It's our team's Christmas lunch/afternoon coming up – lunch out followed by an afternoon of games at a bar. One of my colleagues is only coming for the games, not the food – I'm organising, and they can't pay me for their games ticket til payday.
This colleague will be the only one not coming out for lunch – they're my closest colleague and I would be genuinely sad that they aren't there. I would hate for them to miss out on something everyone else will be doing for the sake of £30 or so.
I don't want to insult or embarrass them, or think I'm doing it out of pity – I really value their comradery in a team that, by all accounts, will be shrinking next year.
What would you do?