So you think it’s insulting to send money with your kids, but you send money with your kids?
Yep. Because I don’t want my kid to be in the awkward position of standing outside the movie theatre with no money and one of shiftless’s friend’s parents.
Right, just checking. I agree with you, by the way. My mom never even liked me to stay over at a friend’s house more than once in a row without at least bringing some food or beverages or something, and that’s if we didn’t go anywhere.
I have only accepted cash once, and that was part of the deal. Two sets of my freinds were moving and they had 4 boys between them. Other families helping move had kids too. So, I had a Memberhip at Happy Hollw Park & Zoo, and offered to take all the kids (7 of them including one baby and one tween to handle the baby) there, as long as the 'rent paid for “incidentals”. I had snacks and juice boxes.
Gettting 7 kids out of the way of the BIG MOVE was a huge benefit to all, and the kids had fun, too.
But later I offered to take the 4 of the older kids to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, since again, I was a member, and I didn’t expect or ask for any cash. Some was waved my way, and I gave them a little “look”. I sprang for gas, snacks and a small souvenier each.
Note I had no kids of my own at the time. So there was no chance of “taking turns”. It wasn’t like “next time, *you *take my kids and *you *pay.” being an unstated part of the deal.
But “the dance” can be annoying, as well as “a nice gesture”. Making the gesture is neither wrong nor right. I fit makes *you *feel better- make the gesture. If it makes you feel awkard- don’t. It’s as simple as that.
I’m close to this. I didn’t offer to pay, because I thought that was kind of insulting. I sent my kid with money- to avoid the awkward position and with instructions to treat the hosts to a snack.
For those of you with young kids, at some point the whole dynamic changes. It goes from you being the host to you being the transportation , and in my view, the expectation changes along with the role.When? My sons are 17, 15 (today) and 13.
From the referenced thead, the OP gave $50 for a lunch, dinner and snacks at a theme park.
This isn’t a snark, I’ve never been to Disneyworld, but is this how much most people to pay for an eight year old, or is this upping the ante in the dance?
Your sons actually go places with you and invite their friends? I just get " Can you drive us to “____________” ? , starting at about 13.
Unfortunately, that sounds about right to me. I’m thinking fifteen dollars for lunch, six for snacks, twenty for dinner, round it up a little and that’s fifty.
Yeah, I paid up. Who wants to be a cheapskate right in front of your kid? Fortunately I like to carry cash so I didn’t have to scramble around. I figured at the time that this was a cultural thing I had never encountered before, along with the fact that it was my first kid. I didn’t know how these things work.
For his 13th we took my son and friends to play paintball. Ouch. That ran about $80 per person - 8 people (my wife and I had to play!). Plus food and a cake.
That was mostly tongue in cheek, but yeah the waterpark thing I mentioned was last summer. We’ll probably hit one again this year as well as one of the major theme parks we have here. Movies have gotten to be a thing of the past though. Lately when we go, the wife and I go see something and the boys see something else and we meet afterwards.
My father works at one of the hotels, we go to Disney often so I know the prices. Lunch can cost between 10 or 20 dollars alone even a kids meal. A drink is $4 for soda, around $6 for a gosh darn lemonade. Add a snack or two during the day you could easily be up to $30 before dinner. I also didn’t know which places they would be dining and there is a chance I didn’t even give enough.
Prices are ridiculous. Generally, I’ll pack food and drink and we go outside the park for meals. This wasn’t their plan, however. They were staying all day for the fireworks at night.
Not really…
This is a counter service place. Kids meals are $5. A coke is $2. Cheeseburger with fries is $6. Lemonade is Minute Maid and sold in 16 oz bottles for $2.50 (at least in October when I went and bought several bottles of lemonade).
Want a pricey Disney restaurant? We like the California Grill. Here is the kids menu: California Grill 2023 Children's Dinner Menu and Prices - AllEars.Net $18 for a steak, salad, beverage and dessert for kids. Adults are far pricier: California Grill 2023 Dinner Menu and Prices - AllEars.Net - but I wouldn’t expect someone going to Disney for a daytrip and staying for fireworks to dine here, unless that was a specified part of the invite.
This cracks me up that someone would google menus. If you don’t want to take my word for it fine but I am there five or six times a year and pay the prices I quoted. I guess they could “shop around” for less expensive coke machines or not get the fresh lemonade and get minutemaid but it isn’t my job to budget their outing. I felt it was my responsibility to make sure they had enough money to carry my daughter through the day. If a family of four has had a day at Disney under $200, I will admire them from afar but they would be the rare family indeed.
Then Disney has special pricing just for you. You aren’t the only one who goes to Disney multiple times a year. If you want, I can give you some confirming sites as well. I’ve been using Deb’s site to plan Disney trips for the past six years, I’ve always found her information to be reasonably accurate.
(Oh, I didn’t google menus).
I would be interested in knowing where to get fresh lemonade at Disney. My daughter is a lemonade fiend - and the Minute Maid stuff is HFCS city, but that is all I’ve ever seen. With Disney’s Coke contract, finding non-Coke products can be a real PITA - worse, in my opinion, than finding coffee that isn’t that Nescafe crap.