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I would rather give a gift card with a thank you note instead of cash.

I think cash is hard to accept because your friends are truly helping you out in a time of need and probably aren't thinking of it as a "job", you know? So yeah, maybe a nice gift afterwards in addition to a fully stocked fridge? Oooooor, instead of giving them the cash into their hands, I would put the money into an envelope and say, "Please use this if you need extra groceries or need to order in food."

We are expecting #2 in less than two weeks and have a similar arrangement with friends except they will not be staying with DS at night (DH will come home). I'm thinking we will provide everything DS needs and then get them a gift certificate to a nice restaurant, a bottle of wine, and offer to watch their two girls while they go out.

I voted $200 because I think that is the ideal amount, but we are on a tight budget and would probably do $100 (in a card, like you) in this situation. I think anywhere between $100 - $200 is very thoughtful and appropriate.

@bushelandapeck: I think this is a great idea and far more likely to be accepted than cash! And really, who doesn't want a nice dinner out, a bottle of wine, and a babysitter for the night! Ps so exciting you're so close to meeting LO #2!

@Rubies: I like your suggestion! If this was me, and a friend tried to give me cash, I wouldn't accept it. But if you gave me the money upfront and told me to use it for your kid over the weekend, I'd oblige.

@Mrs. Lion: Ahh, gotcha. I was solely thinking of it from my perspective I guess the question is if you think they will accept cash? If so, then I'd probably go with $200 if it was the full 4 days or $100 if it was only two days and/or your DH came home to provide some of the childcare responsibilities. I just know that amongst my friend network, and even thinking of the friends we had watch DD1 for the 8 hours we were gone when DD2 was born, they would never in a million years accept cash, no matter how much we tried persuading them, so I would want to have a proper gift for them that they couldn't refuse (we did a bottle of wine and flowers for our friends). A thank you note is definitely a nice touch though - it's nice to have thoughtful friends like you who make their appreciation known!

hmmm...I think on the receiving end, I would think it odd if someone gave me $200 cash for this. Its meant as a favor and I would feel weird accepting it. I would give them some $ on the front end to feed LO (maybe $50?) and then a thank you note with a $100 giftcard to a place for dinner. If you wanted to recognize the teenagers separately, maybe a smaller giftcard to starbucks or something?

I needed a friend to pick up my daughter from daycare and watch her for an hour. I tried to sneak her a $15 gift card (left it tucked in something else I was leaving with her), as a token of my appreciation (and for gas, dinner she made my LO) and she would not accept it. She might even have been offended? She dropped it back off at my house when she discovered it, with a note that she had watched my LO as a favor to a friend. Based on that experience, I would probably go with a gift that would be harder for them not to accept. Maybe your LO could make them something, if you could think of something that would be nice? Or you could give them a really nice plant or something, along with a gift card for dinner??

@Mrs. Lion: I voted $200, and thought the money would be to cover LOs expenses while in your friends care!

I would do what my parents aways did when a family member had us kids when they went out of town.. My parents would do the grocery shopping to make sure whoever was taking us had grocerys for the time we'd be staying there, then left cash for fun things like movies, bowling, pizza night, whatever, for everyone (us plus my aunts family). This was back in the 90s so a few hundred went a long way for 8 of us!

As a token of your appreciation, I would give them $100 or a gc to their favorite restaurant.

We are in a similar position, but it's my sister that will be doing the care giving in our home. Cash and a note are easy as I'm losing steam in my pregnancy. I know that she won't want it, but I want to repay her for the week of vacation and travel she is doing somehow. I was thinking of at least $200. If we would have had someone else from our family, we would have had to provide airfare plus a car.