Yep, it's still Anniversary Week here in my world, so let's talk a little bit about gifts. I knew of the "Anniversary Gift Guide" that suggests traditional and modern gifts for each anniversary, but apparently there's a flower and gemstone tied to each year too??? I'm not going to report on those though because, being the good researcher that I am, I looked at several sources and each listed a different flower and gemstone for Anniversary Numero Uno. {Have I ever mentioned how much I hate unanswered questions/inconsistent information???} Anyway, back to the point at hand...I'm only going to discuss paper gift ideas because clocks are, well, clocks...there really aren't a lot of options. Duh.
Plane Tickets
...or ANY kind of tickets {concert, theater, sporting event, etc.}. We decided that we wanted to take a trip {Anni-moon in Napa...details & pics next week!}, so we gifted each other plane tickets to San Francisco.
Just be sure to save the tickets {frame them, include them in photo album, etc.} so you will have a keepsake to always remember the occasion.
Daily Journal
This one takes some planning {as in keeping track of daily life for an entire year}. I think I saw something like this on Pinterest before we got married, so I kept a journal of our daily life beginning on our wedding day. I gave each day its own note card, so we can keep the journal going for years to come. I realize it's highly unlikely that we'll remember to write something down for EVERY.SINGLE.DAY beyond this first year, but I have high hopes that we'll at least remember to do it on a regular basis. It was fun to look back and remember little things from just ONE year, so I can only imagine how sentimental I'll be after several years.
I ordered the wooden box and tab dividers from this Etsy shop. {You have to request a custom order for a double-deep box because the regular size recipe boxes aren't large enough for 365 cards plus the dividers.}
Personalized Stationery
This is the obvious paper gift. No explanation necessary.
Monthly Gifts {IOU Cards}
This was Ryan's brilliant idea that he may come to regret! 😉
He gave me 12 note cards {one for each month of the coming year} that I can "cash in" for ANYTHING.I.WANT...plus three bonus cards that he already filled in for me. This is going to be fun!
A Few More Ideas
- Photos: put together an album or calendar of photos from your first year of marriage
- Subscription to favorite magazine or newspaper
- Framed vows: there are options all over Etsy for something like this
- Handwritten clues for a scavenger hunt {Gone Girl style...but not really!}
- Menu to a favorite {or new!} restaurant where you've already made reservations
- Or go the modern way and give a watch!
And now I probably should start thinking about what I'm going to do for our 2nd anniversary COTTON gift. Oh wait...I've got Christmas, Valentine's Day, and birthday gifts to figure out first!
