Hi Jessie...
It's going to be crowded... but enjoy!
In April this year, we had a group of 6: myself, Mrs. Beeks, our 3 kids (boys 18 and 16, daughter, 11) and my mother-in-law. Mrs. Beeks AND her mom over-packed.
We walked from St.Jean to Pamplona, then took the train to Sarria and walked the rest of the way to Santiago de Compestela.
The only two alburgue reservation we made prior to leaving was for Orisson and for Sarria. Sarria, because our train was scheduled to arrive in Sarria at 9:07 pm. We made a reservation in Zubiri the same day because we got a late start and slow walking from those with heavy packs meant we would arrive late, like 7pm.
After struggling with pack weight, I convinced my wife and her mom to "lighten the load" and send some stuff ahead to the next town. Fortune smiled on me, as I had packed an empty 40 liter duffel bag "just in case." We stuffed that duffel so full, it took two of us to close the zipper.
That created a new issue: we had to have an alburgue to deliver the bag to. This meant making reservations the day before for the next day's town, then calling the phone number of the bag transport service to arrange the bag pick up and delivery. We did this from Zubiri on. No problems.
I used the "Buen Camino" app to get alburgue info, bed capacity, address and phone number. Plus, it was nice because with our group of 6, we never had to split up due to lack of beds.
So pack light...! I know there's great spontaneity in walking without a reservation and staying in whatever town at whatever place. With a group of 6, we were glad to have reservations!
Buen Camino!
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I agree that if you want to stay together as a group - and with children - a good idea - then I think you have to do some booking ahead. Our group of 6 last year had to split up only once and that was in busy June but as we were all adults it was not a problem..
Buen Camino