When you reach a landmark with your partner, it’s an incredible occasion. Whether it’s your first anniversary or your tenth wedding anniversary, you should always be prepared and be ready with a gift, or gifts, in hand. It can be difficult to know what to get your loved one in these situations, as it’s a gift that shows your true love towards them.
Many will overthink this until the cows come home, but if you take a step back and look at the occasion, ideas will start coming to you. Getting creative when buying your anniversary present is a great way of upping your gift game, so here are a few tips and tricks to do just that.
Your First Anniversary
This could be one of the hardest gifts to buy for your partner. The first anniversary is a special one, you’ve been through an entire year together, and you probably want to show them just how much you love them. However, you have to be careful as something that’s too small will be a little underwhelming, but something too big and you’ve started something you’ll have to maintain for the rest of your life, which is no bad thing.
Something that shows you care and something that’s a little different is the best way to start your anniversary gift process. And if you’re a male buying for a female, flowers will always go down well. The people behind the Gift Unicorn couples page suggest looking for something you both can enjoy whilst being creative at the same time. A gift for you both will bring you closer together and allow you to enjoy more time together as a couple.
Pre Wedding Anniversaries
You’ll most likely have many anniversaries before you get engaged and these are just as important as when you get married. Try and ensure that every year is something different (apart from the flowers) as it shows you are thinking about what you bought last year, and how you can improve it.
Weekends away are always a great idea, but if that’s not on the cards, then something romantic at home will be just as good. Why not try and recreate a weekend away, but in your own home? Organise a schedule for the weekend and go on little outings you wouldn’t normally in the day and create a beautifully romantic setting in the evening. A home-cooked meal will always go a long way.
First Wedding Anniversary
After you get married, things will get a little bit easier when it comes to gifts as there is a tradition for anniversary presents. The first wedding anniversary tradition is paper. Now you may be thinking, what on earth can you do with paper? But there are plenty of options here.
A paper cut scene is a wonderful way to show your affection, get a local artist to work on something personalized that you can mount on the wall and forever remember the first year of your marriage. Ask them to put in small details of your year and ask your partner to work out what they mean. As it’s your first anniversary, you should splash out on some special flowers.
Second – Tenth Wedding Anniversary
The first ten years of your marriage will no doubt come with a lot of firsts, maybe you’ve had children or bought your first house. Either way, it’s a wonderful time, and by the tenth year, you’ll be fully settled into married life.
The gifts stay reasonably strange when it comes to tradition, the second anniversary being cotton, then leather for third, fruit or flowers for fourth, wood for fifth, candy or iron for sixth, wool of copper for seventh, pottery or bronze for eighth, willow or pottery for ninth, and tin or aluminum for tenth. This should give you a wealth of ideas for your anniversary presents, but try and think a little outside the box. No one wants a plank of wood for their anniversary.
You can get local tradesmen to work on something bespoke, or you can find something from a shop you both like made from the material of the year.
The list continues up until the 90th wedding anniversary which is stone. After that, you’re on your own. If either partner says they don’t want anything for your anniversary, then we can assume it’s a test, so I would ignore anything that’s said along those lines and get something special anyway. After many years you might find that it’s not about the large and upscale presents, but instead, something that’s smaller and more meaningful. Show your loved one just how much you care by getting creative.
