Its said its better to give than recieve but for many folks its easier to give than to recieve. Accepting and appreciating something given in good faith is a good thing to cultivate in oneself. Unfortunately we tend to have a culture of mandatory gift giving and reciprocating that tends to result in a lot of junk being created. Its good to have something that is wanted and will be useful. Now if his friend holds it over him in some way then it will ruin the friendship but thats sorta fine as likely it was not a good one anyway, but lets hope that is not the case.