Big wedding anniversary family holiday. Need a villa, but I don't want to cook?

[minishiteboard]

To taking adult children and their partners away for a major wedding anniversary
Fancy somewhere in the Mediterranean like Majorca or Minorca. Really like the idea of a villa with everyone of rooms I cannot stand the thought of having to think about lunch or wipe surfaces.
Wouldn't be averse to a hotel set up or all inclusive but school holidays and it's all gonna be dreadful
Anyone got any ideas of a set up where we can have a bit of food catered for us without having to worry about who's vegetarian and so?

Tell the adult children you've done your shift and they are in charge of the kitchen for this trip.

If you want a villa then agree that you’ll eat out except breakfast. Or there’s a rota for shopping, cooking, cleaning up.

You could organise a caterer for a big family meal or have takeaways if you don’t want to go out every night.

Personally I’d tried to find somewhere like an apart-hotel or AI resort. I don’t want a holiday to feel like home.

We recently went on a big family vacation to Mallorca and stayed in a villa - 18 of us (12 adults and 6 kids).
For breakfast we had cereal, milk, croissants, fruit, juice, tea, coffee available; and everyone just helped themselves when they got up.
Most days we spent on the beach or wandering the old town so for lunch it was a sandwich with crisps & fruit on the go/at the beach (yummy sandy ham sandwich 🥪 😋), or maybe some chips.
For dinner we went out so no cooking involved.

Anyway, my point is the all you need to really eat on site is breakfast, and that can be easy to eat, minimal cleaning.

The villa we stayed in was amazing!! 9 double bedrooms all en-suite, tons of living space, outdoor space and was right by the beach. No pool, but it didn't need one.

There are villa hotels (so individual villas) but on the site of a hotel so you have the restaurants etc.

I'd delegate breakfast shopping to your children and partners. Lunch if eating in will be the same.

Eat out and then get a chef in for one special evening meal.

Are there any children? If not I would look at adult only hotels instead, even getting breakfast items in is a pain because decent bread has to be bought daily and some people may want cooked breakfasts, buying food out 3 x a day gets very expensive.

Maybe a cruise?

https://www.belmond.com/hotels/europe/mallorca/deia/belmond-la-residencia/signature-suites-and-villas?srsltid=AfmBOopNxmlTIjZZS36aGoAmu0Ozx7f_tX9HpwEHBN2vaED_DVVatXJq&utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://ikosresorts.com/resorts/ikos-porto-petro/

Daios cove in Crete is lovely, their villas sleep up to 7 and you can stay on a half board or all inclusive option. Or they have smaller accommodation if you wanted a couple of villas next door to each other.

Could you divvy up cooking? We stayed in a villa this summer with a bbq (and amazing terrace). Kept it simple if repetitive by having bbq most nights. Washing up was minimal. There was a dishwasher and kids helped.

Just get a chef.

Plenty of private villa rental companies offer this.

I have found it good value in the past - and you can usually get them just for the days you want ie go out for dinner some nights etc.

Agreed it’s not a holiday if you’re constantly catering for everyone.

its shopping and some are veggie, some are pescatarian

thing is I don't want to delegate!

Thanks all for your ideas - its so tricky

So what do you want then?

"some people might want a cooked breakfast" .....then they can cook it themselves.

Best idea was above - croissants, yogurts, fruit, cereals available for breakfast, everyone eats as and when (the earliest riser could nip out and get fresh pastries in the morning, obviously you need to check location of villa to shops).

Lunch is either as above, out and about, beach bar food, or in the villa you literally just lay out nice bread, cheeses, olives, veggies, deli meats.

Dinners out.

Apart from daily pastries/fresh bread you don't need to be in a supermarket every day.

Or just do Ikos or adults only all inclusive.

Thanks everybody -sorry to sound so fucking annoying but I just don't want to have to think about food for two weeks
but want the privacy in space of a villa!

Obviously villa hotels seem to exist so I'll have a good nosy about them. Strangely my son went to an Ikos place recently but I wonder how much it would be for a family of eight. Plus KIDS 🤢

Although all my children are adults two don't eat meat one doesn't eat " raw cheese" So yes, they can find their own lunch but laying on a idyllic Mediterranean charcuterie board isn't really what we do!

St John’s Villa, Zante, one week in the 6 weeks school summer holidays next year for 8 people, half board 12k with EasyJet holidays.

Sorry just seen it’s 8 people plus kids. How many kids and what’s your budget?

Tuscany Now & More have villas with chefs, lots of the villas sleep
up to 20 and others are smaller. I googled villas with chefs in Mediterranean and it’s definitely a thing.

If when you say you are taking your adult children on holiday you mean you are paying for travel and accommodation, then I think asking them to be responsible for organising meals is unreasonable. Pay your way but leave booking, shopping, cooking and clearing up to them.

Although a fully serviced villa would be fab if you can afford it

I don't see how you can "not think about food" if you have so many picky people and you won't delegate. Sounds like with a hotel you'd still be worrying about whether they are getting what they want and if you have a chef you'll be explaining to them all these rules.

Why is delegating shopping and cooking to the rest of the adult party not an option you want to consider?

Sorry to ask the obvious but have you considered an adults only hotel.
A hotel would make it much easier imo.

You could get rooms or an on site villa / duplex maybe?

Stella Island Resort & Spa
OKU Ibiza
Ca Na Xica

If I booked a villa with my adult children it would not even occur to me to think about who would cook/clean. Because I’d assume everyone would pitch in. What does your husband think? Do all women have this inbuilt default housekeeper mode?