Holiday - how to split costs/cooking etc

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My husband and I are going on a holiday with a group of friends - it will be five couples, all with children under 15 - so about 25 of us in total.

The idea for the holiday was ours, and we have paid for the big house - we're a lot better-off than our friends, and they have very happily accepted the offer, and we're all looking forward to the holiday together. In the original conversation we said that they only have to pay for travel to the place.

Now I have started to worry about the food situation. We haven't discussed it at all, and I am worrying that everyone thinks we are paying for the whole holiday, food included. It's self-catering, and I am imagining we will eat lots of bread, cheese, soup, pasta type things,. Definitely nothing extravagant but I don't want to have to pay for everyone's food all week. Do you think people will have assumed this is the case, or should I clarify?

And while we're on the subject, how would you split it? Per person (so larger families pay more) or assuming children eat less, count adults and one and children as half? Or equally between each family? How will we manage the situation where someone says "but I didn't have breakfast / drink any coffee / etc"?

We've never done a holiday like this before, and we're looking forward to it so much, but I am really worried now that it will go wrong and we'll all fall out over a misunderstanding about this kind of stuff.

Mumsnet wisdom please, from anyone who has successfully done a self-catering holiday with friends and not fallen out over who ate the most cheese......

Thank you!

If you're going for longer than a weekend, you will almost certainly end up doing top-up shops during the week when people realise that they've run out of milk or forgotten to buy toilet roll or similar.
It's a good idea to set up some sort of system where people save receipts and then hand them over at the end of the holiday so the total can be divided fairly. You don't want to do an expensive mid-week booze run and not have it added to the total, and neither does anyone else.
This way you don't have to worry about splitting meals out or ice cream runs or anything like that, people can just add it to the receipts jar and trust that it'll be sorted out at the end.

How long are you going for OP and is it abroad or in the UK? I assume you're living in the UK, apologises if you aren't

if the duration is more than 3+ days I can't see any domestic fridge that will be big enough (think of the milk alone!) then they will have to do a daily shop

Yes, you're right ... so maybe supermarket deliveries would be the thing?

Somehow this all sounds more complicated the m
ore folk write

Add in a few allergies, vegetarians and fussy eaters......

I have done a group holiday of 24 but all adults. It worked ok but we kept it very simple. Chili, curry, boeuf bourginon, fish pie, Shepherd pie, taco night etc. Basically stuff that you can cook in vats or in advance and isn’t timing sensitive. Had a chest freezer so divvied up evening meals and most people brought it frozen. Bfasts and lunch were more problematic because relied on people realising stuff needed restocking.

I'd assume it's the holiday costs ....not food, day trips, spending money,

Send the WhatsApp - get a shared opinion on best way to sort food bill and house chores etc

I'd research which supermarkets deliver to the property then send a list to everyone letting them know what their options are!