If you know the friend and a little bit about the financial situation of the parents/friend, that might influence what discussions, etc. you might have and whether you only consider extending the invitation if you can pay for all expenses except for souvenir / spending money or have a conversation about who would pay for what. When I was in college, my parent let me bring my boyfriend on a trip to Jamaica, but expected boyfriend/boyfriend's parents to kick in for his airfare. Everything else we paid. His parents weren't super wealthy, but were reasonably well off and boyfriend had savings / discretionary monies too, so this was not an unreasonable arrangement, and terms (who would pay for what) were up front making it very easy for boyfriend to say yes or no, and boyfriend said yes.
This year, though, for example, our son is going to be bringing a friend on a family/extended family trip to Sedona, AZ in May/June this year. Knowing that the friend's parents don't do fancy vacations, just go camping locally and struggle financially (live paycheck to paycheck), I thought it would be really presumptuous of me to even extend an invitation unless I was willing to pay for almost everything and not fair to the family or friend. In this case, I am using frequent flyer miles on Southwest for the friend's air. We are staying in a condo, so no additional hotel expenses -- friend will be staying with DS in double twin room. Also, most of the activities are site seeing and hiking vs. expensive park hoppers. I am, though budgeting extra monies for additional food and entertainment expense (a few admissions to things like Indian Ruins, extra grocery costs, a higher budget to cover another person for dining out). I will expect the friend to buy souvenirs if there is an interest there, but other than that my plans are to foot the whole bill including things like food and snacks at the airport. I think too in this case if I can swing it, I will even give the friend a small budget for modest souvenirs and do the same for my son (usually he's on his own here, as I'm not a big souvenir person).
This year, though, for example, our son is going to be bringing a friend on a family/extended family trip to Sedona, AZ in May/June this year. Knowing that the friend's parents don't do fancy vacations, just go camping locally and struggle financially (live paycheck to paycheck), I thought it would be really presumptuous of me to even extend an invitation unless I was willing to pay for almost everything and not fair to the family or friend. In this case, I am using frequent flyer miles on Southwest for the friend's air. We are staying in a condo, so no additional hotel expenses -- friend will be staying with DS in double twin room. Also, most of the activities are site seeing and hiking vs. expensive park hoppers. I am, though budgeting extra monies for additional food and entertainment expense (a few admissions to things like Indian Ruins, extra grocery costs, a higher budget to cover another person for dining out). I will expect the friend to buy souvenirs if there is an interest there, but other than that my plans are to foot the whole bill including things like food and snacks at the airport. I think too in this case if I can swing it, I will even give the friend a small budget for modest souvenirs and do the same for my son (usually he's on his own here, as I'm not a big souvenir person).
Last edited:
