When it comes to giving gifts, not everyone can bear the cost of expensive presents and they should not be judged or bad-mouthed for it. However, one woman has shared how she and her partner were criticized badly by a friend for ‘not spending enough money on a baby shower gift.

In an anonymous post on Reddit, the woman explained that her boyfriend’s old friend from high school was going to be a mother soon, and to celebrate that good news she had a virtual baby shower. As the man no longer had a job and was going through some financial crisis, his partner decided to only get a small gift for the pregnant woman, which was for $13 (around £10). Nevertheless, that made the friend upset and she was said to have contacted him after the event making a fuss about him not buying a pricier item.

On the social media’s Reddit group, the woman told the entire story to the readers. She said that one of her boyfriend’s close friends from high school was having a baby. She made sure to mention that they were in their late 30s, which meant it was a pretty long and intense friendship. She and her boyfriend had attended the friend’s wedding last year, and they lived in the same city, so the couple frequently sees her and her husband for dinner, board games night, etc every few months or so.

She further claimed that she was not particularly close with that person and had only met her a handful of times. The friend had a virtual baby shower and had invited the duo. The woman was unable to make it because of the prior commitment, but he signed on and participated. As the money was tight, she bought the gift on behalf of both of them: a $13 pack of infant socks which she choose off the registry.

She went on to say that she was making good money and that both the friend and her husband did too. Generally for something like the wedding or another in-person celebration she would buy something that helped her to cover up her individual per head cost of the event (meal expense, venue rental, etc) but since that was a virtual program and there wasn’t much cost incurred, she didn’t feel the need to get something luxurious. The socks seemed cute and useful.

A few days after the shower took place, the friend called up her boyfriend unhappy, saying that she didn’t expect him to give her $13 socks despite their long friendship. She didn’t know that he was struggling to earn money, but even if he was working, the girlfriend felt that it was not okay for her to demand costly gifts from her boyfriend.

She finished the post by questioning if she and her partner were in the wrong for giving a cheaper present. More than 180 people have responded to that post, with many agreeing that mum-to-be was in the wrong, with some calling her ‘tacky’ for addressing the couple.