I am not a great aunt – either literally or figuratively. I have 5 nieces and nephews (not all from one sibling I hasten to add) and I have forgotten at least one birthday over the years. I also once bought somebody a card that said ‘Happy 3rd birthday!’ when they were actually only going to be 2 – luckily I realised before the event (wild horses will not tear from me the secret of who it was). Recently two of my little nephews (twins) turned 5. I forgot to get them a present until the last minute and ended up sending them a rather low-maintenance fiver inside a card (euro of course, obtained after lengthy queue at post office in my lunch break, so I did make a modest effort). Apparently, though, it went down well. As the Mastercard ad would say: priceless.