Hello! One of my friends will be watching my 1 year old son overnight while we are at my sister's wedding - I was just wondering how much I should pay her and her husband??? She lives right by the reception and will come pick him up around 8pm and will have him until that next morning - what do you think? Is $100 too much or is $50 too little? I was thinking $100 - she's a good friend and I know she'll take good care of him!
I ended up paying my friend $100 - I debated about the gift card but her husband is still in grad school and they just bought a house so I thought money would be the best option. She took great care of him and my husband and I had a great night at my sister's wedding - I felt so comfortable leaving hi with her!
I think a target (or if you know her favorite place to shop) gift card would be great. I think $50 to 100 is the right range.
Is it a "payable" situation? I mean, is she such a good friend that she offered to do this knowing your situation; or did you go to her and ask her would she do it and she hesitantly agreed... ?
Sometimes paying a good friend for something like that can be awkward. Depending on THEIR situation (do they need the actual cash?), you might consider a gift certificate for dinner out at a nice restaurant? We've watched friends' kids overnight before (actually for a couple of days/overnights in a row) when they went out of town. We enjoyed it, and yes it was extra "work"... but we didn't expect payment. We did it b/c we wanted to help out in a tough situation when they couldn't take their girls with them. They gave us a giftcard for a restaurant, and that was great! It was a nice treat for later. It was gracious, but not "payment".
Just my $.02.
I pay my sitters $20/hour...so I'm thinking for an overnight thing, definitely $100. I don't hire teenage girls to babysit my kids, so I pay adult women who my children love, who have the experience and I don't have to stress in the back of my head. He may wake up in the middle of the night, with different smells, textures, etc, so even if she's not preparing meals, she still the caregiver for whatever your son needs in the middle of the night. I don't pay for how much they do, I pay for the responsiblity they take on....making sure my children are happy and alive when I get home. ;)
Enjoy yourself!
I pay $20 an hour for a babysitter as well. It doesn't really matter how much they are actually doing, what matters is that you have a caring and responsible person looking after your child. However, if this is your friend I wouldn't give her cash. I think a gift certificate would be a better idea. When I was in the hospital having my son my brother and sister in law took care of my 2yr old daughter. There was no way that they were going to take money from me so I got them a $250 gift card to a $$$ restaurant for taking care of my daughter for 3 days.
I sit for friends overnight. They pay me $40. It's mostly sleep time.
If you know that she is in need of a few dollars I would give her $50. She is not spending time preparing meals, feeding, playing, changing a bunch of diapers, etc. If you aren't sure if she expects money for it treat her to lunch or dinner.
I would give them a gift certificate for a local restaurant. UNLESS, you know this friend would benefit from a little cash in her pocket. Are they staying at your house or their own home?
100 is very nice. It's probably more than necessary. I keep children overnight for 25. I know a lot of people that put ads out looking for 150+ per week for full-time overnights and my full week is 120. But some people actually publish that they want 100 per night. That's just crazy. Who makes enough to pay that? Since this is just a wedding and one time deal, do what you want. I'm sure she would appreciate either 50 or 100 :)
I like Victoria W.'s response. Did you already discuss paying them something or are you just feeling like you should pay them? If they have children maybe just reciprocate and watch their child(ren) one night. I think both amounts sound too much especially since you said it was one of your friends. He's only 1 so he will probably be asleep most of the time. I don't see that much "watching" would be involved requiring a $50-$100 payment.
We had our daughter's daycare provider watch our kids overnight and paid $125. Our kids are never up in the middle of the night, so we thought it would be piece of cake. Not so in the end. Our son got disoriented getting up to use the bathroom at night and peed on her hall floor when he didn't make it in time. She ended up having to clean that up in the middle of the night. So, you can't always assume the nighttime hours will be easy. I would say $100 is definitely fair.
I think $50 sounds good. 1 year olds are not a TON of work, but mostly fun. If he was 2 or 3 I'd say $100 would be more appropriate.
