Divide by Twelve
Remarkably, it was during our late lunch on the very first day that we spontaneously came up with our Divide-By-Twelve plan. It was wonderful in its simplicity and fairness. Instead of trying to keep track of who ordered what during every danged outing we had and trying to keep things settled, we decided that whoever wanted to pick up a tab did so - then recorded that event in a group notebook. This would comprise a group running tab. We would also add in the housing rental expenses, car rentals, etc. Everything except our air fares to get here and any individual gifts that we bought. At the end of the trip, we would simply total up all the expenses and divide by twelve. That would be each individual's cost for the vacation. (The only exception was that 'adult' beverage - mostly Guinness - expenses, would be divided by 8 (the number of adults on the trip.) This decision was immediately and happily accepted by all (including Patty and Patrick when they arrived a few hours later) and made the whole trip so much easier for all.
At the end of the two weeks, Kate spend part of an evening doing a first pass at the totals and figuring out each 'share'. The next night, our last in Ireland, we gathered around the table after supper and spent about an hour and a half double checking and making sure everything was fair and accounted for.