Holiday Food Allowance

FrazzledEm · 2025-04-02T14:55:14+00:00

My 14 year old daughter is going on holiday with another family for a week - how much would you allow to cover her food? I want to give the mum enough - they are mainly eating at the villa but will will go out for pizza etc a few times. She will have her own money for ice cream, drinks etc but I'm not sure what is a reasonable per day amount! Thanks

Caspianberg · 02/04/2025 16:01

Where are they going? As that will determine costs. and how long?

CoastalCalm · 02/04/2025 16:04

£200 ? Realistically two days the costs would be lower as travelling etc so leaves £30 a day plus £10 for travelling days

Starlight1984 · 02/04/2025 16:27

Yeah agree with £200. Maybe £250. If she has a Go Henry card then you can always put money on that if she needs extra (or transfer to the parents).

samarrange · 02/04/2025 16:51

I would ask the other Mum how she wants to play it. She might say "Oh don't worry, maybe just give me £80 for a few meals out". If she insists on that, after several "Are you sure?s", then give something to your local food bank.

Personally I think that £200 is on the high side for a week. A pizza and a Coke at a normal place in Spain is not much more than €15, and other groceries are at UK prices on average. So if it's pasta for lunch and pork chops and salad in the evening at the villa, there is going to be some change from £30 unless a lot of truffles are involved. (Obviously if the villa is in Switzerland then the prices will be a lot more!)

Also keep in mind that some restaurants don't like splitting bills, so having DD pay her own way with the card (if that was one of the possible proposals) when they are out may not be convenient.

Justme2023123 · 02/04/2025 16:54

I would say £100 is enough if she's taking her own money for snacks as well. If I was taking a friend with my kids I would only have offered if I was happy to cover their food, and probably wouldn't accept money from you anyway.

Original poster

FrazzledEm · 02/04/2025 17:35

Caspianberg · 02/04/2025 16:01

Where are they going? As that will determine costs. and how long?

Mainland Spain for 6 days

OP posts:

Original poster

FrazzledEm · 02/04/2025 17:36

samarrange · 02/04/2025 16:51

I would ask the other Mum how she wants to play it. She might say "Oh don't worry, maybe just give me £80 for a few meals out". If she insists on that, after several "Are you sure?s", then give something to your local food bank.

Personally I think that £200 is on the high side for a week. A pizza and a Coke at a normal place in Spain is not much more than €15, and other groceries are at UK prices on average. So if it's pasta for lunch and pork chops and salad in the evening at the villa, there is going to be some change from £30 unless a lot of truffles are involved. (Obviously if the villa is in Switzerland then the prices will be a lot more!)

Also keep in mind that some restaurants don't like splitting bills, so having DD pay her own way with the card (if that was one of the possible proposals) when they are out may not be convenient.

Edited

Yeah, I did but she said she'd leave it up to me so don't want to short change her!

OP posts:

Workoutrage · 02/04/2025 17:37

FrazzledEm · 02/04/2025 17:35

Mainland Spain for 6 days

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Why would you not include this in your opening post? The most important part!

AwakeNotThruChoice · 02/04/2025 17:40

Not sure why giving food to your local food bank has got to do with anything…

Maybe give the mum £150 so your daughter doesn’t have to keep paying for things? Then give her £50 for ice creams?

Caspianberg · 02/04/2025 17:49

I would think €20 a day towards groceries - €120. So parents can buy snacks and drinks as main meals x3 for at villa.
Plus €100 ish towards meals outs. They will prob be buying meals in restaurants on both travel days at airports which can be pricey, plus a meal out.

€220? I would probably give €250 so any spare can be towards them buying themselves a glass or wine or coffee as a thanks for taking her

TwinklyRoseTurtle · 02/04/2025 17:52

€200 I think the family would be more than happy with

Quitelikeit · 02/04/2025 17:52

I would give 200 Euro. That should cover it all generously

samarrange · 02/04/2025 18:37

AwakeNotThruChoice · 02/04/2025 17:40

Not sure why giving food to your local food bank has got to do with anything…

Maybe give the mum £150 so your daughter doesn’t have to keep paying for things? Then give her £50 for ice creams?

Not sure why giving food to your local food bank has got to do with anything…

I meant that OP could donate some of the difference between what she might have spent and what the other Mum wanted to take, to the local food bank (or any other charity), in cash. Seeing as how it would be sort of a windfall.

I regularly give to food banks but only in cash, because I used to volunteer in one and we vastly preferred getting £5 in cash to £5 worth of tins and packets. We could buy at least twice as much food with the money, plus we had other expenses that couldn't be paid for with tins of beans. There is no shortage of food, only a shortage of money.

mrsm43s · 02/04/2025 20:20

Are they paying for your DDs accommodation and/or flights plus days out etc? If so, then be very, very generous as this isn't just covering food, it's also a show of apprecation.

If you just want to cover food and drinks, then maybe 30€ per day? Round up to maybe 200€ for the 6 days.

OatFlatWhiteForMe · 02/04/2025 20:26

I would give the parents €200 to cover food, I would also be aware that if the family are getting a drink or ice cream your DD is unlikely to be expected to pay separately so take that into consideration and just send your DD with spends for a souvenir or shopping etc.

CarrieOnComplaining · 02/04/2025 21:46

Who is paying for accommodation and flights? Are they hiring a car?

If they are covering all that I would send £200.

If you are paying, £100.

Logic (if it is) being if you are paying all her costs it’s not unreasonable that they choose how often to eat out and treat their DD’s friend / treat her as party if the family group for the week. So a smaller amount for groceries .

TheChosenTwo · 02/04/2025 21:50

I’d send with £200 for the adult taking her away and give her another £50 for ice creams.

we sent the same to the adult who took one of our dc away to her holiday house so didn’t charge for accommodation - she sent her home with the £200 so we bought her a fancy case of wine! Very kind of her, she had taken her dd and mine to restaurants most days and got takeaways on the odd night they hadn’t gone out. And booked them in to do loads of fun stuff too and not let dd pay with the money we sent her with for excursions. I wouldn’t want anyone out of pocket for doing something so lovely so always go above what you think.

LaPalmaLlama · 03/04/2025 12:11

Yeah, I did but she said she'd leave it up to me

Hate it when people say this as then even if I sent 1 million I'd still be paranoid that they think I'm tight 😂

DS going away in similar circumstances- we are paying his flight and the family own the villa so there's no additional cost of his accommodation. I am sending him with E350 to pick up the tab for 2 lunches out for the family (it's not an expensive region) as I know they won't want to split bills every time.