A friend of mine always invites about six of us out on her birthday night, we went last night and had a very nice evening. We all took presents, including another friend of hers. On the way home in taxi my friend said she was surprised, as she hasn't had a present from her in years, thought she'd stopped buying for a reason, (even wondered if it was something she'd done!) She stopped buying for this particular friend too, as she thought she wanted to stop the whole birthday thing. She doesn't know whether to buy for her now, (birthday is next month) in response to her gift but doesn't want to make it look obvious.
I've also noticed this particular person buys for me some years and then misses a few, (still comes out on my birthday though!) I haven't followed suit and carried on buying her a present every birthday but felt uneasy about it, as if she would maybe rather I didn't.
Anybody got ideas on what they would do in this situation? It may seem trivial (it is
), but she's confused us both!! By the way I'm not bothered whether I receive a present or not, I'm just happy if people can join me on my birthday, but I do like to do the right thing by others presentwise, as does my friend!