Birthdays have a way of exposing who’s counting candles and who’s counting cash.

One busy woman rearranged her busy schedule to attend a cousin’s last-minute birthday celebration.

But when she presented her cousin with “only” a $25 gift card, she was accused of being a cheapskate by her own family.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

AITA for only giving my cousin a $25 gift card for her birthday?

So I (F 20s) had a birthday invite from my cousin.

It was originally supposed to be on Sunday, but it got changed to Friday last minute. I only had one day’s notice.

This really threw off her whole schedule.

I had work Friday evening, but I asked my boss if I could switch and ended up working Friday morning instead so I could go.

After work at 2:00, I had to pick up my sister at 2:30, and I was already running late.

I rushed to grab gifts for my cousin.

She was only able to grab whatever she saw near her.

I got some small things like face masks, a basket with her favorite treats, and a $25 gift card.

In total, I spent about $50.

Her hectic day continued, but she tried to make the most of it.

I rushed straight from work, picked up my sister, then picked up my cousin, and we went to the mall, grabbed dinner, and later gave her the gifts.

It soon became clear the rest of her family thought she was a bit of a cheapskate.

Later, I found out that when my cousin went shopping with her dad, he checked the balance on the gift card and told my aunt it was “only $25.”

My aunt got offended and even involved my mom.

She also compared it to another cousin who gave $100.

But she feels like her family is totally misrepresenting her kind gesture.

I am honestly hurt because I rearranged my schedule, rushed all day, and spent about $50 total.

Now I feel embarrassed about what I gave, and it makes me not even want to go to birthdays anymore.

AITA for only giving a $25 gift card?

What a slap in the face!

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

It’s good etiquette to show appreciation for gifts, no matter how you truly feel about them.

Her aunt is acting quite childish in all this.

This user thinks she’s right to opt out of future birthday celebrations.

It’s wild how quickly a thoughtful gesture can turn into a financial scoreboard.

Sounds like next year this cousin deserves a whole lot of nothing for her birthday!

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.