Well, there are currently 33 epic (healer) leather items in the game that have blue sockets, and the ones that are truly loaded with them are the T4-6 sets.
http://www.wowhead.com/?items=4.2&filter=qu=4;minrl=70;cr=119:80:93;crs=1:4:2;crv=0:0:0
I think it comes down to where you stand with your current gear, your role in the raid, and the raid performance and gear level in general.
Important I think is the bonus healing coefficient though, which for Lifebloom is only about 62.16% (according to wowwiki), 80% for Rejuvenation, and 84% for Regrowth.
So if you're grouped with tanks and keep rolling your LB stacks, you're not getting a whole lot out of your bonus healing, making spirit definitely the better choice over anything +heal, especially since a bunch of other healers will benefit greatly from your aura. You'll also unlikely ever get outside the FSR, increasing the importance of regeneration.
It's different when you're instance healing or in a supportive role though, generally with fewer targets and larger heals. 100-120% on Healing Touch, 100% on Swiftmending Regrowth... those definitely favor stacking raw +heal over spirit as long as you can regenerate enough mana to last through the encounter.
I consider Royal Nightseye the worst possible choice for a druid, item budget or not. It doesn't fit into either one of the 2 roles I just mentioned. Healing is equal to the pearl, and spirit gives us just so much more. Item budget doesn't take our 15% spirit boost from Tranquil Spirit into account either.
Luminous Noble Topaz is the perfect choice for a yellow socket to activate the meta since gemming pure intellect just doesn't make much sense.
Socket bonuses are generally worth it, unless you're wearing PvP pieces, though there are some exceptions (like 1 mp5 or +2 spirit). It just depends on what the meta requires and what you could get instead if you were to ignore it.