[n.s.]

Most people seem to disagree with me, but I've always thought that limit is a better choice than NL for friendly home games. The bad players don't lose as consistently, more people get to play more hands, tensions don't run as high, and the players who don't want to put as much money in play don't feel like they will be bullied by the big stacks (I know it doesn't work that way, but a lot of people feel that way regardless).

It sounds like you should just leave the game the way that it is. People clearly want to be able to have a lot of money on the table (or access to it) and splash around with it, but you don't want to have to face large all-in bets - so just keep as a limit or spread-limit game.