It was decided between my siblings that we would be getting my mother an ipad between us for xmas one year.
Now, I love my mother, and at the time, i was probably earning the most on paper, and had the whole "but you can afford it" malarkey. This was when they were brand new and still very very expensive.
But it had been decided by other siblings that this was what we were doing.
It turned out with me having to order it and pay for it in full, (since I apparently had loads of money) and then I would get their share back straight away. Took me 3 months to get that money back.
And no, we could not afford even our fair share, as I had just gone back to work after mat leave, dh had been made redundant while i was on mat leave, so we had no savings, and a few CC debts we were paying off, and had had to start paying huge childcare bills as we were both back at work just before that xmas, and we could barely afford Christmas for ourselves as it was.
But I paid out full price for the ipad, and myself and dh got each other nothing for Xmas that year, and Ds, for his first xmas, got a £10 gift. He was 11 months old, and as such, it could be said he did not need anything more, but i was very upset, esp as his Birthday was in January, and because my siblings did not give me the money back straight away, we did nothing and could get him nothing for his 1st bday.
But I had to go along with it, as they had told my Mom, before mentioning it to me, that this was what we were doing, and promised to transfer the money to me the same day i bought it.
Now, my siblings are usually lovely, they just got caught up with a moment of insanity that year, with an idea that ran away with them, they have never before or since done anything like that since, but fuck me was it annoying and I am still quite bitter years later.
Never ever presume to tell anyone else what they can afford!