The quickest way to ensure a memorable wedding anniversary is to forget about the wedding anniversary altogether. I wouldn't recommend you try this method; although it may save you a few dollars up front it will almost certainly cost you a lot more in the long run.
So what present should you buy? Well anyone can buy a gift voucher, book or other pedestrian present, but if you really want to make your next wedding anniversary special then try being creative.
Let’s start with a tough question: when is your wedding anniversary? Actually it gets worse because you'll also need to know how long you've been married. Granted this might be a big ask for many men, but if you honestly can’t recall, you could always try and sneak a peak at your wedding certificate while your better half is out of the house (she’s probably out buying you a really meaningful anniversary gift, so pull your finger out and lets get started!).
Each wedding anniversary is represented by something that is meant to signify the length of time you've been married – 50 years is gold, 25 years is silver and 1 year is paper (and no, don’t just buy a card!). In addition each wedding anniversary has its own color so try and work that into your creative theme.
Now since you are reading this article you obviously have internet access. Great! Go to a search engine and look up the specifics about your next anniversary. For example, if it's your second anniversary then this is historically represented by cotton. I know, cotton sounds tricky so we’ll focus on a few examples shortly. First, resist the urge to rush out to purchase a new set of sheets or some plain bath towels, that's not creative, it's lame. Take a deep breath and put some serious thought into it!
Here are a few simple examples:
- Sweet - His and her bathrobes embroidered with your pet names for each other
- Fun - Find a photo of you and your wife and have it printed on a T-shirt
- Romantic - Buy a cotton blanket, pack a picnic basket including cheeses, champagne and strawberries and whisk her away to a picturesque location
If those examples don’t appeal to you or your budget and you can’t think of anything else related to cotton then instead put some thought into any present your wife would enjoy. Take that present and wrap it with cotton fabric including a cotton bow to hold it together (fabric shops sell material by the meter and will be more than happy to help measure sizes accordingly). If you’re really creative you could even make a card out of something like a cotton place mat and write on it using a laundry marker. Remember to select fabric and bow according to the color appropriate to your anniversary: Romeo eat your heart out!
You'll no doubt be feeling embarrassed or corn-ball while buying, making or preparing your special gift, but believe me, your wife will love the extra effort and creativity and will find it very romantic. I think we all know what that means for us men later that night. That’s right, we don’t have to listen to our wives complaining about how we don’t know them at all and how crappy our presents were (again).
Honestly your wife will love your creative ideas because after all you are showing her how important she is to you, that you still want to impress and please her and that you are willing to put in some extra effort to make your anniversary a special and memorable day for both of you to share and enjoy.
One final but important point: A friend of mine recently went to some effort to come up with a unique gift for his first wedding anniversary (represented by paper). After much thought he settled on an environmentally friendly angle and bought an apple tree to represent paper (before it's cut down) and selected red apples for love. Sadly his planning and careful efforts to come up with, buy and hide said apple tree were completely undermined by the fact that he didn’t include an anniversary card.
This will come as a shock for some of you but the card is actually more important than the present. Oh don’t get me wrong, you’re in serious trouble if you turn up without a present, but consider yourself up the proverbial river if you forget or neglect a card filled with sappy, romantic sentiment.
So if you’re going to put the effort into being creative with your present and you actually want to impress your wife then please, please, please remember an anniversary card. It’s like taking champagne on your picnic and forgetting glasses. Oh yeah, for those of you considering the picnic suggestion above don’t forget glasses, plates, cutlery, napkins and one long stemmed rose (preferably the correct color but when in doubt go with the classic red).
As to what you put in the card, I'll leave that to your now creative and fertile imaginations.
Good luck and happy anniversaries!
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