Relive Your Wedding with The Perfect Wedding Anniversary Gift For Your Partner

Your wedding is without a doubt one of the biggest, most exciting and memorable days of your life. So it is no surprise that it is also an occasion that most look forward to celebrating each year. And, like your wedding it should be a celebration of your love for one another. 

Whether or not you fondly follow traditions there are common wedding anniversary gifts for each year of marriage. However, you don’t need to take them too literal or even adhere to them if you can’t think of a way to use it for a gift your partner will love. They can give you a guide, but you may need to think a little out of the box.

For example, the traditional first anniversary gift is paper, but would your wife or husband really be all that thrilled if you just gave them a ream of paper? Probably not. But, maybe they are a big art lover and you could get them an art piece that they would love, or even better, a piece that represents you as a couple or something you really love about them.

There are also some general dos and don’ts, which this guy certainly learned.  Melissa Chapman owner and blogger at ‘Married My Sugar Daddy’ recently posted about this topic on the Huffington Post after her husband gave her a not so romantic gift of pillows and flannelette sheets for their 16^th wedding anniversary.

Melissa’s complaint, “To me this says -- I am not of value -- I am not worth the splurge... I am a sensible pillow and sheets kind of wife."

Take note gift givers! Anniversaries can and should be a special occasion; after all it is a celebration of the day that you and your loved one declared your love for each other in front of your closest friends and family.

Try to make it a special day by focusing more on the experience that you can have together, rather than just a traditional ‘gift.’

There are many ways to do this including, taking your partner back to the place where you first met or got engaged, which we wrote about in ‘5 of the best ways to give the perfect gift.’ 

One Georgia man who truly took making it a special day to a new level decided that he wasn't going to just take his wife Kelli out to dinner for their 10th anniversary. Instead, he brought out a marching band (literally!) and gave her the surprise of a lifetime.

Although you don’t necessarily have to go to those extremes you can use the traditional gifts to inspire an experience you could share together for your anniversary.

Here are just 5 ideas that you may want to use for gifting traditional gifts for your first 5 wedding anniversaries

1^st Anniversary: Paper

Again, you don’t have to literally create an experience with paper, but what you may like to do is to write a letter on a lovely piece of paper and perhaps give it to them with breakfast in bed.

This may be a small token gift or your entire gift, but remember it is important to make your wife or husband feel special and know how much you love them and what better way than putting it in writing.

2^nd Anniversary: Cotton

Whilst you may want to give a piece of cotton clothing, you could also use the raw material of cotton balls as part of wrapping a beautiful piece of jewellery.

3^rd Anniversary: Leather

 When you think of leather you may think belts, handbags, purses, watch bands, jackets or even lounges and of course you could gift these things, but if it isn’t exactly up your partner’s alley, get creative!

 Perhaps it’s a drive in a luxury car with leather seats to a special restaurant where you’ve reserved a table at one of their leather booths.

4^th Anniversary: Linen

So, you might not want to go down the path of gifting sheets, but again you could give a piece of linen clothing or you could taken them shopping for something special and maybe even get some great new bedding while you’re out.

5^th Anniversary: Wood

Wood, like many of the other materials is super versatile. A gift could include anything from a wooden frame with a picture of the two of you, a framed painting, a wooden platter, and the list could go on. But you could also have a little fun with it.

Take a ride in a wooden canoe with a bottle of wine in tow or pick them up in a horse and wooden cart.

These are just a few ideas, they may or may not be right for you, but just remember you want to make them feel special and show how much you love them, so trust your heart – you know what makes them happy.

What’s the best anniversary gift you’ve received?

Guest post by Jamie-Lee Braunack of Luxe Shopping Experiences, a Toronto wedding services and shopping company that provides exclusive styling and shopping services to help those who are getting married or celebrating a special occasion to look their best with customized personal shopping and pampering packages. www.luxeshoppingexperiences.com