The wonders of freely traveling the world is surely one of the most amazing things one can experience, and The Bucket List Family from YouTube is perhaps the best proof of that. Nonetheless, the Gees have something over other travel bloggers, which is that they not only bring their kids along on every adventure, but also do their best to practice cultural immersion everywhere they go, and positively influence their viewers through it.
Nonetheless, despite putting most of their lives on video for the world to see, there’s still a lot about The Bucket List Family that their audience doesn’t know about.
So who are they, how did they become so famous, and where does the money to travel come from? Keep with us to find out!
What is The Bucket List Family?
The Bucket List Family is a YouTube channel that features the members of the Gee family. Jess and Garrett are the parents, and their three kids are the oldest child and only daughter Dorothy, born in 2012; then their second child and oldert boy Manilla, born in 2014, and last but not least the youngest boy, Calihan, also called ‘Cali’, who was born in 2018.
Jess and Garrett first met while engaged in Church activities outside the US, but their love story didn’t begin until years later ,when they met again while attending a Utah-based university. Back then, Jess was an advertising student, and Garrett practiced football at the university, while getting his hands into web development on the side. They eventually married, and the rest is (on-going) history.
These days, the Gee family is one of the most successful family-centered channels in the world, having over five million followers across all social media. That fame has led them to launch exciting projects on their channel and collaborations with National Geographic and Disney, making their ride not only one of a lifetime, but also quite profitable.
View this post on Instagram
According to reports, their net worth is estimated at $80 million, as of mid-2025, which comes from other businesses and their earnings as content creators. While that figure might seem too large compared to other content creators, it’s worth noting that Garrett and Jess were already millionaires by the time they started their channel.
What’s Their Religion?
The Gee family members are Mormons, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both Jess and Garrett are open and honest about their faith, having met while on a Mormon mission in Russia, and later becoming romantic partners in the US.
According to an interview they gave to the Auckland Harbour Stake, they’ve found many similarities amongst Mormons during their travels around the world, especially when it comes to their Gospels, regardless of how big or small the communities are.
Beginnings
Before traveling the world and changing their lives forever, Jessica and Garrett were just two university students with a young family. However, Garrett’s entrepreneurial passion led him to develop an app to scan QR codes, which would serve to find better prices for certain products.
The technology that Garrett developed and turned into his company, Scan, Inc., became very popular within a couple of years. It caught the attention of Snapchat, which purchased it for $54 million. It was that deal which led the couple to reconsider where they wanted to go in life, as their financial stability was secured and the opportunity to try out new things seemed more possible than ever.
After leaving behind the idea of creating any new businesses for a while, in 2015 Garrett and Jess took their then-small children and started their first trip. They captured everything on video, and started sharing it on YouTube and social media, not long before their audience fell in love with their personalities and their exciting journey.
However, one thing about the Gees is that the money they made out of their millionaire business deal wasn’t touched in the least, and they instead used the $45,000 they made after selling everything in their house.
Controversies
While The Bucket List Family has inspired many people to follow their dreams and take similar paths as them, that doesn’t mean they don’t have detractors or have received any type of criticism over the years. As seen in sites such as Reddit, users are very critical about some details of the Gee family’s content, starting with the fact that they have filmed and shared the entirety of their children’s lives on YouTube.
The appearances and constant focus on their children is an important factor for people to stay away from their content, though it’s also worth noting that not everyone agrees with the family’s parenting choices, as they’ve convinced and dared their children to get into dangerous situations, and to create content from it. There was also a controversial 2023 Instagram video in which Garrett puts Cali into a tub of cold water, and describes it as a way to help him develop ‘healthy habits and self-discipline’, which was strongly criticized by part of their audience.
Last but not least, the Gees have received criticism for setting unrealistic expectations about traveling abroad with a family, as their financial situation was already secured by the time they started their adventure, unlike many of the people who follow them.
Business & Future
After so many years creating content, The Bucket List Family has turned their adventure into a constant source of income. Besides important sponsorships and business deals, they also launched the Bucket List Friends, a subscription service that allows their fans to contact the Gees and even met them in person during events, on top of establishing the Bucket List Studios.
It isn’t rare that The Bucket List Family has gained such a massive audience, though. Their features on platforms such as Forbes, the Hollywood Reporter, and business deals with important networks have done wonders to cement them as the ultimate travel family to follow on the internet. That also inspired the Gees to develop the Bucket List App, which allows their fans to create organizational lists, to achieve their personal and travel goals.
The family has also published books and the illustrated cartoon-ish styled “The Bucket List Family and The Big Adventure”, inspired by their kids and developed in association with Disney and National Geographic.
All in all, the Bucket Family List has done an excellent job of turning their ideas into profitable and inspiring content for others, although some obviously disagree.
