Our first wedding anniversary is this Sunday. I feel like I blinked and the year passed by. It was an incredible year. I’ll be posting more about that next week in a super mushy, lovey-dovey post. Today I want to post about fun first anniversary gift ideas if you’re sticking to the traditional gift recommendations.
Josh and I are big on celebrations. We love holidays and milestones and going a little overboard with gifts. When we were broke in college it involved a billion handmade things. (Our wedding was like 99% DIY.) Now that we have jobs it’s fun to browse Etsy, spot something cool, and think, “Hey I can actually buy that!” We’re not the kind of couple that buys a new TV and calls it our anniversary gift. There is nothing wrong with that, but it’s just not us. We use holidays and special occasions to get each other personal things.
When Josh and I were engaged I told him that I’d love to follow the traditional wedding anniversary gift list. I have plenty of other holidays to get bags and Minion merchandise. I thought this would be a fun challenge for us to express our love and appreciation to each other with a specific theme in mind.
The first wedding anniversary present is paper.
I don’t know about you but the last thing I want to give Josh for our one year anniversary is some monogrammed stationary. (And this is coming from a person that LOVES stationary.) After scouring the internet I found some great gift ideas that stay true to the theme of paper while being creative, fun, and sentimental. I hope you find this useful if you’re looking for first anniversary gifts.
5 creative paper gift ideas for your first wedding anniversary:
1. Tickets
Tickets are printed on paper and are a great gift because you can customize them for your budget. Whether it’s a movie ticket, a concert ticket, an event ticket, or tickets to a bed and breakfast a few hours away you’re giving the gift of a shared experience.
2. Framed photos (From a surprise photo shoot!)
This is probably because I grew up never really getting professional photos taken, but since Josh and I have started our life together I’ve wanted to document it all with professional photos. We’ve had engagement photos, wedding photos, newlyweds in Nebraska photos (up above), Christmas photos, and soon we’ll be having one year photos. (He just doesn’t know it yet!)
While things like wedding photography services can cost a fortune, a lot of local photographers offer very affordable prices for an hour photo shoot around town. $50-$100 can get you 10 professional images that you’ll cherish for a lifetime and can decorate your home with. Add on another $50 for taking the photos to a store to print and picking up some frames and you’ll have a shared memory and wonderful keepsakes.
 (Source)
3. Married, Honeymoon, Live Map
I love all the variations I’ve seen of this online,  If your time together has involved long distance, lots of moving or travel I feel like this is a great way to highlight your journey. This DIY gift is incredibly sentimental but won’t take you hours with a glue gun or break the bank if you’re on a budget. Win!
(Source)
4. Our Adventure Book
Up is one of my all time favorite movies. I saw it with my dad and was bawling in the theater when they did the flashback scene with the adventure book. I love love. I also love that there is an Etsy store that actually makes these for you to customize with your own adventures. This is a great gift that you can start filling in with wedding, honeymoon, and day-to-day life pictures throughout your first year as a married couple and then add to it as each year passes. In your golden years you’ll be able to flip through and see pictures of babies, newspaper clippings, and some hilariously out of date fashion trends. If I didn’t feel like my blog was already our adventure book I would be all over this idea.
 (Source)
5. Custom wedding silhouette
I am all about classic gifts. To me this is a perfect first anniversary gift because it acknowledges the history and tradition of marriage while making it customized and personal for the couple. I adore silhouettes and knew as soon as I saw this that this was going to be Josh’s anniversary gift. The Etsy seller is so talented and helpful with tips on selecting a photo that can be turned into a silhouette easily. (Kissing photos mash the faces up too much for a successful silhouette.) She shipped speedy quick and I was SO happy with the result. I can’t wait to show you guys how our picture turned out once Josh opens it. I already made him swear not to read this blog post until after the weekend.
Questions of the Day: If you’re married what did you get/give for a 1st wedding anniversary present? What are some creative paper gift ideas that you’ve heard of?
I love the idea of getting tickets to somewhere! It fits the gift rules and gives you and experience to share.
Exactly! My favorite gifts are ones that are experiences we can share together!
Love these ideas! Can’t wait to see how your photos turn out!
I’m so excited! I hope he loves it!
I really like the map idea!
I think it’s so cute! I love the idea of fun DIY gifts!
These are all such great ideas! I esp love tickets, like airline or sporting events 🙂 haha
Airline tickets would be amazing!!
I’m excited to see how it turned out!! I’m sure it is awesome!
I really hope he likes it! I hope you’re having fun in Iowa!
Love these! Our first will be in October so I know I’ll be using this!! I love that “married, honeymoon, live” map because we’ve been in so many places! And I also love the tickets because he is a sports fanatic and we love concerts, so that’s pretty perfect too. Thanks!
A sports game would be so fun! Josh and I just saw a College World Series game and had the best time!
What amazing ideas! I would have never thought of tickets! Can’t wait to see the silhouette!!!
I’m so excited for him to see the silhouette! I hope he loves it!
Love these! They are so creative. I especially love the adventure book and the map frame. I will have to keep these in mind, especially for friends who got married last year who I am very close too.
I think the adventure book is so sweet. Up is one of the best movies!
The ticket gift idea is great because of the versatility of events you could attend. I love it! Boudoir photo shoots were huge when I was married in 2008 and also a fun little surprise for the hubs. It’s great finding modern alternatives to traditional anniversary presents.
Brilliant post! Thanks for the inspirations. I love the ticket ideas. When we are not yet married we used to loved watching movie together and I kept some of the tickets especially during our first date. Super mushy but I love it.
Paper gift ideas can’t be any better than these. Each item can prove to be very special for couples. Live maps and adventure books are very creative from my viewpoint. These are affordable too. Really the items to be with on the first milestone of your long journey. Many thanks for this wonderful post!
My sister’s husband got her a gift certificate for an anniversary sundial that sits on her window sill and makes rainbows in the room when the sun shines. When she had it made she had a special date line added that the sundial shadow follows on their anniversary each year, and each summer we all watch the shadow as it gets closer and closer to their special day. I am babysitting her kids this morning and they are playing in the rainbows on the floor made by the little sundial in the family room window, and I think it was a wonderful gift, something that has become an important part of their home and family life together!
Great ideas. My sister in law receive a sketch of her wedding dress and his suit. It was so romantic. I like gifts that are personal and intimate.
To add to the ticket idea.
I bought tickets for our anniversary, printed a second set of tickets and folded them Origami style for my wife to “unwrap”.
The event was the Swan Lake ballet and I folded them into a family of swans. She loved it.
Sounds so creative! Your wife is a happy woman 🙂
Love the adventure book. It is no longer available. Thought I finally found something
So sorry girl, here’s one! http://amzn.to/2cnFnbx
It’s my first wedding anniversary on Sunday 30th October we got married at the westmead hotel and going there for our day and night together with my husband Robert Harris and me Mrs Harris
Aww Happy Anniversary!!!
I’ve been searching for just the right gift. I love the married/honeymoon/live map idea! Yay! Now I can make something cool for my husband on our 1st anniversary. Thank you!
My husband got me a special gift certificate (paper) for a glass anniversary sundial (a cool clock that uses the sun) and did both traditional and modern 1st anniversary gifts in one! I thought he was pretty clever doing that, but the sundial was wonderful – it is made of glass and sits on the windowsill indoors in our family room, and it makes beautiful rainbows in the room whenever the sun shines. It also has a personalized date line that the time shadow follows on our anniversary day each year. I don’t remember what it’s called but you can find it online with a search. I thought it was a brilliant idea!