My husband and I have traveled with friends quite a few times over the years. These group vacations are usually small... two couples, two families, a few random friends. They always have their ups and downs, but overall, they're always a great time. So, naturally, when it came to planning a trip with a bigger group of people, we were totally on board. Of course, when the entire group is made up of your neighbors, it adds a scary twist... would our street be filled with For Sale signs upon our return? Never having spent more than an evening together, we knew it was a risk. But we just couldn't resist the potential for serious fun.
My husband and I handled most of the planning, which included lots of research on houses that could accommodate several families and about six thousand emails filled with information. When all was said and done, we ended up with 6 families (12 adults and 11 kids - YIKES) and an 8-bedroom house in North Carolina. With that many personalities involved, it's hard to imagine how the details would ever be worked out. But, somehow, it all came together and we had an amazing week (with the added bonus that we're all still friends).
One of the toughest parts of the planning was getting everyone to make the commitment. Once you reserve a place, you're on the hook for the cost. If families start backing out along the way, either everyone is going to owe a lot more money than they'd initially planned on, or the planner loses a nice chunk of change on their deposit. To protect ourselves as much as possible, we opened a basic checking account so that the group's funds could be kept separate from our personal funds, then we could easily make the scheduled deposits and payments as they became due. If you're the planner, don't get stuck paying for anything out of your own pocket and never hesitate to remind someone that their payment is due. Choosing to do all of the work does not mean you should ever have to cover anyone else's costs. Remember: this is your vacation too!
Finding a house that would accommodate that many people was a little tricky. Because all of the kids were fairly young (10 and under), everyone agreed each family would share a room (there were lots of kids on air mattresses and in sleeping bags). This made splitting the cost easy as it was divided 6 ways. Things may get tricky if you have older kids and intend to use additional rooms for them (most of these big houses have a couple of rooms with bunk beds). You can charge per person or per bedroom, but regardless of how it's worked out, always take a vote when it comes to making the big financial decisions. You may be the planner, but it's important for everyone to feel that they have a say if they're paying an equal share. Not only that, but when you're limited to 2 weeks of vacation per year, you ought to enjoy the vacation you're going on rather than feeling railroaded. The same is true of your travel companions.
One of the key decisions to make was how to handle groceries. We didn't have the option of 6 separate refrigerators so that each family could choose what to buy and how much they could eat. And the idea of labeling each of our items seemed pretty asinine as well. We decided (after a vote) that we would pool our money and share everything. This meant that no one had to keep track of how much they ate and they were welcome to anything they wanted. We charged a flat per person amount ($100 per adult and $50 per child), which was kept in the bank account and used for groceries during the week. Once the funds ran out, the plan was to split the cost of anything else we needed. Fortunately, this amount covered almost all of our food and drinks, including alcohol, for the entire week (which says a lot... believe me, we're drinkers). The only thing it didn't cover was our surf-n-turf dinner splurge for our last night at the house. After the kids went to bed, the adults enjoyed a few hours of amazing food and good company. However, the fridge was still packed with loads of food and, had we chosen not to, none of us would have had to spend another penny on food. As it was, we were all loading leftover non-perishables back into our cars for the trip home.
With a group this size, we gave a lot of thought on how to handle the responsibilities for the week. The last thing the girls wanted was to be stuck in the kitchen every night cooking a meal for 23 people. We came up with the following plan, which worked out beautifully: the 12 adults were divided into 4 groups of 3. You were not in a group with your spouse (this was to assure that at least one parent from each family was free to handle anything kid-related during meal prep time). Each group had one night to cook, one night to set the table, one night to do the dishes and one night to not do anything at all (i.e. Night 1 - group A set the table, group B cooked dinner, group C did the dishes and group D had the night off. We rotated responsibilities for the following nights). For the remaining 3 nights, everyone was on their own so that people had a chance to go out to dinner, order pizza, eat leftovers, etc. Each group planned ahead for what meal they wanted to make and made a grocery list for their dinner. For the most part, we stuck with fairly easy meals: burgers & hot dogs on the grill, a pasta dinner and a taco bar. The surf-n-turf dinner was out of this world and can hardly be classified as an easy meal... major props go to that particular group of chefs :)
Additional tips and tricks for a successful 'big group' vacation:
1. Remember that this is everyone's vacation. Try to be understanding of everyone's needs without stepping on anyone's toes. Give everyone a chance to share their opinion. If not everyone can agree on something, make a decision to go with the majority... even if your idea isn't the winning one.
2. Just because you're on vacation together doesn't mean you have to spend every moment together. Research the surrounding area and come up with a list of possible activities. If you want a night alone, don't invite the group to join you. By the same token, don't be offended if you invite the rest of the group to join you for an activity and they're not interested. Everyone has different things they enjoy.
3. Figure out who you're vacationing with, what they're looking for and how much they want to spend. A house with a pool is not the same as a house on the beach. A need for private bathrooms for each family might be a deal breaker to some people. Certain amenities might not be a concern to some people that are hoping to save a little cash. And not everyone can afford an unlimited budget when it comes to vacationing.
4. Plan a year in advance. Some of these things are easy to work out when it's just a family of four, but these things take time with a larger group and some people can't sit around replying to emails all day. Even minor details may take longer than you'd anticipate.
5. Remember that this is your vacation. Yes, you want everyone to have a great time, but don't let it be the cause of stress and frustration. Head out of town determined that you're going to have fun no matter what and, when all else fails, allow yourself to go do something alone to get away from the crowd for a while. A house filled with 23 people can be a bit overwhelming at times :)
6. Plan, plan, plan. Your friends may find all of this talk about details to be a bit much. I heard more than a few grumbles about how specific I was being when it came to cooking meals and the kinds of foods that people wanted to have for the week. But, trust me, I received far more compliments when it was all over. Having all of those things worked out in advance made it so much easier for everyone to know what to expect and to be able to enjoy themselves. With everyone aware of the expectations, no one felt guilty kicking back on their 'night off' and those pesky dishes got done without hesitation every night.
7. If you're driving, plan ahead for things you can take with you. We made several bulk food purchases from Costco before we left and everyone was responsible for taking a few items in their car. This likely saved a good bit of money on our groceries. We also planned ahead for outdoor games for the kids, some canopies for guaranteed shade, coolers, kiddie pool, stereo, etc. There's no reason to have 5 or 6 of everything and planning ahead with your fellow travelers can save precious cargo space in your vehicles.
Resources:
When it comes to finding a place to house a large group of people, we've had great success with Vacation Rentals By Owner. Their search options make it easy to narrow your search and find exactly what you're looking for. We found the widest selection of large houses in the Outer Banks area of North Carolina. Whether you're looking for a place on the ocean, a house with a private pool, or both, this area offers tons of options.
We booked this trip through Atlantic Realty and stayed at Imperial Sands. It was a short walk to the beach, but found it was easier to drive so that we could easily take all of our beach gear. It had a nice view of the ocean from the upstairs balcony and had a private pool and hot tub.
We were able to rent everything we needed from this place, including strollers and cribs to save ourselves the trouble of packing them in the car. They delivered them on our date of arrival and picked them up after we checked out.
The area, in general, had lots of options for things to do, including putt-putt, boat rentals, shopping and restaurants.
All in all, I would say this is one of my favorite and most memorable vacations. And I have to assume that everyone else had as much fun as we did... there's been some talk about repeating it in 2014 :)
Great Times - Wonderful Friends
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