Money Moral Dilemma: Should you give your best mate a £1 pressie?

MSE_Martin
MSE_Martin Posts: 8,272
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Money Saving Expert
Here's this week's hypothetical situation for you to cogitate on:
Should you give your best mate a £1 pressie?

It’s your closest, oldest friend’s birthday and you’ve been racking your brains about what to get them. Normally you spend £30-ish on each other. But then you spot a loophole on the magazine offers thread to get their favourite perfume/aftershave free with a £1 subscription. It’s worth £30 and is the kind of pressie you might have picked out anyway. Yet you feel a twinge of guilt about only forking out £1, when they always spend more. Should you give your best friend a pressie that cost a quid?
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Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
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Comments

  • Nah, it's tight

    Give them the perfume / aftershave they like and get something else (maybe related from the same range). You'll look really generous and have only spent as much as you normally would.
  • V_Chic_Chick
    V_Chic_Chick Posts: 2,441 Forumite
    Course, they won't know the difference :D

    I've done similar things before lol.
  • pinkpig08
    pinkpig08 Posts: 2,829 Forumite
    I did this for the kids at Christmas and designed a voucher for it. If it was my best friend I'd get them this but a bit of something else too.
    Sealed Pot Challenge #817 £50 banked :)
  • If it is exactly as the dilemma says above, then yes, I would.
    Be nice, life is too short to be anything else.
  • Yes, I'd do it! If it's the sort of ting I'd buy anyway, what does it matter? I'd not be bothered if a friend of mine did the same - shows they're not daft. Also, if I gave them the perfume AND bought something else, they'd probably then feel they had to get me more for my birthday which would be even more money to spend!
  • robpw2
    robpw2 Posts: 14,044
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    yes its the thought that counts
    people are too hung up on price tags and not on the fact that you have bought them something they like


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  • luxor4t
    luxor4t Posts: 11,125
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    I would rather somebody spent £1 on something I really wanted, enjoyed and would get pleasure from than £120 on 'stuff' that was a meaningless waste of money. Thought really does count.
    (OH please note!)
    I can cook and sew, make flowers grow.
  • Nancy888
    Nancy888 Posts: 243
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    Absolutely - yes I would - call me a cheap skate but if it's the genuine thing and it was her favourite then it doesn't matter how I bought it. It's only like giving her the 'free' item from a 3 for 2 deal from Boots at Christmas
    Anywhere is within walking distance - if you have the time!!
  • Yes, and that would be all i would buy. My lads best friend is having one of the "free" items that i got in games workshop when i spent a hundred on my son`s birthday present last week for his birthday.( All the family clubbed together to pay the bill as the deals were better on a larger spend)
  • MrDT
    MrDT Posts: 951 Forumite
    If it's what you'd have bought anyway, where's the harm in getting it a little cheaper?

    I'd maybe 'top up' with a little 'extra' present they wouldn't have got otherwise, but if that present cost a fiver they get what they really want, an extra present, and it still only cost £6 instead of £30 :)
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