What would you do in this gift-giving situation?

Happy birthday! (belated)

I would give him a $67 card this year and tell him you want to stop giving gifts, but you very enthusiastically want to continue the celebrations.

I give/gave my brother 50.00, 60.00 etc. only on his milestone birthdays. On all others I just take him to dinner. He does the same for me.
I wouldn’t give him a 70.00 on his 67th but rather tell him you want to keep celebrating in eat fests. If you want to acknowledge his milestone birthdays, you should.

@Hawaii_Jake @chyna

Thanks for your great answers- I’ve integrated them into a very tenable and flexible overall approach.

Give him a 100 dollar card and tell him you’ve covered his next 33 birthdays. lol

^^^ tsk tsk tsk

Give him the $70 card and tell him he owes you 3 bucks.

While you’re about it, give him a birthday card and tell him you expect to receive the same card back on your next birthday.

This is not helpful at all, but the above reminds me of a woman I met who always exchanges birthday gifts by mail with a friend who is three months older than she is.

When the friend was turning 40, as a gift she sent a CD by the band UB40.

Three months later, on her birthday, she received from her friend a CD by U2

I don’t have an answer to your question, but you reminded me of a pleasant little joke from many years ago.
——-
Two British judges were each ticketed on the same day for driving a few miles over the speed limit through their village. They decided that they would each go to court, and since they couldn’t judge their own cases, they would each hear the other’s case and agree beforehand on a low fine for each of them, thereby at least following the form of justice, while saving some cash.

The first judge faced the second judge, pleaded guilty and was promptly fined £5 for the infraction. They swapped roles (and robes, wigs, all of that), and the former judge now faced the one who had just paid his own fine. The case was read out, and the new judge fined the new defendant £10.

The defendant complained aloud, “Why, this is the same offence [it being Britain, and all] that I fined you for merely £5! Why is my fine doubled?”

“There’s entirely too much of this sort of thing going on!” exclaimed the new occupant of the bench.

It’d depend on how much I disliked Target.

I’d try to start using the cards as intended, so it’s a reason to actually spend money on myself on something I want.

Does he know you’ve been giving him back the card he gave you? If I disliked Target, I’d probably tell him I’d rather have a gift card for something else, and give him back the card. Really I’d talk to him to find out how he feels about the whole thing, and unless he really just thinks it’s a goofy joke, I would try to avoid telling him I’ve been giving him back his card. I’d try to find out, but I’d tend to assume I’m dealing with someone who actually likes getting the card and thinks I’m using the ones he gives me to spend on something I want for myself that I otherwise wouldn’t. Finding out how he feels about it would be crucial to what I do, because I can either see it being a thing where it’s just a silly ritual he doesn’t care about, or something he thinks is fun and might be secretly upset if I break it to him that I’ve just been tossing him back his card each year.

If he does seem to take it seriously and now I’ve got one for $70, I’d probably try to find some use for the $70 one, or tell him I really don’t have a use for it this year and give it back. Or if I don’t dislike Target, actually go there and get some stuff for myself for fun, as he intended.

I can’t add to the great answers you’ve been given. A belated Happy Birthday for your 70th though. I hope you had a wonderful day.

Definitely talk to your brother. Among other things, some gift cards can lose value over time or have an expiration date.

Give him a $70 card with a witty note that “we” are getting too old for the card thing and that you plan to spend his next birthday hanging out and eating instead of buying cards.

Give him a nice bottle of whatever liquor he likes. If he liked whiskey, I’d recommend a bottle of Lagavulin.

Yeah just buy him something and drop the card thing.
I wonder if you two have been trading the exact same card every year!

Write him a note saying that you’re sorry about not sending him back the gift card this year because after all the years of searching you finally found something you wanted to buy there, and cashed it in.