It’s another installment of wedding anniversary gift ideas! Today I’m sharing 1st wedding anniversary gift ideas. The traditional gift theme for the first wedding anniversary is paper. The modern gift theme is clocks. But, as usual, I’m only going to cover the traditional gifts. Clocks are kind of self-explanatory anyway.
1st Wedding Anniversary Paper Gift Ideas
TICKETS
Any kind of ticket will do– airline, concert, sports event, museum, musical, etc.
For our first wedding anniversary, I gave Brad (and myself) Zac Brown Band concert tickets. It’s one of Brad’s favorite bands, and the concert was a couple weeks after our anniversary so it worked out perfectly. I even saved our tickets and framed them to always remember the occasion. When you’re ordering tickets, just make sure to order the paper version of tickets– it’s not really a paper gift if you get the paperless tickets. Know what I mean?
Got a big budget? Celebrate your first anniversary by jetting off with airline tickets. And it doesn’t have to be a surprise. You and your husband/wife can plan it out. So if you want to have at least one surprise, give him/her another paper gift mentioned in this post.
ART PRINTS
Brad gave me an Indiana print (where we both grew up and currently live) I’d been coveting for our one year anniversary gift. I framed and hung it in our guest bathroom.
There are tons of sentimental and customizable art prints out there.
Here are some of my favorites:
custom wedding bouquet painting
OR you can save this idea for your 4th wedding anniversary (traditional gift is fruit or flowers)
custom family portrait illustration
Star Wars custom family portrait
This artist also does custom wedding day, superhero, and movie/book (Harry Potter, Ghostbusters, etc.) portraits. I’ve worked with her before, and she’s wonderful. Tell her Chelsea from Two Twenty One sent you!
PAPER PRODUCTS
(stationery, business cards, etc.)
This is quite the obvious paper product gift idea. There’s tons of pretty stationery out there for the ladies. And there’s tons of manly stationery out there for guys.
PHOTO BOOKS
Surprise your partner with a custom photo book. The topic of your photo book is up to you– honeymoon, first year of marriage, etc. There are tons of online photo book publishers out there where you upload all the photos you’d like to use and select the theme and layout of the book. Check out Mixbook. And you could even make a photo book with Instagram photos (here or here). This is a super sweet and thoughtful gift idea because it’ll show that you took the time to put the book together.
JOURNALS/BOOKS
There are some fun journals out there (other than your typical journal), like Line a Day and the Christmas Memories book. I’m not gonna lie– it’d be ridiculously romantic and Noah-from-The-Notebook-esque if you secretly did a Line a Day journal for your love for the first year of your marriage– writing down things you did together or something sweet about him/her. I’m pretty sure I would’ve cried if my husband did that for me, and I’m not a big cryer.
CALENDARS
Calendars are paper, right? From wall calendars to custom desktop Instagram photo calendars, you can’t go wrong. And you know what would be awesome? Giving your husband/wife a calendar with date(s) circled and then handing him/her tickets. Instant brownie points are sure to be awarded.
OTHER PAPER ANNIVERSARY IDEAS
book • autograph • poster • magazine subscription • puzzle • paper mache • paper flowers • star map • framed wedding vow • framed love letter • personalized playing cards • date night coupons
I hope you found these gift ideas to be helpful in planning your 1st wedding anniversary gift! But keep in mind, these are also great gift ideas for any occasion.
Happy anniversary to you and yours!
Other anniversary gift ideas:
2nd wedding anniversary
3rd wedding anniversary
4th wedding anniversary
Caitlin says
I LOVE the custom bouquet painting. I may have to email it to my husband with a *HINT HINT* subject line. He loves getting those emails haha.
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Do iiiiiiiit. I used to send Brad engagement rings. I’m subtle like that.
Cheryl @ The Creative Me and My McG says
great ideas…we just celebrated our 27th anniversary last weekend (which calls for sculpture as a gift) My hubby researched this apparently..and bought me a lovely sculpture of a rose..my favourite flower…
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Aw, that’s so sweet and thoughtful of him! Happy 27th anniversary!
Meghan says
I love all your ideas! I so love the art prints of the house… Just wish it wasn’t so pricey! I wanted to get them for both our parents for Christmas but it’s a little out of our price range!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Aren’t they adorable? There are cheaper options on Etsy. Do a search. You should be able to find some that are more in your price range.
Shayna says
Love these ideas!!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Me too! I want to celebrate my first anniversary again. 🙂
Molly says
Love your posts, Chelsea! We just celebrated 1 year and each got each other a puzzle!! I personalized his with a pic from our wedding while his was from Target. 🙂 But then he scored high with two fun prints for my new home office. I also got him a magazine subscription. We’re loving this themed anniversary thing. Thanks for your ideas!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Thanks, Molly! Aw, that’s so sweet. I think the anniversary themes are a great idea. They especially help the guys out because there’s some sort of guideline.
Caitlin @ Desert Domicile says
Great gift ideas! Love how you think outside of the box, too! Never would have thought of tickets for a paper gift!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Thanks, lady! I’m not gonna lie, I patted myself on the back when I thought up the ticket idea.
Ann says
I was curious if the Indiana art print was the 8×10 or the 5×7. I couldn’t really determine the scale of it from your bathroom pictures. I’m also from Indiana and still currently live there and am thinking of getting something from that Etsy shop.
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
The Indiana print is an 8×10. 🙂
Michelle | Birds of Berwick says
These are great ideas and the timing couldn’t be more perfect – We celebrate our 1st Anniversary on Sunday! I really wish I knew about that Line a Day book last year! How wonderful would it be to look back on that in 5 years! We’re going away for the weekend and keeping our gifts at paper and under $25. I’ll post about what we come up with next week, but I can’t wait to get one of those house portraits for Christmas or for next year!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Happy Anniversary! Isn’t the One Line a Day book a good idea? I think it’d be something sweet to do for a baby’s first year.
Lisa says
Thanks so much for featuring my work! xo
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
No problem! I love your shop!
Andrea says
I love these ideas. Would canvas count as paper?
Roshi says
I made a Calendar for our first Anniversary. For each month I put a photo of the two of us at an occasion that was held in the month. He loved the paper gift.
Regina says
Love these ideas! One thing to keep in mind about photo books and line a day books – they take a LOT OF TIME. Take a look at http://www.HeartfeltBooks.com as you can select questions to answer about your relationship and they publish the answers in a beautiful, hardbound book.
Lauren says
Love these ideas! To add to the list, check out JustPaperRoses.com for paper flowers. Awesome concept.
Bonnie says
Several years ago for our first anniversary, my husband gave me a paper gift certificate for a special anniversary rainbow sundial (a cool clock that uses the sun) that he found online. I thought it was a really clever gift – he did both traditional and modern gift suggestions in one!