Thinking caps on please

We have done this.
How many of you?

Hi Hildagard, we have done this a few times now. We hired a beautiful house on the edge of a loch, up in Scotland. We had a wonderful time, stunning views, nice restaurants and a beautiful house with log fires. We also had a gorgeous farm house in Hay-on-Wye, and it was just as nice.
Could the family not all join you on the cruise, there is entertainment on tap and kids clubs for the little ones? Depends on who is paying, of course, but hiring a house seems the most reasonable, as you could all split the cost equally. Good luck keeping all the family sweet, whatever you suggest!

We have paid for accommodation and expected adult children to pay for their travel.

Lots of ways to do it but a big villa which also has a pool works well for us and so did several cottages very near each other.

Either way I like each family to have plenty of separate space... no shared bathrooms for example.
Things to visit nearby is good but not essential.

For price I'd look at Portugal or Spain probably but my own love is Italy. 🥰

I don't know if I misunderstood. Is the nine year old going to miss school to celebrate your significant birthday?

Depends on what kind of family you have. If they are happy to fall in with your suggestions, that's OK. However, if they like to do their own thing, then the cruise.

Or they just go out more?

I believe if you live in England, then parents are fined if children miss school, so that would have to be taken into account. I've known some families who do this. However it eats into annual leave so that has to be considered too. Why not research a few different options and present them to the family?

In England taking holiday in term time will not be authorised. Any unauthorised absence of more than 5 days will lead to a fine. Parents will probably be aware of this and take it into consideration.
You could always have a big family meal out and the cruise or special holiday with DH.

I read this:
This would be multi generational youngest 9 , so probably in school time🙁
as a "slip" and assumed Hildagard meant to write school holiday time.

Either way, most things pertain.

When it was my 70 th birthday we took everyone on a short cruise. Just to Guernsey and back. Lots to do for the children and entertainment for the adults. It was a huge success

I know you want to go abroad, but for our 50th wedding anniversary we decided to rent a big house in a historic town in England for a week for our celebration.

There were 12 of us and we chose Bath. The advantage of being in the centre of a historic town with good train connections was that although we varied in age from 8 to 80 and had a very wide range of interests, there was so many different things to do without going far that each day we naturally divided up into small groups to do different things and then all met up in the evening for a meeaal and to shaare our day's activities.

perhaps the OP could choose a suitable town in Belgium or The Netherlands - Bruges, Brussels, Amsterdam, and do something similar.

We took the family away for myself and OH 60th Birthdays
We went in school hols as our Daughter works in school.
6 adults, 2 children.
We all had our own apts.
We booked a hotel with a pool and beach access as we like the beach but knew the children aged 5 and 3 would like the pool.
We pretty much did our own things during the day, sonetimes had lunch with our son and partner.
Always ate together in the eve. Took turns in choosing places.
We booked a private boat cruise for the day which was lovely.
Depends how close you are, but i didn't fancy a large house together for 2 weeks. This way we all had our own space.

I hired a large house in the Forest of Dean for DH's significant birthday - very quirky place with games for kids and Hot Tubs - I also organised a Mad Hatters Tea Party (outside caterers) a Sunday Lunch at a local pub and a steam train journey - The 22 of us (aged 3-60) loved it! Something for everyone - Good Luck with whatever you decide to do - just don't leave it too late to book - these sort of places get booked up well in advance

We did this in the summer. Age range was 9 to 80. We went to Bali. A few days in Ubud and the rest in Seminyak. It was fantastic and lots for all ages to do.

Depends on how well family get on together. If all OK, a big villa with a private pool would be great, you could eat out locally at night if nobody wants to cook. If not, an all inclusive hotel allows a little more distance from each other. I’d choose Mallorca or Croatia or possibly a Scandinavian city like Copenhagen (though might be more expensive).

due to not being able to take kids out of school easily these days, I realise that you have a significant birthday how about hiring a nice big house with hot tub etc in UK for Christmas next year?

We have 6 adult children and we paid for them, their partners and children to go to DisneyWorld for a fortnight with us, We paid for a coach to take us each way to the airport and each family had their own room on site. We made it clear that everybody could do their own thing but we met up every evening and talked about our day, swam and played games. It was a lovely holiday and one we all treasure. This is despite the fact that one member of our family is extremely awkward with their siblings and has periodic explosions induced by anxiety. Planned well, it can be a lovely experience.

We usually hire a large cottage in the UK most years with GD’s, DD & SiL. It has always been great, we have a traditional day out together, then the rest of the time we go our separate ways. We come together for an evening meal and chat about our adventures. Like others we ensure we have our own bathroom etc.
We have our 50th wedding anniversary next year, so we all discussed this and decided we will go to Greece, so we have booked a villa with pool. Again own facilities and separate cars, I look upon this as wonderful memories and feel honoured that they want to holiday with us still. Clearly there will come a time when this is no longer suitable so enjoying every yearly trip.
We also have 2 DS’s with family but they prefer to go on their own and that’s okay too. So go for it and enjoy, if that’s what everyone wants. Enjoy

I rented a property in Brittany with a pool. We took cars on the ferry so everyone could go out together or separately as they preferred. We took it in turn to prepare meals. Everyone mucked in and we also ate out together a few times.

Thanks for input, live near Bath!!
I think a short cruise maybe and option

I don’t know what your budget is but a lot of the suggestions above sound like they might cost quite a bit. We’ve just come back from a half term break with our adult kids and their families at a CenterParcs in Belgium. It was half the price of a UK CenterParcs and the whole family loved every minute. There was the usual range of activities you’d find in the UK, a great pool complex of course, and the vibe was so friendly and relaxed. We all said we’d go again. Highly recommended and definitely cheaper than a cruise!

We went to Sicily to a villa. Villa was gorgeous. We paid for everything. It was okay, but my sons and wives get bored easily. TBH I would go somewhere easy for the family to go off if they want to. We have a 6 year old and 4 year old grandchildren, so 3 generations of very different ages to cater for. I’d go on a cruise and please yourself.

Took my two daughters out of primary school to go abroad for 5 weeks. Learnt more in that time than in class!

Having tried to do this for 17 of us I think this is even more expensive, labazs.