Britons are facing greater financial pressure when it comes to spending money on their friend’s birthdays, a new report has revealed.
The report, published by thortful, suggests that more and more people are feeling the cost when they have to celebrate the birthdays of close friends who invest in extravagant celebrations.
One woman, Noor Behzad from London, explained how much financial pressure she faced when her friend decided to celebrate her 28th birthday in Dubai, UAE. As well as paying for a gift, Ms Behzad was also faced with the cost of paying for flights and food whilst in the country.
According to the report, some Britons have had to make sacrifices in other parts of their lives or been forced to come up with excuses to avoid attending events they can’t afford to go to.
As well as being faced with spending a large amount on flights, Ms Behzad revealed she had only been given two weeks notice by her friend before the big celebration.
She explained: “I spent around £900 to £1,000 overall, which is a considerable chunk. I didn’t purchase any new outfits for this trip as I tried to budget as much as possible, and I knew I owned enough clothes and shoes already.
“However I did buy her a birthday gift which cost around £20 – deliberately tried to budget here! I had quite a bit of money anxiety for the UAE trip; it was all fairly last minute, which meant flight prices were more expensive as opposed to if I had booked it earlier.
“I gave myself a budget of £500 for the trip and managed to stay within this amount, however upon returning to London I had to use my credit card for practically everything and had a £600 credit card bill by the time I received my next paycheck.”
Ms Bezhad wasn’t the only person to share their experiences of incredibly expensive birthday parties.
Hayley Cantrell, 28, said she spent nearly £700 when one of her friends decided they wanted to celebrate their birthday in Berlin.
She said there was significant financial pressure within her group and that she was with “were the type of people who would have made it an issue or spoken behind my back about it if I didn’t (pay)”.
Ms Cantrell added: “And when it’s someone’s birthday, you can’t exactly do your own thing – you need to be accommodating and do what they want as it’s their special day.”
