The 1st anniversary is traditionally the paper anniversary and I feel the most creative year available.
Here are 5 first anniversary gift ideas to get you inspired and check out our Pinterest board to see examples and links to ideas! (also feel free to browse our shop here or on our Etsy site).
1. Hand write your spouse a love letter and frame it.
You can confess your love, remind them of the amazing first year you had or even reiterate your vows. Placing it in a frame will make it perfect decor for your bedroom and give them a reason to wake up and smile every single day.
2. Tickets to an event or concert.
Pick something you can enjoy together or relive a date from your first year together.
3. Printed wedding vows
You can get them printed on paper or artistically designed as an audio wave of your voice!
4. Custom artwork or digital prints
You can have fun with this! Think about getting a caricature of the two of you, a custom drawn design of your home, or photo of the place you met. (Mike and I have a hand drawn bridge in Pittsburgh created by our friend and Pittsburgh artist, Klo Rebel – we used to walk across it every day together on our way to work and it has such great meaning for us. )
5. A notebook or journal
Consider giving a journal to your spouse and writing a special note inside of it. To have even more fun with it, put the note on a page in the middle of the book, somewhere they might not see for a while and when they finally do, they will be pleasantly surprised!
Bonus idea!
Mike always leaves little post it love notes around the house for me to find. He puts them everywhere, in the refrigerator, drawers, books, cabinets. It’s fun because while I may not see them all at first, I know one is lurking around for me to find some other day. This is such a big thing with us that we even got engaged via post it note! (He put the first note on the front cover of my planner and the second on the date!)
Other tidbits and thoughts:
The traditional color of the first year anniversary is yellow or gold.
Share with us some of your ideas for 1st anniversary gifts in the comments section below.