Bringing along a friend?

[Lover_of_Disney]

My dear step-son is bringing along his 9 yr old friend for our Disney trip next month. DH and I agreed to paying for his PH in exchange for him watching our dog for the rest of the summer when we are away.

How much should we ask his parents to budget per day for food and extra's? I have no idea how much to tell them. We plan on eating out 2 meals each day but he is 9!!! Anything else I should be aware of when bringing a friend along. We already have the notarized consent form, insurance card, ID, etc.

Thanks!

 

[VAN]

My DD is 18 and we just had her friend along. We asked her to pay for her plane ticket and park ticket. We covered everything else ... so much easier!!!

I would try to cover the meals if I were you. I would suggest your son's friend bring the same amount that your son will have for spending.

Otherwise, maybe just go with a flat $20 per day for food and then you cover anything in excess.

 

[Lover_of_Disney]

Bump

 

[Amirah95]

I say since he's 9...$300 should be OK to be on the safe side. The covers food and spending money. Not saying he'll spend it all on one trip but at least it's good amount just in case.

 

[Lorix2]

$300.00 sounds like a fair amount although I dont' think I'd let my 9 y/o hold all that money. They'd probably be willing to give it to you to spend as you go for safe keeping.

 

[Amirah95]

Yes, mom on trip will have to hold all the monies. I think you can't go wrong with asking for $300.00.

My 8 year old DD is bringing along a good friend of hers and I'm holding their monies and keeping receipts/notes. We're doing the 100 dollar spending money thing with them. The rest is for food and necessities.

I like to keep things in order just in case there are any questions once I get back home (I like to play it safe).

 

[Lorix2]

Amirah - very good idea about receipts, just in case.

 

[crusoe2]

We did this a few years ago when our DS was about 8yo. Since we drive to Orlando, we didn't have to worry about a plane ticket. And it was a short trip with just 2 park days so we told the friend's parents that we would take care of food and park tickets if they would supply him with souvenier money. We knew he probably would not have as much souvie money as our son who had been saving for quite awhile. But we were still surprised that his parents only gave him about $25 for the whole trip. Needless to say we ended up "supplementing" his souvie fund a little cause we felt bad that DS was able to buy so much more. Bottom line - be prepared in case you and the other parents have very different ideas of what is a reasonable amount of money. It might be a good idea to get them to look at some of the restaurant menus and also give them some examples of souvenier prices. HTH.

Oh, one more thing - don't forget to get extra prints of all your photos so the friend can have a set, too. I picked up an inexpensive Disney photo album from Walmart and filled it with pictures for my DS's friend.

 

[Amirah95]

Crusoe...$25.00??? I wouldn't have accepted that. There is no way I can believe your DS's friend's mom and dad thought $25.00 was enough for souveniers at Disney World? They took total advantage of you guys, big time. I would have felt insulted and would have had to speak out on that before we left. What you did for him was nice of you and shame on his parents for setting him up for failure he did not get to see (whew). What a shame! Unreal.

 

[Lover_of_Disney]

I think I will compile a list of the menu's and what could potentially cost extra. They are reasonable people and I don't think they are in a financial hardship, it's just hard to tell them how much money I think is appropriate for him to bring.

Thanks for your input!!!!

 

[crusoe2]

Just thought I ought to clarify - we think the friend's family might have been having some financial difficulties at the time. They are very nice people and we were afraid we might embarrass them if we indicated that it wasn't enough money. For all we knew, that was all they could spare. It was pretty easy to send him home with lots of goodies, tho. I had picked up a few things for goody bags before the trip - found several Disney things at the $ Tree like Mickey canteens, stickers, candy, etc. - and gave the boys their bags to enjoy on the ride down. (They actually used the Mickey canteens in the parks in place of water bottles.) We all got the refillable mugs at ASMo and of course let him keep his. We also wound up getting lots of little freebies all along - the restaurant where we ate lunch on the way down gave out small bags of Teddy Grahams with the kid's meals and the boys saved those to put in their fanny packs for a snack in the park. They got Doug lunch boxes with their kid's meals at ABC Commissary and collected a new part for their Professor Gadget action figures when we ate lunch at the McDonald's at DTD. And most of the souvies he wanted were just inexpensive little trinkets anyway so it was really easy to offer to pay for everything at once and then just never take it out of his money. At that age it really doesn't take alot to make them happy.

 

[Amirah95]

If they had financial hardship then they could have at least told you, in so many words, that they didn't have spending funds available for him to use at the moment and if possible can we pay you back in the future. Then that's your cue to say, "no, I'll take care of him don't worry" or "ok, i'll keep the receipts and let you know how much he spent." That's what I'd do if my DD wanted to go on vacation with her friends and I was short on cash. I just think it's the right thing and it stops you from hesitating to take him along the next time. Avoid conflict.

 

[disneyatl]

Thought I'd share our plan....

We are also taking our daughters friend with us (both age 10) in July. Her parents wanted to give us some money but mu husband and I both agreed to pay for her tickets and meals. To us it is definitely worth it to have a friend for my daughter along for the fun since we are a family of three. We've told her parents just to give her some money for souvenirs.

 

[crusoe2]

Amirah95, you are certainly entitled to your opinion but I don't appreciate being publicly dressed down and told how I should have handled the situation. My orig. post was not meant as a complaint, just a warning, and we still believe that we did the right thing. We knew before we invited the child that he probably would not have nearly as much spending money as our son. We were a little surprised at just how little he had but we were prepared for that possibility. We felt that since he was our guest that we should be prepared to take care of his expenses whatever they might be. Others may prefer to handle such a situation differently but we did what we felt comfortable with. My only reason for posting about our experience was to let others know that it's a good idea to discuss this possibility with your spouse or partner and decide in advance how you will handle it. Be it because of philisophical differences or financial hardship, not everyone can or will send their child to WDW with a large amount of money. But, as I explained in my second post, it doesn't have to be that difficult or expensive to send a child home with lots of goodies. And I agree with disneyatl, it can certainly be worth the trouble and expense for your only child to have a friend along. My son is still best friends with this child and we would not hesitate to invite him on another trip to WDW or anywhere else.

My apologies to the OP. I didn't mean to hijack your thread and hope that some of the info I gave has been helpful.

 

[Amirah95]

I apologize if I offended you in anyway. I was not addressing my disbelief with you. If you think that I came of harsh please disregard because I would never intentionally belittle someone.

 

[crusoe2]

Hey Tanya, same here - I didn't mean to come off harsh and apologize if I did. Your posts did make me realize that I might not have made myself clear in my first post, tho.

 

[NotUrsula]

I think $25 is a perfectly reasonable amount of souvenir money for one child who is under age 10. DS is 7, he gets $15 per trip right now if his behaviour warrants allowing shopping. That is enough to buy one or two small items. We limit his purchases deliberately; we don't want DS to get into the habit of believing that he should get to purchase lots of "stuff" on every trip he takes. We just returned from a trip, and DS bought 2 access badges from rides he went on for the first time (he had to work up the courage), plus a couple of pressed pennies. He's quite happy with those.

If you expect a child to bring money for incidental snack purchases or things like quarters for video games, that is something else again; I would give my child extra money for that if I knew you would allow him to indulge. (We don't allow those things, so if it were my kid, he wouldn't know what to do with himself, LOL.)

I have to tell you, if I gave my child a fixed souvenir budget and he came home with far more than the budget allowed, I would be somewhat displeased. We very strictly emphasize that the reward of travel is the experience itself, not the goodies that are purchased along the way, and we really discourage souvenir-buying. I would expect him to politely refuse the offer of extra souvenirs. Of course, had it been me, I would have had the courtesy to tell you why I had limited the money.

For the sake of simplifying matters, I think the easiest cost split when hosting someone else's child is for the host to cover the flexible costs such as food, and for the parents to cover the fixed costs, such as the park tickets. That way the amount is clear up front and there are no surprises/misconceptions for the parents to deal with. Of course, if you can afford it, the nicest option is to extend the invitation without expecting the child's parents to cover any costs at all. That way, anything they contribute is a nice surprise.

 

[crusoe2]

NotUrsula, I have to agree with you on limiting the shopping and focusing on the activities. We've learned that the hard way and are now trying to teach our 12yo DS to do just that. Of course, I've always tried to get him to spend his $ on things that he can't get at home and that are somehow meaningful. But it's been a battle, especially with grandparents contributing unexpectedly large monetary gifts right before the trip.

I'm ashamed to say I hadn't thought about how it might have made the other parents feel when their child came home with more "stuff" than they had given him money for. But thinking back, I really don't believe we went overboard. As I mentioned, most if not all of the things we paid for were small, inexpensive items (like postcards, small toys or pressed pennies) or the freebies that came with kids' meals. We did give him a few dollars on our last day so that he could buy a Genie puppet. He and my DS both wanted one but he didn't have quite enough money left so we just made up the difference.

 

[sweet maxine]

I'm not sure whether to step in here or not, but we are taking my son's friend with us for a few days until his family comes down to take him back. I guess he will be with us for about 6 days or so,and I am glad for him to go with us. His family always treats my son to dinner, basketball tickets in Memphis, etc. so I felt it was time to reciprocate in a big way. I am paying for his ticket (7d PHP) and meals, etc. and feel this is the least I can do. I am not paying for a plane ticket, though, as we will be driving. I am thrilled to have someone who can help keep my son entertained. We have always taken friends to WDW for my children, with varied results I might add. One child (12 y/o) was homesick the whole time, another (13 y/o) put on make-up for an hour each morning, and the youngest (6 y/o) was an absolute delight.

I think it depends on the other families' financial situation as to how they will handle the invitation. I have always paid for the child's park tickets and meals, then their parents usually send spending money as they feel is needed. I don't say anything to the parents about money unless they ask me.

 

[Lora]

Originally posted by NotUrsula
I think $25 is a perfectly reasonable amount of souvenir money for one child who is under age 10.

I also have to agree. My dd's save about $10-15 for their souvenirs. I might spend about $20-30 per visit on myself and dh doesn't buy any souvenirs.