over!