Open Question: Should we invite friends to do things with us when we know they won’t be able to afford it?

29/08/09

My husband and I have a few friends who, due NOT to the economy but poor financial decisions, are going through rough times financially. My husband and I are far from rich, but we can afford to go to the local water park, to the movies, and eat out at sit-down restaurants like Red Lobster occasionally.

This leads to a problem with our friends: if we call to invite them out with us, they get snippy and remind us that they can’t afford it; if we don’t invite them and they find out we went somewhere, they get offended and ask why they weren’t invited. We have them over every week or two at our home for dinner and board games, etc., so it’s not like the only thing we do is stuff that costs money.

We wouldn’t mind covering a dinner now and then except that our friends are enjoying luxuries we’ve had to forgo in order to have fun money, i.e. buying a new $60 video game every month and having (very) expensive cars, so I sort of feel like they chose what they wanted, you know?

I just don’t know what to do - it’s sort of one of those darned if you do, darned if you don’t situations. Any suggestions?

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