I've got myself in a pickle for telling a lie

IMHO that’d make matters much worse.

Buy the gift and absolutely make sure it’s there when the person it’s for returns home. That’s what would have happened if you’d bought and dropped off the gift at the time, which you agree to do. You’ll have kept your end of the agreement. And won’t have let the buyer down further. You’ll be honourable.

You don’t need to give an explanation (with lies) to the buyer then. Because the gift will be there when the person it’s for got home. As intended. Everything in between is pretty irrelevant if the end result is the same. Though I expect you caused worry.

If you wish you hadn’t agreed to do it, work on being more assertive in future. Ask yourself why you can’t say no to something you don’t want to do, then you don’t do it which is unreliable. Better to say no. And why you then want to lie, rather than be honest. People who struggle to be assertive can also lie. Learn to speak honestly.

It's been a month, so yes the upshot of not buying the gift means you did just steal the money. This time, return the money and apologise that you forgot to get around to it. Next time just say no to favours.

Dont tell more lies. If you say "I dont know what happened" they might try and involve other people (like the poor cleaner, who might end up getting the blame, or the neighbours)

Be honest. Apologise and explain pretty much what you said here. Say they caught you off gaurd so you lied but will either drop the gift round today or transfer them the money back.

I wouldnt believe all of the suggestions of "I thought I'd dropped it off and found it in my car..." Surely you would remember driving to someone's house? You couldnt just think you had done that!

Telling more lies will dig you deeper in the hole... You've had the money for nearly a month now. Come clean and dont agree to do favours that you arent going to do as asked again.

I was thinking of saying ... Perhaps the cleaner set put of the way in order to do the floors or something.

Don't you bloody dare try to implicate someone else in your dishonesty, someone whose livelihood you might damage! Wtf is wrong with you!

Own up, say you couldn't be arsed doing it right away, and that you lied when asked about it to avoid looking bad.

The sooner your family and friends know that you aren't reliable and can't be trusted, the better for everyone.

Don't lie, tell them you had intended to do it in time and will happily do it now or you can send the money back so they can do it themself. No further explanation needed. It was an unreasonable request (Yes, asking someone to buy a gift and drive an hour to drop it off at Christmas time is unreasonable especially when the recipient isn't there) and you are quite within your right to flop him off. If they don't like it, they can ask someone else next time.

You haven't learned anything, have you OP?

This has all happened because of your lack of honesty. You agreed to the task because you couldn't be honest about not wanting to. You pretended you'd completed the task because you couldn't be honest about not having done it and planning to do it. And now you are not going to be honest about what has happened, when coming clean and an apology is by far the best course of action, especially as you still have time to get the case of wine and take it to the recipient on her arrival home.

Your dishonesty has got you into this mess, yet you want to continue being dishonest.

Do the decent thing, FFS.

Just sort it today and tell them what happened. One of the suggested messages here makes the most sense, about wanting them to know it was all in hand but realising you didn't want to leave it when they were away for so long, then forgetting.

The thing that makes the least sense and will have everybody else involved think you are forever a weirdo, is sending the money back with 'i don't know what's happened'. That's literally the most bizarre course if action at this point!

I would do this, and don't agree to deliver anything again if you haven't got the time or the inclination.
The gift giver could have ordered the item online or from the supplier and had it delivered directly to the recipient. Perhaps suggest they do this next time?

I'd probably say "I'm really sorry, I misled you when I said I'd sent it. I did buy it, I just never took it over as they've not been there to receive it. I'm planning to take it over on X day when they're home. I apologise for the misunderstanding and any alarm it caused you".

Just apologise for lying before, take the present round today if you can and don't agree to help in future if you can't do it

It was a case of wine? Say you drank it?

Only if the OP has some sort of dementia. Given that she'd only have gone to the house to deliver the gift, seems rather unlikely that they'd have just imagined going to the house or not noticed that they went up to the door emptyhanded and then walked back to the car and drove off.

Fix problem. ASAP Tell another white porky, or not.

You could say that, on second thoughts, you hadn't wanted it stolen from the porch.
Visit person ASAP make light of it and change topic.

I disagree with everyone here.
I think you should tell the family member this:
''Actually I never bought the gift because I felt like you really took the piss asking me to spend my time going out to the shops and choosing a gift for someone else and then drive 1 hour to deliver it to them and then drive 1 hour back home again. It was the lead up to Christmas and I was really busy and I had enough of my own stuff to do. Why did you assume I had enough time to do this for you, and why did you ask me to do it when I'm already busy? Why didn't you just send the £40 directly to them as a gift? Or buy them something online and have if delivered to them? And you're now checking up on me about it?! I was so shocked by your level of expectation at the time that I couldn't bring myself to say anything to you, but I'm telling you now. Here's your £40 back. I'll leave it for you to explain to them why they didn't get a gift."

This seems the most plausible.

Nonsense.

Can you not just say the family member who popped round to check the house may not have seen where you put it? And then just pop it in? Is the house owner still away?

I actually think she was rude to check up on you… even though it appears she had good reason 😂😂

Just buy the gift and drop it round today. Ignore the text. When the recipient calls/texts your relative to say thank you this should go away. If she says anything after that just simply say ‘I told you I’d drop it off, I did. Next year you can sort it yourself!’

So they’ll still think someone has been in their home and stole it??

FFS OP act like a grown up and tell the truth!

It doesn’t even have to be the full truth.

Just say that you remembered that you’d dropped it off but collected it again/didn’t drop it off because it was such a long time before they got back.

I can’t believe you say you’re ’too soft’ to say no but then admit you took the £40, lied about buying the present, lied about dropping it off, confirmed the lie more than once and now want to pretend that someone has been into the home and stolen the gift!

Someone who is ‘too soft’ would absolutely not do any of those things.

Sorry OP but people like you really annoy me. Don't say yes if you can't be arsed to do it!

Or you could say when you said it was done you meant it was bought and you were waiting for them to return before you dropped it

I mean… you were given money to do something, took the money then lied about doing it, so effectively you did steal it. Go and get the gift and take it round immediately.

I know it’s off topic, but what was the gift? I don’t know why I need to know 😂

Your family member knows you have lied.I learnt many years ago that just being honest when you mess up is the best policy.They know you haven't bought it. Just tell them why (you forgot, left it too late, intended to but time slipped away, don't ask me again I'm crap at this stuff etc) and take it round with a sorry ASAP.You will feel better, they won't view you as a compulsive liar

And if it makes you feel better it's pretty much true. You might even want to say 'I know I told you I'd done it but pre-Xmas was such a rush around and I wanted you to know I had it sorted so you wouldn't need to worry'