Booking a holiday with a family of 9 (or 10!) isn’t exactly a walk in the park—it’s more like herding caffeinated goats across an airport car park. We’re heading out as a family of ten this September, but here’s everything we’ve learned from our past trips as a 9-strong clan, including tips to save money, dodge disasters, and get the most out of your holiday without remortgaging the house.

📦 Booking: Why We Stick with TUI

All of our holidays have been booked through TUI. Why? One word: ATOL. When you book a full package, you know everything is covered. When you book flights, hotels, and extras separately (looking at you, Expedia), you risk only some of it being protected if anything goes wrong.

We always look for resorts with TUI-run kids’ clubs, not hotel-run ones. TUI clubs offer consistency—you know what to expect, what they offer, and that they follow TUI’s policies.

And a word to the wise: if the hotel says “evening entertainment” is karaoke… that’s probably all it is. Run.

👀 TUI Website Booking Tips & Tricks

Once you put more than 9 people into the TUI search box, it changes your booking to a group booking, which gives different results.

On the first search page:

  • It only lets you assign children to rooms that already have an adult in.
  • BUT once you get into the booking flow, you can reallocate rooms and potentially unlock free child places.

Here’s our exact trick for this September’s trip to Turkey:

  • On the customise your holiday page, choose the cheapest TUI flight (these usually include free child places).
  • Go to “add or remove rooms” and add an extra room.

  • Reallocate the kids like this:

    • Room 1: 1 adult, 0-year-old, 6-year-old, 9-year-old
    • Room 2: 1 adult, 2-year-old, 7-year-old
    • Room 3: 14-year-old, 12-year-old, 11-year-old

This got us three free child places and a third room at no extra cost. We don’t even plan to use the third room—it’s just there to beat the system. Thank you, loopholes.

💸 How We Paid

We chose to pay by direct debit, which meant:

  • No deposit upfront
  • Once we’d paid enough to equal the deposit, we cancelled the direct debit and started making card payments when we could, as long as the balance was cleared 12 weeks before the trip.

Works for us—gives flexibility without commitment panic.

🛫 Airport & Airline Tips

  • Families with prams get automatic priority boarding—so don’t pay extra for it.
  • If you have a child with medical needs (like we do—type 1 diabetes), call the special assistance line. We got an extra hand luggage allowance for medical supplies, completely free.
  • Get a cabin-approved buggy—it makes a huge difference when you land and don’t have to carry a toddler across an airport the size of Wales.

🍦 All-Inclusive or Bankrupt?

We always book all-inclusive. If we didn’t, we’d have to sell a kidney to fund the amount of ice cream and drinks the kids demolish daily.

🧴 Packing Like a Pro (or Trying To)

  • Start buying toiletries early—hide them from the kids. Especially sun cream. In Turkey, a 200ml bottle of Nivea cost €35 in the hotel shop. Never again.
  • Split clothes across suitcases. If one bag vanishes, no one ends up wearing their sibling’s undies.
  • Pack all nappies, wipes, baby milk—these are pricey abroad.
  • If you’re weaning, ask the hotel in advance about baby food. One time, we found out on the last day that baby jars were available on the all-inclusive—just had to ask.

🎮 Plane Entertainment: Cheat Code Unlocked

  • Tablets pre-loaded with movies
  • Nintendo Switches
  • Colouring/activity books
  • Cheap random gadgets from Temu (honestly, these were lifesavers)

Distraction is the name of the game.

🧒 Kids Club Secrets

  • Often, kids can drop down an age group to stay with siblings, but not move up.
  • This depends on how busy the club is—worth asking the staff.

🎯 Final Thoughts

Big family holidays are a bit mad, a bit messy, and absolutely worth the effort. With the right prep, you can dodge the hidden fees, get more for your money, and keep your sanity (mostly) intact. And come September, we’ll find out what it’s really like to do it with ten of us.

Spoiler: It’s probably louder.

Got questions about booking as a big family? Want help sorting your rooms? Drop a comment below or find us on social—we’ve probably made the mistake you’re about to make 😄