Paying for family holidays?

Thanks so much everyone! Really value your opinions and got plenty to think about 😉

NotSpaghetti yes we found this. We will look at doing this I think. Pay due a villa and ask them to pay for their flights

A villa, even with its own pool, in Italy was a lot cheaper than the equivalent number of bedrooms in the UK. We needed 9 bedrooms including two "family rooms" and each had its own bathroom.
My family all paid flights themselves and most hired a car as we were quite rural.

We did research in person the year before though. We visited 4 or 5 big properties in Basilicata and Puglia (Italy) as part of our holiday once we knew the family were interested.

I would look at sites where you are liaising directly with owners if you decide on a villa.

Lisaangel10 we're not wealthy at all. But we costed up a house in this country, and it was too expensive. We paid £4800 AI for 6 of us so that was hard to beat

silverlining48 this is the problem. We paid £4800 for 6 of us All Inclusive. We probably spent another £200 . So very good value. But that would be another £3k if we all went which we can't justify

Yoginimeisje exactly this! But we need to include our other grandkids now too. Even though they're much younger so it'll be a very different holiday to this year when the kids were up til midnight 🥳

My friend’s Mum kindly paid for 14 of them, including herself to stay in a very nice, large house in this country for a week. She has passed away now but was 90 then with the start of dementia and wanted to treat them all before she popped her clogs. I think they all chipped in with food, takeaways, pub meals though which is fair enough.

Babs03 it is a drain but we sacrificed a couples holiday for the one in Turkey . We loved it but it comes with compromise

Seems there are a lot of wealthy people on here who can comfortably afford to fly abroad with their own adult kids plus loads of grandchildren. Even large holiday homes in this country can cost several thousands per week. On top of that there’s fuel, food, drink, often parking, outings etc.

purplepixie no bullying going on at all. This is me trying to please everyone 😉

Cambsnan not my hubbys cup of tea. We did a caravan holiday last year, he wasnt keen to do it again. I could go though

Bluecat yes I agree . Lots of good advice on here so thank you 😊

grandtanteJE we live 2 minutes from each other and pick the youngest 2 up 3 days a week from school. So that's not an option. I like the idea of a big villa that we pay for and they pay their flights. Thanks 😊

Davisuz there's no entitlement but an expectation maybe? Yes, it is expensive to holiday in this country. Im getting some ideas from you all so thank you 😊

GrauntyHelen oh it was most definitely DGD idea!

LittleToothill yes,we help with lots of other things for both kids and grandkids. I think that's a good idea. I'm 66 next year, our grandson 18, and our daughter 40. So maybe that's an option to include them all but ask for a contribution 😉

BLUEBIRDHLO yes we did Devon last year. It was lovely 😍

callum12 the house isn't big enough

Mt61 we can afford to do both. Maybe not the expensive holidays every year though

Yea,mountain that's right. And we did spend a lot of money putting our DS through 4 years of university. I think that's why he is so understanding. Plus his in-laws are quite wealthy so they get help if they need it.

Marmadoit that's not fair to ask you to pay for her kids Christmas gifts. Yes, it sticks in your craw when you see money wasted. I can sympathise completely . So far, our son who we did spend a small fortune on putting through uni, has no such feelings of resentment. And infact,recently he did mention that and how generous we are and always have been to them so not too worry. We give them extra at Christmas and paid for their caravan holiday in June. We do little things but that feeling of disparity still lingers

We paid over £2000 rent for a small holiday home this summer for us and our AC and 2 gc. With food, meals out, snacks, ice creams and entertainment it was an expensive week. UK holidays are not cheap. At least it was 😎 for most of the time.

I take my DD & GDs on holiday once per year and pay for everything. It's just a caravan holiday, but with meals and extras, it does add up. As others have said, when the grandchildren get older, they won't want to go on holiday with their parent/s, let alone their grandparents, so do it whilst you can, you'll be sad when it doesn't happen anymore. We have such a lovely bonding time, so many happy memories made.

Could you book somewhere in the UK. Butlins or some sort of theme park?

I really don't know how grandparents afford this, we are not badly off but can't afford to travel abroad even when is just the two of us more than once a year if that. Whenever we look at holidays the costs go up every year and it can cost thousands for just a week, and we fly easyJet or Ryanair.
But it does seem to be a trend. The last time we went to the Canaries in the winter we saw extended families travelling together and once or twice when we got into conversation the grandparents informed us they had paid for the whole family to go with them.
Is wonderful if you can afford it but what a drain on your savings if you can't. Afterall nobody knows what the future holds, who knows how much money we will need for our own care later on, but one thing we can be sure of, it won't be cheap.