Yeah, we have friends in Oxford who also have small kids and so travelling isn't much fun for either of us. OTOH it's always nice to let your kid create havoc in someone else's house for a change, so the cost-benefit calculation is complicated :-)
With them we usually try and alternate. When it feels like it's time to see them, one of us will email the other and say "Hey, we should get together some time, what suits you? Ox or Cam? Think you came over here last time, so if you'd prefer us to travel to you that's fine, but of course you'd be very welcome to come here if you'd prefer." and then we'll just sort of negotiate it from there.
If this isn't someone with whom you already have a long standing friendship and have already negotiated the ins and outs of meeting up, then I'd probably go for giving them the option. It doesn't have to be done in a Hugh Grant manner and it's just way too fraught with potential misunderstandings if your priorities aren't the same as theirs and you could end up horribly offending each other!
In that situation I think I'd phrase it (assuming by email) as something like "Would you like to have dinner sometime? Let me know what dates would suit you. You'd be very welcome to come here or if you'd prefer not to travel then I could easily come over there - you choose!"
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With them we usually try and alternate. When it feels like it's time to see them, one of us will email the other and say "Hey, we should get together some time, what suits you? Ox or Cam? Think you came over here last time, so if you'd prefer us to travel to you that's fine, but of course you'd be very welcome to come here if you'd prefer." and then we'll just sort of negotiate it from there.
If this isn't someone with whom you already have a long standing friendship and have already negotiated the ins and outs of meeting up, then I'd probably go for giving them the option. It doesn't have to be done in a Hugh Grant manner and it's just way too fraught with potential misunderstandings if your priorities aren't the same as theirs and you could end up horribly offending each other!
In that situation I think I'd phrase it (assuming by email) as something like "Would you like to have dinner sometime? Let me know what dates would suit you. You'd be very welcome to come here or if you'd prefer not to travel then I could easily come over there - you choose!"