What do you usually pay for when inviting your kids' friends?

[disneygal55]

We are letting our 2 DS's (18 and 20) bring a friend each to WDW (hopefully staying at BCV) next summer. To those who have done this before...what do you usually pay for? I can't imagine paying for the entire trip!!

 

[Quiksilvr]

This is an excellent question. I'm looking forward to seeing responses on this as well.

 

[Chuck S]

I think it depends upon the age of the people you invite. At 18 and 20, I would have their friends pay meals and park tickets. If they are a little strapped for cash, plan on some meals in the room. I never ask guests to pay for their rooms. If they can afford it (and some of my friends can't) they "repay" us by taking us out for a nice dinner or dinner show.

If it was a younger child, I'd probably pay for the park ticket, but expect the parents to send enough money for food, and of course, souvenirs.

If flying, everyone pays for their own flight.

 

[Jeremy&Susan]

Generally it depends who and how you invite.

If you ask the parents of your children's friend whether or not it would be ok for you to take their child to Disney with you, you should pay the whole thing.

If you ask your child's friend's parents whether they would like to have their child accompany you and your family to Disney and you would be able to pay for the room, cover in room meals and whatever else; then they should cover the rest (just give them an idea up front of what the cost would be).

If you leave the issue open or grey from the beginning, it will be harder and harder to deal with the money issue as the time for the trip gets closer. Best path we usually choose is to be open from the start and let them know that it usually costs "X" for the flight, "X" for the park admissions and "X" for the food and they may want to include some cash for buying Disney Stuff.

 

[rbuzzotta]

My oldest DD has taken friends. They pay for flight, park passes and meals/souveniers/etc. They are 17 and usually go off on their own most of the time. We are leaving Saturday and we will take them out to dinner at least once while there!! I pay for all the food for the room.

 

[Ms. WDW]

When DS (19) brings a friend, they pay for their airfare, park passes and "some" meals. We'll usually pick up the bill for all TS meals; they pay for CS meals and snacks.

 

[snackyx]

When DS (19) brings a friend, they pay for their airfare, park passes and "some" meals. We'll usually pick up the bill for all TS meals; they pay for CS meals and snacks.

This is pretty close to where we are. We have had numerous 15, 16 17 18 year olds with us and they always pay their own airfare and park tickets. They bring $ for food and misc. but we will typically pick up the whole check if we are eating at a table service restaurant. We typically don't take a load of teenagers to California Grill (they would rather eat burgers and pizza, anyway) but I did have a memorable night at Shula's Steakhouse in the Dolphin with three HS varisty hockey players--I think the total, with tip, for six people was just over $700 (of course, my wife and I did find a nice bottle of wine with dinner). I think they could have tackled the 48 oz. porterhouse and had their names on the Shula's wall of fame!

 

[crisi]

When we invite adults (which is what these people are) we cover room. Depending on the invitation, we've covered EVERYTHING ELSE (my mother in law) or NOTHING ELSE (friends of ours) or something in between (my family got park tickets as Christmas gifts and we'll pick up quite a few meals, but they bought their own airfare). We make it clear to the person we are inviting what we are picking up when we do the inviting.

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Generally it depends who and how you invite.

I agree. When we bring DS(11)'s best friend of many years, I pay for it all and the parents supply pocket cash. They also reciprocate when they host our son.

When we travel w/ DS(11) and 3 friends, we each pay for ourselves and our kids. Generally, since we all know each other well, they will buy our dinners etc. since we provide the resort accomodations at no cost to them.

For older friends like yours, I would speak to the parents and in all honesty, expect their parents or themselves to provide park admission, plane fare etc. If driving, one more one less doesn't make much difference, I would pay for that. I would treat them to every group breakfast, lunch, & dinner. Yes, it can be costly but it ensures that every one gets plenty to eat and is not uncomfortable when ordering or paying the bill.

 

[Ms. WDW]

When we invite adults (which is what these people are) we cover room. Depending on the invitation, we've covered EVERYTHING ELSE (my mother in law) or NOTHING ELSE (friends of ours) or something in between (my family got park tickets as Christmas gifts and we'll pick up quite a few meals, but they bought their own airfare). We make it clear to the person we are inviting what we are picking up when we do the inviting.

Adults are another story; we cover the room and they pay for all their other expenses. Usually at TS meals we'll just split the check.

 

[Granny]

When my teenage daughters asked friends to join us, we paid for everything (we drive to WDW, so no plane tickets involved) except souvenirs. As it turned out, each of their parents insisted on contributing something so they each picked up a meal tab at a sit down restaurant.

I don't think this is a right/wrong or cheap/over-generous issue...the main thing is the up front communication to avoid embarrassment or problems.

 

[ACDSNY]

We've done this several ways depending on who is going and whether they could afford the cost. Sometimes we've paid for everything other times the guest has paid for the flight and park ticket. I always cover room and meals.

 

[SusieBea]

Our girls are 26 and 22 now, but we've been members a long time and have taken more friends than I can count. When we included their friends, we did it as a gift to our daughters (and, in all honesty, to ourselves). We never asked any friend to contribute anything. We drove, so airfare wasn't an issue. Their guests ended up contributing on each end of the spectrum from paying for their own park tickets and meals then gifting us w/ Waterford or dinner when we returned to one mother who gave her daughter $50 spending money and expected her to purchase gifts for her 2 siblings and bring some money back.

 

[Pocahantas]

Glad you asked this question! We just invited my daughter's friend to come with us in Feb 2009. Both girls will be 11 at the time of the trip. We have asked her parents to pay for the airline ticket and the park pass and we will cover everything else. I couldn't find any info on this topic before we asked but I am glad to see that our requests are pretty much in line with others. I wish we could afford to pay for everything but we just can't at this point since our DVC is not paid for.

 

[della]

We have paid completely when they were younger friends but at the ages you mentioned we usually say the room is on us (dd and friends often get a separate studio). We have occasionally paid for airfare but often do not. I make it clear that dining is on their own, but they are more than welcome to any and all food in the kitchen of our villa. Usually I try to invite everyone to one breakfast and/or dinner and I pay for that.

And tickets, since we usually have AP's, they buy their own tickets.

I think the most important thing is to be REALLY clear right from the beginning. They should know what they are/are not paying for right from the initial conversation. Also, lay any ground rules before you go.

Also, if they are paying for their own tkts, food, etc. I would never ask them to babysit the younger ones (at the room or in the parks) and I would never expect them to follow our itinerary unless they wanted to.

 

[lovinthemouse]

We usually pay for most food and park passes. But our DD is 11. I just ask parents to send spending money.

 

[WDWmom08]

Also, if they are paying for their own tkts, food, etc. I would never ask them to babysit the younger ones (at the room or in the parks) and I would never expect them to follow our itinerary unless they wanted to.

That's a really good point.

Just to throw in another question - At what age did your children start bringing friends?

 

[Sorceress_Minnie]

Great thread. We just purchased our DVC and had planned to allow our kids, now 13 and 7 to each take a friend in 2011. We figured that we would use points for the room and would pay for tickets to the parks. Beyond that, I had not given a lot of thought to meals and other items. Just off the cuff, I would guess that we would have breakfast in the room (with us buying the groceries), and then we would pay for dinner. Lunch would need to be something they paid for. What do you think?

 

[MikeyNS]

Being someplace where we *have* to fly, when my boys get to the age where they are going to want to invite a friend along we'll probably cover everything but the flight and the ticket, unless we have a huge surplus of frequent flyer points then we'll spring for the ticket too.

 

[Sorceress_Minnie]

My DH prefers to DRIVE from Michigan so, I am not thinking about the cost of flights....but four kids/teens in a car? Maybe I will have to think about flights!