Anonymous wrote:These are 17 year olds with cars, possibly part time jobs, soon to be living independently? Your son and his friends should be coordinating their own meals that fit within their budgets, whether it’s getting groceries and cooking or eating some meals out. Maybe you guys can host dinner the first and last nights, but expecting you to plan/pay for meals for 7 kids for a week is ridiculous.

I don’t know where most of these posters are coming from. I grew up in a very wealthy area where kids frequently hosted trips at their beach or ski cabins. By age 17, there would be zero expectation of the parents providing food for a large group trip like this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think I would call it “tacky” but I do think if you’re going to ask someone to pay, you need to tell them when you invite. The only clear breach of etiquette here imo is inviting someone and then LATER telling/asking them to contribute $X.

If my kid were invited to this I would send her with money and instructions to offer to take everyone out to eat at least once and/or do a grocery run. I would be…well, not quite taken aback by a straight request, and I would just send it immediately, but I do think doing it after you invite is not ideal.

Did OP invite or did the boys make the plan and the son said "hey, what do you think if the 7 of us go to the beach house for a week..."

It sounds like the later..? Although it’s unclear. If the later, it’s fine to ask.

The only way it’s tacky is if a family decides to invite a bunch of kids to their vacation home and then asks parent to contribute. That would be weird.

Nuance matters!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think I would call it “tacky” but I do think if you’re going to ask someone to pay, you need to tell them when you invite. The only clear breach of etiquette here imo is inviting someone and then LATER telling/asking them to contribute $X.

If my kid were invited to this I would send her with money and instructions to offer to take everyone out to eat at least once and/or do a grocery run. I would be…well, not quite taken aback by a straight request, and I would just send it immediately, but I do think doing it after you invite is not ideal.

Did OP invite or did the boys make the plan and the son said "hey, what do you think if the 7 of us go to the beach house for a week..."

Anonymous wrote:These are 17 year olds with cars, possibly part time jobs, soon to be living independently? Your son and his friends should be coordinating their own meals that fit within their budgets, whether it’s getting groceries and cooking or eating some meals out. Maybe you guys can host dinner the first and last nights, but expecting you to plan/pay for meals for 7 kids for a week is ridiculous.

I don’t know where most of these posters are coming from. I grew up in a very wealthy area where kids frequently hosted trips at their beach or ski cabins. By age 17, there would be zero expectation of the parents providing food for a large group trip like this.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think I would call it “tacky” but I do think if you’re going to ask someone to pay, you need to tell them when you invite. The only clear breach of etiquette here imo is inviting someone and then LATER telling/asking them to contribute $X.

If my kid were invited to this I would send her with money and instructions to offer to take everyone out to eat at least once and/or do a grocery run. I would be…well, not quite taken aback by a straight request, and I would just send it immediately, but I do think doing it after you invite is not ideal.

Anonymous wrote:DH and I were talking last night and I’d love a third-party perspective.

Our 17-year-old son is planning to have around 7 friends stay at our beach house for five nights this summer, and we’re more than happy to host. I’ll plan on having breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the boys (and probably ordering pizza one night), plus having snacks around etc… though I’m sure the boys will also grab food when they’re out.

My question is: would it be tacky to ask each parent to Venmo a small amount to help cover food for the week? If so, how much I am leaning towards yes. DH brought it up- I wouldn’t think twice about covering it if it were a one-time thing, but last summer we had kids in and out nearly every weekend. I love having the kids there and am always happy to have extra kids around so I don’t want this to imply any different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it’s not tacky. Cooking for 10 people, guests and your family, takes a lot of time and money. I’d expect everyone to help, with money and effort.

You can send an email to all the parents saying you’ll have eat at a restaurant once a day which they’ll need money for, what kind of entertaining budget is needed, and ask for a meals contribution, I’d think $250 is reasonable.

Just because you invited someone to your beach house is not an excuse for freeloading and an all expenses paid vacation, it only means you’ll provide rooms. If parents don’t have the decency to offer, it’s ok to remind them, and they are free to excuse their teen out of the whole trip.

I agree with this whole heartedly. We have a pool and host regular drop off pool parties for older ES kids. No parents ever contribute anything or even offer to unless I explicitly state that they need to. People in this area are so entitled. Like heating the pool and buying pizza and drinks for the kids adds up!!! Especially when we do it almost weekly. We love hosting AND expect people to contribute in some way. It's not a lot to ask!!

Completely disagree. I host a lot and almost everyone asks what they can bring. I tell them just themselves but some inevitably bring a hostess gift or a bottle of wine. Always appreciated but never expected.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So if this was a girls’ trip—a group of old college friends, say— and one of them happened to have a beach house that they offered up, you would assume that that friend was also covering all of your meals for the week?

But these are children who are not self-supporting, rather than grown women.