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Readers Respond: First Anniversary Suggestions
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From the article: Suggestions for 1st Anniversary Gifts

Many folks hit a wall when it comes to being creative in what to give their spouses on their first wedding anniversary. Share your successful gift suggestions and ideas for how to make your first anniversary an anniversary to remember throughout your marriage. Share Your Ideas

First anniversary gift of paper...

I am going to get my hubby a set of boudoir pics!
—Guest LB

1st Anniversary gift

I gave my husband a subscription to the New York Times newspaper for a year.
—thisis1qtpie

First anniversary gift.

I highly do not recommend giving clocks for anniversary gifts, or any other gift for that matter. From an Eastern perspective, you do not gift a clock. If you do, then it means the receiver will die early. It is a bad omen. Watches are different, I believe.
—Guest Irman

First Wedding Anniversary Gift

My daughter's first wedding anniversary is coming up and she is the one who told me that the first wedding anniversary gift is traditionally "paper" - never knew it - so I have been thinking.... would love to give them an air ticket since they never had a honeymoon but looking at the listed gifts, I thought I'd share my ideas too: - The Bible or a Holy Book or a classic like Paradise Lost - Paradise Regained (antique looking) - Paper Lanterns - the Chinese/Japanese lanterns of yore - pretty kitchen tissues, paper napkins - cup - cake holders, cake wrappers.... - pretty wine bags - pretty cardboard boxes - make them - Name a star and get a certificate - telephone/address book - pretty - pretty flowers made of paper from craft stores - bindis which Indian women wear on the forehead - you get the most beautiful and amazing designs stuck on paper in the Indian stores.
—Guest Elizabeth

Collage

I took a stack of magazines and just went through and cut out all of the words or phrases that had some importance to my husband and I. Then I took a sheet of art paper, made it colorful with colored pencils, and glued the words and phrases from the magazine onto the paper. Then I had it framed. He absolutely loved it.
—Guest Amethyst Geiger

Photobook

I made my husband a photobook of pics from our first year, and we each wrote a love letter to each other.
—Guest Janelle G.

Calligraphy Marriage Vows or..

A memorable paper gift idea for traditional first year wedding anniversary present is personalized calligraphy! Other choices can be a decorated wedding certificate, wedding song, a poem, or scripture. It can be combined with photography from your wedding, or hand decorated with a border design. A beautiful calligraphy piece to frame and put in your bedroom is a unique and memorable gift idea that will always be treasured.
—BeautifulCalligraphy

Journal

For the traditional paper gift, my idea is to buy a journal and then each year on our anniversary, we can write down how we celebrated and include a picture of us. Then we can look back and remember what we did and share it with our kids and grandkids.
—Guest Liz D

History Book

I'm all about celebrating in a clever take on the traditional way. My first anniversary is fast approaching (Oct 18, 2009) and I wanted to think of something meaningful that would have a paper theme. Over the course of our relationship, my husband & I have written several letters & countless e-mails/chats, all of which we have saved. I wanted to put them in a book, but wasn't sure how to 'publish' it so it looked professional. I found a great website called lulu.com - and my dream came true! I can't wait to present my husband with something that represents our rich history together. I so appreciate his communication skills with me and his willingness to let me talk about whatever comes to mind. I also hand-painted a travel mug for him, complete with my unartistic rendering of his rank (he's in the Air Force) and the words "I Love My Airman". I can't wait to see his face when he opens his gifts!!! :)
—Guest Mrs. Gentry

Wedding Vows

My husband and I wrote our own vows for the wedding, so I decided to have them re-typed on to lambs skin and have them framed
—Guest T. Cornwell

1st year anniversary gift

A magazine subscription eg fishing magazine, health magazine. I got my husband a subscription to a trout fishing magazine and he was delighted.
—Guest Anne

First Anniversary

We gave a one year subscription to a local newspaper to one of our children on their first wedding anniversary.
—Guest Sharon Kloepfer

Modern 1st year Clock Gift

I bought my wife a watch. Stainless steel. On the back I had inscribed "minute after minute, I love you more!"
—ChadnAngela

Dancing

For my anniversary, I gave her a can of my body spray to always remember me, a home made card, and we slow danced for over an hour. This is almost always a perfect gift.
—Guest Rob

Our First Anniversary

Our first anniversary we have decided to choose a special nick knack and hold a tradition of choosing a new one every year. We chose the cake topper and we feel this will be a wonderful tradition to do together and show a new one for every year.
—mandik28