I myself prefer to give people $1 lottery tickets instead of $2.95 witty birthday cards. Am I wise or foolish in this?
You are foolish in this.
Birthday cards show that you specifically thought of someone’s birthday and are celebrating it. Giving them something generic, regardless of value, doesn’t serve the same purpose as a birthday card. By your reasoning you could not only substitute lottery tickets for birthday cards, you could substitute lottery tickets for saying the words “happy birthday” as well, thus never wishing them a happy birthday either.
Furthermore, since the lottery ticket is cheaper than the birthday card, and everyone knows this, and (apparently) this cheapness is one of your reasons for doing this, you are violating social expectations about when it is acceptable to be obviously cheap. (You can still be cheap, but you can’t be obviously cheap about it.)
You are foolish in this.
Birthday cards show that you specifically thought of someone’s birthday and are celebrating it. Giving them something generic, regardless of value, doesn’t serve the same purpose as a birthday card. By your reasoning you could not only substitute lottery tickets for birthday cards, you could substitute lottery tickets for saying the words “happy birthday” as well, thus never wishing them a happy birthday either.
Furthermore, since the lottery ticket is cheaper than the birthday card, and everyone knows this, and (apparently) this cheapness is one of your reasons for doing this, you are violating social expectations about when it is acceptable to be obviously cheap. (You can still be cheap, but you can’t be obviously cheap about it.)