Some of you may have their gift and shopping list prepped already, and you may have a minimum and maximum amount of cash you want to spend per gift and an idea of what to get the people on your list; I know I do.  But I do have a friend that I  always have a hard time shopping for.

I have known my friend (let’s call her Annie) for many years.  Annie has become one of my best friends and we have always exchanged Christmas gifts.  Everything was fine in the gift-giving department until the year I started my own business and had to slash my gift budget dramatically.  I still gave Annie a very thoughtful gift that year (as I still do to this day) but I noticed that when she tore the wrapping from it, she was not happy.

Up until that time, Annie had always given all her friends the same or similar gifts each year.   But after that one gift incident, I have noticed that the quality of her gifts to me has gone down.  The first year I noticed that she gave all her friends a necklace except for me, I got a bracelet.  The year after that, I again got an inferior gift compared to our other friends.  And each year thereafter, it’s been worse and worse.  One time I got a bag of candy from a grocery store.

I believe she does this because I cannot afford to budget as much on her gifts (and everyone else’s) as I used to and she feels that she shouldn’t have to shell out as much cash for my gifts either.  I never thought to compare budgets with friends before this but maybe in her case I should?  I have always based gift-giving to friends on my budget, not theirs, and what each individual would appreciate.  I feel insulted and hurt by Annie’s actions, maybe I should stop giving her gifts altogether?  Because why bother to give a gift to a friend if it is not sincere and heartfelt?

So dear readers, what are your gift-giving rules?  Do you only give a gift if you expect one back?  Do you budget according to what the other person’s budget is?  Do you have a similar budget for all your friends?  I’d really like to know!