My 15 year old son was asked to go to Myrtle Beach this summer with his best friends' family. It will be Best Friend, who is also 15, the mom, dad, little sister-5 years old, and little brother-2 years old. The will be leaving on a Sunday, driving 16 hours from the Chicago area (i *think* straight through), and coming back the following Saturday.
They had already been planning to get a suite/1-bedroom accommodation because of the little ones. So my son going does not change the cost of the room(s). DH works in the corporate finance department of a national car rental company and gave the dad a 40% off FF code for their car rental, which they had already planned to rent before DS was included as well.
We asked the parents how much we should give them for DS. (DH and the dad used to coach the boys' youth football team together, so we know them pretty well). They told us that they will cover the hotel, meals, and transportation, especially since with DH's FF code, they are saving a couple hundred $$ on their car rental. They said they are pretty much planning on spending most of the time at the beach so just give DS his own spending money for entrance fees if the boys are off alone, snacks above and beyond what they would normally buy (15 year old football players eat a LOT!), and souvenirs.
We do not feel comfortable just giving DS cash and letting him do what he wants with it. We know him and know that he will hoard it and bring it all home to use for later. We also know this family and know that they will NOT take money from DS if he wants something when they stop at the gas station or is with the whole family going to some tourist attraction and needs the entrance fee paid. We know that the parents will just pay for him.
We want to give the parents some cash, and give DS a small amount to hang onto. The parents don't necessarily need to carry it separate, nor give us back what DS doesn't use or give us reciepts or anything LOL....we would never expect that or take it. We just want them to use the money toward the trip in general to offset the extra cost of DS going.
We were thinking around $200? Is that enough, too much, or too little? We were also going to give DS15 somewhere between $50-100 for himself. But I have never been to Myrtle Beach and don't know how expensive it is? We were also going to pack a "thank you" goody bag for the family for the road trip. Not sure exactly what yet, but I was planning on spending around $100....the only for-sure thing I was going to include so far is a $50 gas card
They had already been planning to get a suite/1-bedroom accommodation because of the little ones. So my son going does not change the cost of the room(s). DH works in the corporate finance department of a national car rental company and gave the dad a 40% off FF code for their car rental, which they had already planned to rent before DS was included as well.
We asked the parents how much we should give them for DS. (DH and the dad used to coach the boys' youth football team together, so we know them pretty well). They told us that they will cover the hotel, meals, and transportation, especially since with DH's FF code, they are saving a couple hundred $$ on their car rental. They said they are pretty much planning on spending most of the time at the beach so just give DS his own spending money for entrance fees if the boys are off alone, snacks above and beyond what they would normally buy (15 year old football players eat a LOT!), and souvenirs.
We do not feel comfortable just giving DS cash and letting him do what he wants with it. We know him and know that he will hoard it and bring it all home to use for later. We also know this family and know that they will NOT take money from DS if he wants something when they stop at the gas station or is with the whole family going to some tourist attraction and needs the entrance fee paid. We know that the parents will just pay for him.
We want to give the parents some cash, and give DS a small amount to hang onto. The parents don't necessarily need to carry it separate, nor give us back what DS doesn't use or give us reciepts or anything LOL....we would never expect that or take it. We just want them to use the money toward the trip in general to offset the extra cost of DS going.
We were thinking around $200? Is that enough, too much, or too little? We were also going to give DS15 somewhere between $50-100 for himself. But I have never been to Myrtle Beach and don't know how expensive it is? We were also going to pack a "thank you" goody bag for the family for the road trip. Not sure exactly what yet, but I was planning on spending around $100....the only for-sure thing I was going to include so far is a $50 gas card
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