If you invite a child on vacation with you do you accept money from the parents?

[antkim]

I invited my niece to come with us to the White Mountains for a few nights. I know my brother is going to try to give me money but I feel like if we invited her then we should pay for her. Am I dumb? LOL I did this another time when we took out neighbor to a carnival-I said we would pay because we invited her(I don't think they have a lot of "extra" money).
This is all new for me so give me your advice!! I'm especailly thinking that I should pay for my niece because it is family-maybe a friend might be different.

Kim

 

[monkeyboy]

It depends on how expensive a trip will be

WDW yes

a week at a cabin no

 

[jrydberg]

If I was the parent of the child going, I'd expect to give money. If I was the one asking the child to come, I wouldn't expect to get money

 

[Trish Bessette]

If I invite one of my daughters friends to go anywhere with us I pay.

Although, when my daughters are invited to go somewhere with their friends I do give them money I guess I'm contradicting myself huh?

 

[onecoolmama]

How old is the child? If someone took my DS I think I would give them money. If they refused, I woud just say..here it is his spending money then!

I know what you mean, when I invited a child out I dont expect them to pay for anything, but if they insisted, I think I would use that same response then, tuck the money into the Chid's suitcase after the trip was over.

 

[CEDmom]

Personally, I wouldn't invite a child to join us for something unless we could afford to treat him or her. That being said if the parents insisted on giving $ and I was confident they could afford it I'd probably take some for spending money for their child. If DD were invited along with a friend I'd give the parents $ for her.

 

[TLinden16]

How old is your niece? Is she going to help with your kids or babysit on occassion? If so, I definitely wouldn't expect money.

If you are just taking her to have a playmate for your son, I still wouldn't expect money for expenses during the trip. I would probably expect her to have her own spending money for souvenirs, but I'd probably pay for her meals and stuff like that.

Karen

 

[antkim]

Thanks! I feel like I should pay and I am happy to do so. I would never ask someone to come along if I couldn't afford it either! Thanks again guys!

Kim

Oh and of course if it were something like WDW I'd accept!! LOL

 

[vernon]

I think it very much depends on the total cost and length of the break. A long weekend that is mostly home cooked or cheap meals with little costly entertainment then I don't think you need accept any payment. A 2 week break at WDW with a reasonable amount of eating out I don't think it's unreasonable. When my DD brought a friend on vacation with her we organised all the accommodation etc, but kept a note of roughly her share of meals, park tickets etc and her parents gave me a cheque for her share. It worked out well for her parents as they had no interest in a WDW vacation and she was desperate to go.

 

[antkim]

She's 7 and I was bringing her for A.J. We are going to Storyland so I figured my brother might insist on giving us money for that-he's not hurting financially but I still thought I should pay.

 

[missypie]

Make sure her parents give her money for souveniers.

Also, work out the food expense part and let the child know in advance that it's taken care of. I was once taken on a trip with a friend, and I felt very awkward every time we ate out because I didn't know how payment for food should be handled. My parents should have told me what to do before I left.

 

[always quiet]

I might expect the parents to give the kids some spending money of their own in case they wanted something 'special'. With that said, a friend of Jeana's (hey Kim............GINA ) invited her to go to the movies last week. Nothing was said about who was going to pay for this but I made sure that she had money with her to afford both the ticket and her munchies. Didn't want to place my daughter in an awkward situation.

 

[aprincessmom]

If I invite them, regardless of the situation, I pay for the whole thing because they are a guest. When other parents insist on giving me money, I will take and it just tuck it in a pocket and then return it to them when we get home saying it ended up that we didn't need it but thanks so much for offering.

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

I'm another one here that will not accept money if we invite a friend along. I mean isn't an invite, just that? But when my kids are invited out I always offer and it has never been accepted.

 

[NMAmy]

Whenever we invite a friend of DD's along--be it the movies, McDonald's, or Cedar Point, I pay for everything--tickets, food, lodging. In the case of Cedar Point, I told the moms to send souvenir money but I'd cover everything else. And both times, I ended up buying t-shirts for them as well--I was buying one for DD and couldn't see not getting the other child one.

This is the reason we don't take anyone to WDW with us. If I can't afford to pay for everything, we don't take them along. Plus, I really like the family bonding time. But--when she goes with another family--I send money along for everything.

 

[believe]

I would expect money for extra (souvenirs, etc.), but not for food, entry to events, shelter.....

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

For almost everything...we invite, we pay.

We are taking my 10 year old stepsister along on our trip to WDW this week. I didn't ask for any money, of course, however my father insisted on paying for her park tickets. I thought it was a nice offer and I accepted. We covered her airfare and will pay for everything else.