More Ways to Celebrate Your Anniversary
10. Along similar lines, one couple doesn’t celebrate their birthdays. It doesn’t take work to celebrate a birthday, but marriage takes work so they throw a much bigger celebration for their anniversary.
11a. From one friend: “Every year on our anniversary my husband recaps our year. The good, the bad, the growth, the yucky stuff, the changes, the blessings, the sacrifices, and much more. And then we just marvel at what God has done, is doing, and how He’s using us. It’s a great way to have an anniversary conversation!”
11b. Another couple does a variation on this idea. They write down similar responses to the above from #11a in the same journal every year. They refer back to it whenever they want.
11c. And another couple: “For the first few years we started a tradition of going away for the night. We’d go to a small inn with no tv and barely any phone service. We also had a book that we’d write in. We’d list the things we did the past year, things we wanted to do in the next year and the next 5 years. We’d look back through and see if we’d accomplished the things we’d set out to do the year before. It really helped us look forward, appreciate the past, and plan for a stable future that we both wanted.”
11d. And yet another: Every year we have a tradition of best, worst, silly, frilly, and next. Basically it’s each person’s recap of the year.
- Best is the best thing that happened that year, worst is what was most challenging.
- Silly is something that cracked you up. Frilly is what God is teaching you.
- Next is one way you would feel loved in the next year.
12. “We use the opportunity to celebrate the “birthday” of our family. We do a full family celebration night with cake and everything. Then we schedule a date night on a different evening and usually go somewhere fun in town.”
13. One friend submitted an idea from his parents. Every year on their anniversary, his parents eat at nice restaurant they have never eaten at. So they have been to over 30 different restaurants in their home city to celebrate their big day!
14. One couple goes away for a 4-day weekend over their anniversary every year. They have great dinners, a massage at the spa, and time relaxing on the beach. They design it so they have time to talk, share, and remember why they fell in love in the first place….and fall in love all over again. “Getting away is always appreciated and good for our relationship!”
15. From one couple in Dallas: “Every year we visit a restaurant that was featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.” The first year we stayed local, but now we travel cool places to celebrate at another Diner, Drive-in, or Dive!”
16. Another personal favorite. One friend said, “We did a “heritage tour” for our 20th. We went back to visit where we first met and had dinner where we had our first date. We visited our first apartment and ended with a visit to the jewelry store where we bought our wedding and moissanite rings. Our salesman still worked there and he reset my diamond into a new setting.”
17. “We set goals separately and then share them. Usually we set three personal goals for the year and three couple goals. We try and getaway somewhere, even if it’s one night.”
18. “We celebrate our engagement, not our anniversary. On our engagement date, we go back to the Whataburger where my fiancé proposed. Now we take our children along with us! Its fun for us to remember this moment from the table we sat at and the parking spot we were in. He had planned to ask at fireworks that evening but couldn’t wait.”
Side Note From Scott: I love the way this couple involves their children. When I first read this I laughed. Only in Texas would someone propose at a Whataburger! But then I was convicted—he was so excited to propose that he couldn’t wait until they left the restaurant! Come on!! That’s the kind of proposal I’m talking about!
19. Two sets of couples shared a similar idea. They center their gifts around the anniversary themes (i.e. paper, cotton, etc.), so it takes a little creativity! They don’t spend a lot on the gifts though so they can invest more in a weekend getaway together. Here are a few examples they shared.
- The first anniversary is paper so they had their song printed on nice paper and framed.
- The next year was linen so they went out and bought new sheets.
- One year was leather, so she got him a new watch (with a leather strap) and he got her a leather purse.
