Travel vent: Disney with others

[Anonymous]

I’m on a family trip to Disney + universal. This is a trip I saved for so that me and my son could go along with his cousins - my sister and brother in law. Financially speaking / we hover around the same income. But I find whenever my son wants something - his cousins soon come following and the budget i have for my son now gets extended by 3. It started with a pretzel, then a holiday cookie, then a transformers toy and after it became too much- I told my niece/nephew thru need to ask their own parents to buy : insert whatever.

We have 1 more park to go. How do I avoid this without making the children feel bad or making my child miss out on something we agreed to allow him to get? The parents won’t step in and surely aren’t offering to buy my son a snack or a toy.

[Anonymous]

You just…only buy for your son. You can say no.

[Anonymous]

Yes, tell the kids to ask their parents and tell the parents (in advance) you covered a few things already and you propose each of you cover your own kids for the last day, and also a heads up that you will let your kid get a toy and treat. Honestly pretty crappy that they let you buy their kid treats and toys and haven’t reciprocated. Everyone knows Disney is pricey.

[Anonymous]

Why are the niece and nephew doing Disney with you and not their own parents? Are the parents waiting outside and instructing their children to follow you around the gift shop/candy shop/etc? Something doesn’t add up here.

[Anonymous]

Just keep saying "Go ask your mom for it." "Go ask your dad if he'll buy you a pretzel."

And say to them, "Hey, I paid for the kids to all get ______, so will you take a turn to get mine _______ now?"

[Anonymous]

It's weird to me that your kid would eat an ice cream in front of their cousins without you offering to buy them one as well. Ideally, the other set of parents would take turns treating. Since this is happening, I would plan on buying fewer snacks.

I think it's ok to only buy your kid a souvenir though.

[Anonymous]

I would be offering one to my niece and nephew.

[Anonymous]

It seems weird that you all aren’t having discussions about snacks and souvenirs ahead of time. Whenever I go out with others and our kids, if someone gets hungry or wants a treat, we talk about it - no one just goes off with their kid alone to get something. Also wouldn’t presume it’s ok to give food to someone else’s kid without parental permission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to me that your kid would eat an ice cream in front of their cousins without you offering to buy them one as well. Ideally, the other set of parents would take turns treating. Since this is happening, I would plan on buying fewer snacks.

I think it's ok to only buy your kid a souvenir though.

This. It’s IME the expected scenario given these are nieces and nephews and not acquaintances or friends. Even with friends children though, people would expect the adult who’s paying to cover their kids as well if they are not in the shop with them.

Financially you now know your sister/brother will expect you to cover their kids so next trip you should take without them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to me that your kid would eat an ice cream in front of their cousins without you offering to buy them one as well. Ideally, the other set of parents would take turns treating. Since this is happening, I would plan on buying fewer snacks.

I think it's ok to only buy your kid a souvenir though.

Yea - I’m struggling with this part. My son - a fan of minions - wanted a minion cookie. I’m prepared to spend $8 for this huge cookie - but it ballooned to $24 after they all asked for cookies. And I hate to seem cheap but after so many times of this - I’m annoyed.

[Anonymous]

This is part of traveling as a group. I agree it’s frustrating but that’s why I mostly choose not to travel as a group. If it’s important to you for your son to have other kids there, I think you have to make peace with this. Or buy one cookie and break it into pieces.

I’m annoyed the other way. My BIL and SIL buy way too many snacks at Disney and always treat my kids (and they don’t mind the expense.) But I don’t want my kids eating crap all day long however saying so makes me a spoil sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to me that your kid would eat an ice cream in front of their cousins without you offering to buy them one as well. Ideally, the other set of parents would take turns treating. Since this is happening, I would plan on buying fewer snacks.

I think it's ok to only buy your kid a souvenir though.

Yea - I’m struggling with this part. My son - a fan of minions - wanted a minion cookie. I’m prepared to spend $8 for this huge cookie - but it ballooned to $24 after they all asked for cookies. And I hate to seem cheap but after so many times of this - I’m annoyed.

So open your mouth and tell your sibling and their spouse - hey guys, you’re up!

[Anonymous]

My siblings and I would take turns, but we'd also be able to talk about it.

[Anonymous]

I don’t travel as a group.
I would just stick your relative with a couple of restaurant bills or something and if he or she complains, remind them you’ve been covering snacks and gifts for his kids.

[Anonymous]

Given that this is the last park, I think just suck it up that your budget is blown. And don't travel with these people again. I feel like traveling as a group rarely goes well -- in large part for this reason.