Christmas presents

Am I overstepping the mark here? My best friend has told me that she is struggling financially although they do live massively beyond their means they have told me this year that they cannot afford to get my child and myself a Christmas present. I have made her aware that is completely fine and I completely understand because I’ve been in this situation before . Bearing in mind My best friend will just spend money like she’s a multimillionaire I do feel sorry for her little boy as he hardly gets any attention at Christmas time as her husband is very selfish and he will get thousands of pounds spent on him and she will put herself into debt for him. Whereas the poor little lad gets hardly anything from parents She’s obviously told me not to worry about getting her boy anything because she can’t afford to get my girl anything which I could also understand. Sorry for the long post but I do feel like you need a little bit of backstory to be able to answer the question would I be overstepping the mark if I still bought her little boy something or would you say it’s acceptable for me to buy him something?

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How old is the child? If they're quite young they won't even notice. But if you want to then I think it'd be lovely to still get him something. Just be aware that you may make her feel awkward about it as she obviously hasn't got yours something.

@Caroline this is the thing I don’t want to make her feel worse than she already does. Our little ones are 20m

Ahh yeah I might leave it then. He's a toddler so won't know or care. At that age my son was still more interested in the wrapping paper anyway!

If she’s told you not to worry about getting him a gift, then I wouldn’t. He’s too young to care how many presents he gets or be upset that someone didn’t get him one. It’ll just make things awkward with your friend.

If she’s your best friend and you care for her child, get the gift simple for giving sake. It doesn’t have to be a superficial “you give, I give” thing. Christmas is about giving not receiving.

I think I’d give something. I’ve given my best friends little boy things, and never expected something back! I once bought the boys (they’re the same age) matching Hey Duggee PJ’s, just because I wanted to! If she’s your best friend, and you genuinely care, then I would get him something little. You could say that you saw it, and you had to get it (or get something you know your little one enjoys too)! x

Every family does it differently, I personally wouldn’t go beyond what I was planning to do already. Christmas isn’t about presents to everyone. There may also be parts of the story you don’t know.

Thanks everyone. I just don’t want to make her feel like she has to get my little one something I know times are tough and I’m all for supporting her I just don’t want to over step

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