Anniversary Gifts
My goodness, where has the year gone? I cannot believe that it is almost October and the holiday season is finally upon us. October is special to me for many reasons, but the most important one being it’s my anniversary month. My husband and I got married in October of 2013. We are not big on traditions but decided we would try and give each other anniversary presents that follow the traditional gift themes. It gave us a starting point for gift ideas but left plenty of room for creativity. I am not a fan of cookie-cutter gifts or your standard gift card, not that there is anything wrong with either of those options. I just prefer to customize my gift to the occasion and recipient.
For our first anniversary, we exchanged paper. My husband is a huge sports fan, so I knew I wanted to give him tickets to watch one of his favorite teams play. I know what you may be thinking, tickets are definitely cookie cutter. I agree, and knowing that, I chose to be creative with how I revealed his gift. I created a crossword puzzle and he had to solve it and the corresponding cipher to figure out what his gift was. My husband knows that I really value sentimental or handmade gifts. He gave me a handmade gift using maps of the state of Virginia that highlighted where we met, got engaged, and got married.
The second anniversary gift had to be made of cotton. I thought about giving him socks, undershirts, and boxers, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, I decided to buy him a jersey. He didn’t have one and I knew he wouldn’t buy one on his own. I just had one problem, the jersey was going to be more polyester than cotton. In keeping with the tradition, I put the jersey in a shoe box. I covered the box in Valentine’s Day themed felt, and covered the jersey up with cotton balls. When my husband opened the gift, he was confused as to why I would have given him cotton balls. After some digging, he found his gift and loved it. My husband gave me a calendar with our wedding date circled printed on cotton paper and put it in a gorgeous frame.
The third anniversary was a bit more tricky because it was leather. I could have gone in way too many directions. My husband is not a fan of frivolous things, so I wanted to ensure I gave him something practical. I found a beautiful leather, RFID-blocking wallet and personalized it with our wedding date and our favorite saying, “I love you more…” My husband gave me a beautiful handcrafted leather bracelet. It even had a hint of turquoise, one of my favorite colors.
For our fourth anniversary, we exchanged gifts of linen and “silk”. We were less than a month away from welcoming our daughter, so we bought comfortable new bedding for our room. We are not silk people, so we settled for “silky” sheets.
I cannot believe how quickly the years have gone by. We’ll be celebrating our fifth anniversary in a few weeks. The traditional fifth anniversary gift is wood. I can't wait to see what my husband comes up with. What are some of your favorite wooden gifts?