When your friend has you over for a party, it’s expected that you bring over something as a thank you for them hosting. Sometimes that little something is a bottle of expensive wine and sometimes it’s a bag of chips, depending on the occasion. It’s a basic courtesy to thank your friend for the effort it takes to make their home ready for company, and the time it takes to clean up afterwards.

There’s a big difference between buying a pizza for a movie night with your friends and buying pizzas out of pocket for an office party. You expect your office to be able to shell out some cash to pay for the catering and decorations for office parties, but that’s not always the case. It’s extremely common for teachers to pay out-of-pocket for supplies for classroom holiday celebrations and pizza parties. Most employees who aren’t teachers are totally unwilling to use their own personal money to fund an experience for their coworkers, and that’s the way it should be. Unless you really want to buy Jeff from IT Tootsie Rolls for the Halloween party, you shouldn’t be expected to do so.