Taking a friends child on holiday who pays?

[orangespikeyfrog]

My partner has a house on the uk coast that he’s rented out it’s now become vacant so we are going to use it over the summer . My son is 12 an only child and we ll need to take a friend with him to keep him amused . My question is what is the etiquette for who pays for the child . We like to do activities which over the course of a week can be quite expensive . I wouldn’t ask for money but if the parent offers should I gratefully accept or turn it down as I’ve invited the child on holiday ?

You should pay.I also don’t think you should accept money if it is offered as it would be awkward - they’d probably only offer to be polite! My parents used to take my friends on trips and I would go with other friends at times. The parent taking the children would always pay. You’re taking them for your child’s benefit, not their child’s benefit.

I’d preempt any offer by saying “no need for xxx to bring any money, apart from
a bit of pocket money for souvenirs or the inevitable sweets!”

We took one of the children's friends on holiday and we covered all the costs. The other child's parents were not well off and offered us £100 for the week, we said no and would have covered the cost of all activities. Normally we do expensive activities but their child was nervous about these and just wanted to do things like walks / beaches so we ended up with lower costs as mine stayed with them. The parents did give the child the £100 but I don't know if they spent any of it, I suspect they kept if for themselves.

I've had this a lot in the past as I have an only child. Typically I'd expect to pay, but be greatful for money if it was the type of holiday that had a lot of extras. Usually the parents give the child generous spending money and tell us we can use it for anything. Problem with this though, is the child often saw it as their own money and it would end up costing us more as their child would have loads of cash for gift shops and sweets/drinks and then we'd have to treat ours more than we usually would! So as the inviter, I'd rather be given a token amount of money directly to us parents, than them having their own purse of spending money. But I'd not expect it either.

I suppose it does depend on the trip though really. For a day trip or camping, the child having their own small amount of spending money for ice cream etc works. But for longer holidays and more money, it can be awkward.

You need to clear this up at the time of asking giving the parent an out without raising it with the kids until agreed. E.g We would love to invite your ds on a short break with us. He would need approx x to pay for days out and spending money. Let me know if you would like him to come. No worries if it won't work for you.

This gives them a chance to say no thanks without any embarrassment.

Holidays been and gone.

This weekend has been insane for the sheer number of zombie threads surfacing. What on earth is going on?

Don't do this unless you're ok with them refusing.

I think in this situation you should pay and accept only spending money. So you should ideally pay for the activities and food

Don't know but it's getting right on my tit ends.