# My first year wedding anniversary approaches. What should I buy as a present? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938 "2008-08-05T17:14:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/1 "2008-08-05T17:14:37Z")
Well, I suppose I should say "our’ first year anniversary. Anyway…I’ve a limit of $200. Thoughts? If I matters, my wife is 21 and I am 38. Also, I love her so much that merely thinking about her makes me incapable of coining metaphors. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/2 "2008-08-05T17:18:29Z")
For their first anniversary, I gave some friends a book on origami. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/3 "2008-08-05T17:29:52Z")
The traditional first anniversary gift is paper. Have you framed your marriage license? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/4 "2008-08-05T17:41:25Z")
For our first few anniversaries, my Wife and I shoped together for a piece of art. It’s nice, something that we can display that remindes us of our bond. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/5 "2008-08-05T17:46:15Z")
Definately paper is the tradition. How you interpret paper is up to you - a nice print? (does she like art)? Best present a friend gave me was a book of photographs of a trip we’d taken together - she’s a designer, which helps, so she’d laid the images out in coffee table book style and got them printed out onto nice cartridge paper and professionally bound into a hardback, You could do that with photos of your first year together. ---
**Author:** ![Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/41988e/32.png) [@Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dazzling_White_Diamonds)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/6 "2008-08-05T18:00:06Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] For their first anniversary, I gave some friends a book on origami. [/QUOTE] I would have loved something like that! Beautiful idea. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/7 "2008-08-05T18:13:44Z")
[QUOTE=SanVito] Best present a friend gave me was a book of photographs of a trip we’d taken together - she’s a designer, which helps, so she’d laid the images out in coffee table book style and got them printed out onto nice cartridge paper and professionally bound into a hardback, You could do that with photos of your first year together. [/QUOTE] In fact, with new online printing services (ie, MyPublisher, Picaboo, etc) just just upload and arrange your photos… theydeal with printing and binding. It’s kind of fun, actually, and wouldn’t cost nearly $200 - even the leather binding option is only $50 for the first 20 pages. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/8 "2008-08-05T18:35:30Z")
No offense to anyone in this thread, but I think the whole “first anniversary is paper, second anniversary is (whatever it is, rubber?), etc.” thing is a terrible idea that should be completely abandoned. Treat it like a birthday or Christmas – get her something that you think she’ll like. Jewelry, iPod, whatever. Err on the side of girly and romantic if you have a choice between two things, but if you know she’s been dying for a new weedwhacker, get her that. It’s way more romantic to give a thoughtful gift than a traditional one. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/9 "2008-08-05T18:50:54Z")
Try something from Victoria’s Secret; the gift that keeps on giving. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/10 "2008-08-05T19:12:20Z")
Tickets to some show she’d like to see would count as paper. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/11 "2008-08-05T19:21:13Z")
Yep, first anniversary is paper. Take it from an old married guy - vacuum cleaner bags aren’t the best choice. Turns out wives have no sense of humor on anniversaries! ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/12 "2008-08-05T19:34:51Z")
[QUOTE=chacoguy420] Try something from Victoria’s Secret; the gift that keeps on giving. 😃 [/QUOTE] Yeah, I was going to suggest lingerie. You get to enjoy the view, and she gets to enjoy feeling sexy. What you do after she puts it on is up to you, though 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/13 "2008-08-05T20:35:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Yeah, I was going to suggest lingerie. You get to enjoy the view, and she gets to enjoy feeling sexy. Eek, I don’t know why people always suggest this, it’s a minefield for most women. Unless you know your wife’s preferences (and dimensions) _extremely_ well I wouldn’t go there. Lingerie bought by others is invariably too big/too small… too slutty/not slutty enough… uncomfortable/itchy/the wrong kind of fabric… not flattering… hard to get on/hard to get off… giggle inducing… end result = the opposite of sexy. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/14 "2008-08-05T20:38:34Z")
My wife gave me a bowling ball for our first anniversary, but that probably doesn’t help you much. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/15 "2008-08-05T20:43:45Z")
> [@](#): > > For their first anniversary, I gave some friends a book on origami. For our first anniversary, I folded an origami Bride and Groom and framed it. Pepper Mill loved it – she still has it. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/16 "2008-08-05T20:52:33Z")
[QUOTE=Hello Again] Lingerie bought by others is invariably too big/too small… too slutty/not slutty enough… uncomfortable/itchy/the wrong kind of fabric… not flattering… hard to get on/hard to get off… giggle inducing… end result = the opposite of sexy. [/QUOTE] What are you wearing? A camisole isn’t something that is hard to shop for. If you’re going for the whole bra/panties/garters/corset/rabbit ears ensemble, maybe you’ll have problems. Just go for something simple. Like handcuffs 😉 Besides, I know what I like, but sometimes I want my husband to pick something out. It’s a gift for both of us, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/17 "2008-08-05T21:02:10Z")
My experience parallels this thread: > **[Help Me Help My Wife Buy a Bra](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=478304)** > > Okay, well, here’s the deal. My wife hates shopping. My wife will not “consult” an expert herself. My wife wants a more comfortable bra. She knows my interest in breasts and has tasked me with finding out how to go about getting a more comfortable... in which posters describe as “virtually impossible” the idea that a man could walk into bra shop and select anything resembling a well-fitting bra for his woman. Yes, a camisol is easy to fit – but… Hint, hint, most men don’t think of a camisol (which is basically like a lightweight silky tank top) as “sexy lingerie.” They are thinking “merry widow.” Honestly, 90% of the lingerie gifts I have received over my 32 years of life have either been straight up horrifying or have induced roars of laughter which were not much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/18 "2008-08-05T21:37:12Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Well, I suppose I should say "our’ first year anniversary. Anyway…I’ve a limit of $200. Thoughts? If I matters, my wife is 21 and I am 38. Also, I love her so much that merely thinking about her makes me incapable of coining metaphors. [/QUOTE] Hey, if the “traditional” idea is paper, why not buy a tree? No, I’m not joking, or not completely. IF you do have a place to plant said little tree, how lovely for it to be there and keep growing with the two of you, particularly as this will be your first anniversary. Seriously. However, if, like me, utterly lacking in garden, hmm, out of luck there then. Paper \>\>\>\> parchment \>\>\>\> so buy her a goat? All righty, perhaps not. 🙂 I seem to recall one of the first lectures at library school remarking on the historical use of cannabis for paper making, so you could buy her a bit of … ach, all right, strike that one too. 😃 Cannot there be a split present of something “to keep” - jewellery or a special book or whatever, plus something marvellously silly and important only to the two of you, connected to some private joke. Oh, and I do rather tend to go along with the posters who say that buying lingerie is a bit of a minefield. Then again, even things that go slightly wrong can end up as a very very happy memory. 🙂 I’m sure you will choose well, and it all sounds very sweet. I wish you many many very happy years together. \ (on preview) Oh, and whatever else, there ought to be chocolate. Oh yes! ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/19 "2008-08-05T21:49:50Z")
[QUOTE=shiftless] Yep, first anniversary is paper. Take it from an old married guy - vacuum cleaner bags aren’t the best choice. Turns out wives have no sense of humor on anniversaries! [/QUOTE] One of my uncles actually did this. Well, no, he bought the vacuum cleaner for anniversary present or birthday. It _did_ make sense, really, as a sort of “ooh, if we live carefully, and work hard, (i.e. the uncle, not the damn useless aunt) we can gradually buy improvements for our household, and isn’t that great?” It made complete sense, so it was wrong of me to laugh on hearing about it a generation and a half later, as a snarky young teenager. (Am 47 now, so it \*was \*a while ago). I do rather like the vacuum cleaner bags idea, though. 🙂 I trust there was some good dinner or something else involved, given that you survived to tell the tale, **shiftless**? Extra thought - if anyone ought to be shopping in the lingerie department, ought it not to be the one who is shiftless? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938/20 "2008-08-05T22:10:49Z")
I got Mr. Neville a Tivo for our first anniversary. We’re not very romantic or into traditional anniversary-type gifts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-year-wedding-anniversary-approaches-what-should-i-buy-as-a-present/458938.md?page=2)