That's embarassing that your friends have to pay for half a ticket for someone they've never met.
that's what i told them but they were all "eff you we do and pay for what we want"
I have a friend who is loaded. I mean really loaded. I don't mooch stuff from him and his wife and we pay for half or more of all of our normal type expenses. Then, out of the blue, they will be like, "hey, we rented the top floor of this hotel, you want to bring the family down for a few days? Also, we told the hotel that all incidentals are master billed. Have fun!"
Or, "hey, does dobberjr want to come down to the beach with us for a few days (their boy and dobberjr are great buds)? We are going to fly down because driving three hours sucks ass!" (Chartered plane). We send $40 spending money with dobberjr.

The point is (aside from the quasi fanningbrag) is that there is nothing wrong when you have a friend who wants to be generous. Just be gracious!
Have fun with TG!
Gonna win 'em all!