How much spending money should I plan on having for 3 day vacation?

I’d say if you’re planning on saving money by cooking hotdogs n such like that, you would probably be fine with maybe 500 dollars… depends on how much you plan to buy while shopping I guess…

Though, I like to leave myself as much of a buffer for money as possible as not to cut the vacation short.

do you mean having purchased the camping food before hand, and you just want to know how much spending money to bring? or does the money mean for cookouts and spending/living? so your question would be how much do you need for food, living and spending? because if you are getting the cookout food first, you can get it on sale at your local market. for spending, that’s hard to say – how much do you give in when kids ask for souvenirs? you can also see if there are any coupons on the net for local businesses and/or restaurants.

I think @RandomMrdan‘s right. $500 should do the trick. Just because you have it, doesn’t mean you have to spend it. Were you planning on paying for the campground and gas out of the cash, or did you budget that separately?

Personally, I would take cereal and fruit for breakfast, snack foods for walking around, peanut butter & bread/bagels, and plan on eating lunch and dinner out. It doesn’t have to be fancy. I like trying pizza from local places when I’m in a different city, and you may want to get crab cakes or seafood if that fits with what your family will eat. If you have to be back at the campground when you’re hungry at night, that might interfere with the fun of the moment.

It would be for all food purchased for the trip. I want the kids to be able to get a souvenir of their choice, I would say not over $30 each.

@PandoraBoxx I was thinking the same thing about the food. I don’t want to force everyone back to the campground every time we are hungry. Maybe packing a lot of snacks and water for the boardwalk/beach would be a good way to save money.

Like I said, I just have no clue how much it will all add up too. $500 sounds doable though.

It sounds like a fun trip! Don’t forget the cameras.

@PandoraBoxx Thanks! It should be great. My husband is 28 and has never seen the ocean. My kids have only swam in our gross lake here in NY.

And of course, my camera hasn’t been working. Another reason I am worried about money, I have to buy a new camera before our road trip!!

Way to go on the campground idea. That speaks to my experiences. Calculate in how much gas you’ll need, campground fees, food, and set aside an extra $500 for a contingency fund.

Great idea for the campground, we have a motorhome but we took a trip to D.C for 5 days and the hotel alone cost $1200 at the end. That’s not including the tips, oh gosh.

We still tent camp, but we love it. I looked up the price of a hotel and it would have cost me $400—$500 for 3 nights! And that was at a motel 8. The camp site is $30 dollars a night, so it was an easy choice. I can’t wait to sit by a campfire with the smell of the ocean swirling around us. It just may be a slice of heaven for a couple days.

I would say $25 per person, per day, plus the campground and plus the gasoline, which would probably be between $50 – $100 per day, depending on how far you go.