Family vacation, youth trip or school trip?
First, it is important to differentiate whether you are going on vacation with your children or whether they are traveling with a youth group without parents. And there is also a third option: the school trip. Let's take a look at the first scenario first: You're going on vacation together as a family.
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Pocket money on a family vacation: Fulfill your small wishes
There is a lot for children to discover, especially during holidays abroad. For example, when shopping in the supermarket. The many unknown sweets have a very special charm. It is only too understandable if one or the other item ends up in the shopping cart. For such investments, it makes sense to negotiate additional pocket money with your child or children before the vacation. Because it is well known that it is always a bit more expensive on vacation - because you like to spend more. The vacation pocket money is similar to the “Budget money”, which is intended for clothing or school supplies, for example, earmarked.
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Economize over a short period of time with extra pocket money
With a small extra budget, children learn to cover additional costs over a short period of time and thus fulfill small wishes themselves. This also has a practical advantage for you: Individual spontaneous purchases that do not benefit the entire family do not always have to be negotiated anew. This applies to shopping together in the supermarket as well as on the promenade at the ice cream stand or in the gift shop on the next corner.
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Negotiate vacation pay with your kids
How much should such extra pocket money be for vacation? It is important that you negotiate the amount together with your children. Let them think about what additional investments could be made during their vacation and what costs would be associated with that.
Then set a sum that you extrapolate based on either the number of days or weeks you spend on vacation. For example, three to five euros a day or 20 to 30 euros a week. The amount also depends on the age of your children, of course.
Tip: Try it out with a fixed budget and discuss how it worked together after your vacation. You can then adjust the vacation pay for the next trip accordingly.
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It is best not to adjust your pocket money while on vacation
An adjustment during vacation is only useful if you notice that the sum was set significantly too low. If this is not the case, the vacation pay discussed remains the same. Because this is a very practical way for your children to allocate the money themselves over a short period of time.
Important in this context: Give them the additional budget in one sum at the start of the vacation. Expenses may vary from day to day. This is another way for children to make good use of the money available and to weigh up whether an investment is really necessary. If the allocation doesn't work, you can still switch to a daily payout.
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Pocket money if your child travels with a group
Let's now take a look at the second option: Your child is already a bit older and wants to go on vacation with a youth group. There are many good providers for such trips. You pay for the vacation itself in advance. In most cases, the price also includes various group activities, such as joint bike tours or trips. Your child therefore does not need any additional pocket money for these costs. However, for those expenses that are added for your own use during vacation.
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The amount of vacation allowance also depends on age
The amount of this vacation allowance also depends on the age of your child. The same applies to dealing with the available budget: For young children between the ages of around seven and eleven on vacation time, it is not uncommon for them to find it very difficult to allocate their money without the presence of their parents. For example, it may well happen that the pocket money for a one-week vacation is used up after just two days.
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Set daily spending with the Bling Card
To prevent this from happening, you can coordinate with the tour guide or group manager before the vacation and transfer the vacation allowance to them. You can then pay it out to your child every day for a fixed amount so that there is still a little money available on the last day of the trip. Another very good solution is Bling Card. With it, your child can pay for themselves on a credit basis just like with a credit card and learn how to handle money on their own responsibility.
There are also many useful setting options. Among other things, you can specify that only a certain amount can be used per day. A very good option if your child goes on vacation without you and has to farm themselves. You can keep an eye on transactions at any time via app.
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Extra pocket money on a school trip
What remains is the third “vacation variant” for children: the school trip. It, too, is usually pre-financed beforehand - by the school and - depending on the school individually - an amount from the parents. You can find out in advance which benefits are covered by the financing during a parents' consultation. You can then better estimate whether and to what extent additional pocket money is necessary.
There is no recommendation from youth welfare offices on this, but there are guidelines from some schools. They provide good orientation. It is also useful to coordinate with other parents of students from your child's class. Also to ensure that all children have the same financial resources available on the journey. This contributes to good cooperation. Too much cash is not recommended. Because a loss is then very annoying.
A very good alternative is the Bling Card, which allows your child to easily make cashless payments on a credit basis. If you lose your card, you can easily Block with one click in the Bling app.
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