Am I being tight?!

[McSteamyorMcdreamy]

My friend has just turned her nose up at me....

"Really? You're doing that?. Ew, I would feel awful if I did that!"

DD4 turns 5 later on in the month. Nailed her NEW balance bike and is now ready for her first proper bike.

Money is a bit tight and with her birthday party I didn't want to spend £££s on a brand new bike for her not to get on with it and sell it a loss/have it in the shed forever.

Anyhoo found a decent on on FB MP. Needs new tyres and new saddle and has a couple of age related marks but it's not battered. With the extras it's probably going to come to £70-£80.

Been looking for something decent for a while so was really chuffed to get it. Told friend and she said the above.

I feel really shit now and worried DD will be really disappointed as it won't be brand new and shiny. Realistically I know she won't give a shit and I will just be a bike, but I can't shake the feeling.

Am I tight???!

She’ll love it. And you can make it personal to her with the extras. I think your friend is being incredibly unkind.

Friend sounds wasteful, we are too consumerist and trashing the environment. A 5 year old won’t notice - you did the right thing

It's new to your child . . . I'm sure your DD will love it

Is you friend an Instamum type who buys crap a the time and doesn't value the idea of reusing perfectly good second hand stuff. Before you know it your daughter will either bash her bike a bit or outgrow it so your solution is the ideal way.

Sounds brilliant. Some new bits, maybe a couple of stickers and those streamer pom-pom things for the handlebars - she’ll be thrilled.

Even serious cycle nuts buy secondhand kids bikes. Your friend is wrong, not you!

You're not tight.

Your friend is a dick.

Your DD will LOVE her new bike.

Your friend is being ridiculous and very rude. Your daughter will love her bike!

Your dd will thank you for the lovely new bike on her birthday, and she will thank you in years to come for not turning her birthday and Xmas into a massive consumer-fest where you buy shit for the sake of it that ends up in landfill.

Absolutely you unreasonable
daughter will love it and you’re saving the environment
well done on the bargain
we all need to be more like this

She’s maybe too young to notice but I’d just like to say, as a child who only ever got hand-me-downs, sometimes inferior but new and shiny is more welcome than better but second-hand.

We got our daughter a second hand bike for her birthday. She didn't care at all. The kids also get second hand books and other toys. We could afford to buy new, but it's much better for the environment not to.
Your friend is being an idiot

She will LOVE it, your friend is BU.

It’s great. I’ve bought good second hand bikes all the way through and am pretty much in profit as some hold their value so well. Save your money, she’ll be delighted.

Your daughter will grow out of her bike in a couple of years...in the meantime she will drop it, bang into walls, leave it in the rain, scratch it on bushes...and absolutely love it.

she's a kid she won't care if it's second, third or twentieth hand...your friend is a bit of a knob...it's the gift not where it came from that counts

Shame you didn’t enable voting, I think you’d get 100% YANBU.

100% the way to go, if you can get some tassels in it too she will be chuffed!

As long as you know what you're doing (ie don't fall for the 'i just want what I paid for it 3 years ago brigade) then you'll get a much better bike second hand then you will new. For your child it's a new bike to them, they won't notice/care that it's been used before. Ignore your 'friend'!

All my childhood bikes were secondhand and I was in my late 20s before I got a new bike. DD2 is 20 and has never had a brand new bike.

what does your friend do with things that her dc have outgrown or don’t want/need anymore?

If she sells them then she is a massive hypocrite. Without people like you and I she wouldn’t be able to sell on her things.

Why would you buy new if you don’t have to would be my response!

Spending £70-80 on your five year old is shit loads!

Things like expensive new bikes, massive Lego sets etc fall on the grandparents these days because no parents can afford anything.

Your friend is rude and out of touch.

My mum recently told me that the two wonderful shiny bikes that my sister and I got for Christmas one year were second hand and my dad had spray painted and put stickers on them. 35 years later and it makes the memory more special.

Thank you all for the reassurance. Phew!

Not being funny but surely a new bike could be got cheaper than that or even the same kind of price without all the faffing getting new seat etc. as a pp said. Sometimes new and inferior is better than better second hand

Dd1's first proper bike came out of our neighbours skip. DH did ask them first, it needed a new chain and some air in the tyres, but it was barely used. The tread on the tyres wasn't even marked. Dd used it for about 7 months in total between the shit weather, then had a growth spurt.

Ignore your mate, no point spending another £70 on brand new when it last for such a short space of time.

The bike sounds great.
That "friend" is a twat and rude.
I am hugely into recycling things.
During Covid I bought a £400 bike for £50 for my daughter. She used it for a few months and I gifted it to a friend whose child is delighted with it still.
The amount of money we have has no bearing on this whatsoever.
Recycling is good for society.