When you gift tickets, do you expect to be invited to the event?

MSE_Laura_F

A couple of questions from MSE Ant.

• When you give someone a pair of tickets as a present, would you expect to be invited along on the second ticket?
• And on the flip side, if you receive two tickets, would you invite the gifter along to the event?

Would love to hear your thoughts.

MSE Laura F

Chris_English

No, definitely not for either. 

comeandgo

No, I would never consider taking the person who gave me the tickets.  If they wanted to go they surely would just give me one and keep the other and say they were taking me.

turnitround

I actually lost a friend because of this situation. 

She was without her car for about 6 weeks and during that time I took her to work every day and picked her up every evening.

One day she called round and gave me a pair of tickets to see someone. I was really pleased and thanked her. 
I took my husband to the show and it was only 3 weeks later that she told me that she had assumed we would both be going and that she had been looking forward to the show and was very disappointed that I chose to go with someone else.

End of a long friendship that was.

FatherTireseus

comeandgo said:

No, I would never consider taking the person who gave me the tickets.  If they wanted to go they surely would just give me one and keep the other and say they were taking me.

Those were exactly my thoughts.  If I gave something as a gift I wouldn’t expect the person I gave it to, to share it with me.  If I wanted to go to a concert with a friend I’d suggest that I got tickets for both of us.

oystercatcher

turnitround said:

I actually lost a friend because of this situation. 

She was without her car for about 6 weeks and during that time I took her to work every day and picked her up every evening.

One day she called round and gave me a pair of tickets to see someone. I was really pleased and thanked her. 
I took my husband to the show and it was only 3 weeks later that she told me that she had assumed we would both be going and that she had been looking forward to the show and was very disappointed that I chose to go with someone else.

End of a long friendship that was.

Probably expected you to give her a lift there and back too !!

Chris_English

To add to what others say, the gift of two tickets strongly implies that there’s no desire or expectation that the giver will attend.

If that’s what they wanted they’d have said that they wanted to take the recipient out, not gifted them two tickets.

Pollycat

If I gifted someone 2 tickets, they would be theirs to do with as they wish. That's what giving a gift means.

If someone gifted me 2 tickets, I would take whoever I thought would enjoy the event the most.

MaryNB

No. A second ticket is so they don't have to go alone or have to find someone willing to pay for a second ticket. It's not really a true gift if the giver expects that second ticket. 

Username03725

Surely you'd gift just one of the two tickets as you're keeping your own. To gift both with an implicit expectation of getting half of the gift back changes it from a gift to something else, not sure what tbh.

NBLondon

Ditto.

If I'm giving someone a pair of tickets for an event then I've picked an event that I think they and their partner (of any sort) might like.  In which case it's a joint gift to two people anyway.

I suppose if I won the tickets and didn't want to go myself I'd offer them to someone who might - but I've already decided I don't want to go.   Otherwise it would be "I've got tickets to X, do you want to come?"