Why didn't Harry give Ron a Christmas present in their first year?

Question

In the first Harry Potter book, why didn't Harry get Ron a Christmas present? Although I don't have the exact quotes right now, Hagrid says that the money Harry takes out of his Gringotts vault was enough for "a couple of terms". If it was enough for more than one term, surely Harry had enough for a present for Ron?

After all, Hermione got Harry and Ron presents, and at that point, she'd been friends with Harry and Ron for two months — less than how long Harry and Ron have been friends.

I completely understand why Ron wasn't able to get Harry a present — his family was poor, and as an eleven-year-old, I can see why he doesn't have any money/his parents didn't give him any money.

But why doesn't Harry buy Ron a Christmas present? Surely they were close enough friends at that point to buy each other presents, especially after the troll incident, which they went through together?

Answer 1

I always assumed that it was because it never occurred to him - the Dursleys never really give him presents (I think an old coat hanger and 50p is mentioned). He has also likely never bought one for anyone before - it says that Dudley chased away any friends he ever made, and he never had any money before either, so couldn't have bought anything if he had wanted to.

He is very surprised at receiving any presents - which also points to the same idea. So it's hardly surprising that he doesn't think of buying any.

Answer 2

Not a proof but a reasonable hypothesis: Harry is not able to buy Ron a Christmas present.

Fact: He could not go to Hogsmeade because he was too​ young and no adult had signed his permission document either.

Assumption: He did not gift anyone a present before because there was no one worthy of it.

Speculation: He is a little more than two months in the wizarding world and has no knowledge about other ways to buy things.

Notice: There is a preconception that girls/women care more about other people than boys/men, which could result in "Hermione thought about presents, Ron and Harry did not".

Whether Harry does not like to handcraft something is not known, and is not the question either.

Conclusion: for me it is part of the picture, that Harry missed the occasion to give Ron a present.

Answer 3

Harry wasn’t expecting to get any presents, so the idea of giving presents might not have occurred to him.

On his first Christmas at Hogwarts, Harry didn’t think he was going to get presents, he was just looking forward to the food and the festivities. Because of his low expectations of his own presents, he may have just dismissed the typical association of Christmas with presents, without ever thinking of the idea that he can give presents to others.

“On Christmas Eve, Harry went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting any presents at all. When he woke early next morning, however, the first thing he saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed.

‘Happy Christmas,’ said Ron sleepily as Harry scrambled out of bed and pulled on his dressing-gown.

‘You too,’ said Harry. ‘Will you look at this? I’ve got some presents!’

‘What did you expect, turnips?’ said Ron, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Harry’s.”
_{^{- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 12 (The Mirror of Erised)}}

It seems likely that Harry simply overlooked the idea of giving others presents, rather than making a conscious decision not to. He is close enough to Ron that he would likely want to give him something if he’d thought of it. He does give Ron the fifty-pence piece he gets from his aunt and uncle, because Ron was fascinated with it since Muggle money is rare and unusual to Ron.

“We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Sellotaped to the note was a fifty-pence piece.

‘That’s friendly,’ said Harry.

Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence.

‘Weird!’ he said. ‘What a shape! This is money?’

‘You can keep it,’ said Harry, laughing at how pleased Ron was.”
_{^{- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 12 (The Mirror of Erised)}}

He was friends with Ron and wanted to be nice to him, he just probably hadn’t thought of actually buying anyone Christmas presents.

Answer 4

If Harry knows Ron is not able to get him a present because of a lack of means, would it be nice to rub it in by creating a debt that would be hard to repay?

Now in order for pretend thoughtlessness to be believable, it has to be indistinguishable from actual thoughtlessness. If Ron is not supposed to figure out the difference, how can we hope to manage?