Who Pays for family holiday with adult children?

[yh8181]

Do you ask for a contribution?

I never went on holiday with my parents after age 16. However I would ask for a contribution. It seems odd for parents to pay for their adult children.

I agree and things are just getting too expensive now. My children expect me to pay their partners as well

If I want my adult dc to have a specific holiday with me then I’ll pay the bulk of it.
If they suggested a specific holiday and invited me to join I’d expect them to pay for themselves.
My bil pays for the accommodation and his dc pay for their own travel.

I’m still paying if I want adult kids to come because they don’t earn very much and I want to see them. It’s maybe not what everyone would do but I do.

This who’s organising and suggesting the Holiday?

It would depend on relative financial situation, and why you're all going away together. I would expect them to have their own spending money once there, although I suppose would depend on circumstances.

If I/we invite them along, then we pay for anyone who comes. Usually not everyone does as either not interested in location, work commitments, other life stuff etc.

The way I think of it, all of the ‘making memories’ stuff was pretty moot for the kids when they were young. They did a lot but most of them hardly remember anything they did, and my main memory was just it being hard slog. However, going on hols with us as adults IS something they will remember for the rest of their lives with the added bonus that it’s pleasant for us as well, no hard work little kid wrangling that takes centre stage when they are young doing things.

I agree with pps that there's no definitive answer.

Whether or not I'd ask for a contribution would depend on how I'm going financially, how they're going in comparison, and how the holiday came about/whose idea it is.

This is a good take

Depends on the financial situation surely? I have more spare cash than my parents so I wouldn’t let them pay for me.

Due to illness I holiday in the UK. I book a cottage once a year for the whole family and pay for everything. I'm grateful DC and partners give up annual leave to come. DC do holiday abroad and have weekends away here,.
It's not cheaper to stay in the UK with the cost of a four bedroom cottage, days and meals out. I don't want anyone cooking and want it to feel like a holiday.

We invite them and if they choose to come, we pay. It means we get to spend time with them in really nice places that they maybe wouldn’t/couldn’t pay for as their budget isn’t as big as ours. We like being with them but wouldn’t want to stay somewhere less nice. As they get more established in their careers and earn more, maybe it’ll change.

Surely this depends on your financial situation.
we can afford it and we're happy to take our adult children and their partners on holiday with us

Very wealthy parents asking adult DC to chip in when they don't want to go v normal income all chipping in when they want to go.

I would tell them that I can't afford to pay for everyone so if they would like to join me on holiday, it will cost them £X per person, paid in advance, plus they'll have to bring spending money.

And you then have to be ok with them not coming if they don't want to spend the money.

I paid for our first family holiday as a present to my mom.
As I got older and had a child we split the cost.
only Uk holidays though so we’re not talking thousands.

Depends on holiday type, cost, and working status. I certainly wouldn’t be paying for partners to go to a hotel though I would be happy to book a villa but everyone pays their own flights and contributes towards food.

My mum and stepdad always pay for accommodation and we all pay to get wherever it is (plane tickets, car hire etc). She picks destination but would always discuss options with us before booking. We all chip in for food while there and generally buy them a nice meal and a thank you gift. We spend at least 10 days away with her each year and it’s really special for all of us to have that time.

We all pay our way. But if they only want to come when you're paying then you'd be better going on your own.

Our adult children currently have very little money, so we pay for virtually everything. They might pay for activities they want to do that no on else does or buy the odd lot of drinks/icecreams.

I can imagine when they earn more we might expect them to pay more, but, if we can afford it, I'm certainly happy to keep paying for accommodation and travel as a minimum.

We pay for ourselves and our own U18s.

My sister has a 20 year old and he also pays for himself.

My brother usually doesn’t come, he didn’t when we went to the Canaries in ‘24, because he can’t afford it.

I get that that’s difficult, however as a family we don’t believe it’s anyone else’s responsibility to pay for you, except you.

My children would pay for themselves if I invited them on holiday.

I’m 52 and still go on holiday with my parents (I know I’m very lucky)
I’ve followed their lead and we now take our dc & their partners away, nothing fancy, we’ve got a week in Dorset booked and a long weekend later on in the year.

I’m happy to pay, they’re all in their 20s and bring spending money and pay for meals etc
We didn’t have much money when they were growing up and I kind of see it as ‘my time’ to do some of the things I couldn’t do when they were younger.
They’re great company and the holidays are always fun and very relaxing/trouble free - I’m happy to pay for the privilege!!

DD is still at uni, so we absolutely pay for everything. We love having her on one holiday per year.

We only did weekend breaks with my PIL. We paid for the B&B ourselves. We normally went where they were having their main holiday if it was a convenient location for us and because they did self catering they often provided food if we stayed in their accommodation for a meal, otherwise we took turns paying for meals out.

As the child, I would be embarrassed for my parents to pay if I'm earning a good salary.

It depends if you're inviting them or planning a trip together. Do you all have equal say on where you are going, which hotel to stay in etc.?