Please don't judge me too hard. I'm actually taking her out to dinner and putting some stuff inside the box and making it all fancy. So it's not just a box I'm giving her. Still 350$.....
You're buying her a $350 box AND buying 'stuff' for the box AND taking her out to dinner ? So, this will cost you, what, $450 or $500 when all's said and done? make her dinner... return the box and the 'stuff'.
My family's general rule, and one that I'm trying to get my daughter to understand and respect, is that buying people expensive gifts and restaurant meals is not usually an effective use of money.
I use the one hour of take-home pay rule for close friends and relatives that aren't immediate family, if we exchange gifts. We get each other small but useful items such as pyjamas or fuzzy socks, and among us craft-ier people most of our gifts are homemade.
For a close relative (and a wife would count), two hours' worth of take-home pay is a reasonable way to celebrate a birthday or a special holiday. In a special year, such as for a landmarke anniversary or a special birthday, it's reasonable to double that. However, if dinner or other entertainments are involved, they need to be factored into the cost of the gift. So if John Doe earns $30 an hour and spends $60 on the gift,
it needs to be enough. There's no reason for there to be a gift
and a dinner
and a movie and-and-and. The dinner is the gift.
This means that a hotshot lawyer who bills $200 per hour can afford to spend $400 on a very nice dinner, gift, and entertainment, but a semi-skilled office worker who makes $20 an hour can afford a splurge of $40, tops.
It seems to me that people, especially young people, are hung up on the notion that they have to spend, spend, spend or else it isn't a "good" birthday or holiday. If you're considering spending $350 on a gift for one person and still spending more on dinner and entertainments, please reconsider your approach and have a frank discussion about expectations.