Relationships Articles

Free 50th anniversary speeches are all over the web promising such spectacular audience responses you almost wonder if you would be able to win the next presidential election. The one main drawback is that they are not personal to you and your guests.

To make your speech worth the occasion you need to gather as much information about your anniversary couple as you can. Where and when they met are always great starters to any speech, was there a great chat up line or funny story, what was the headline in the local or national paper? Paint a picture of the young people they were to interest your younger guests and a chance for your older guests to reminisce. If you have the opportunity to have a slide show to accompany your speech or after you will be able to show some great photographs to add to your story, because that is what your speech should be, the telling of their romantic story, their lives together and the fun they have had. This is a celebration and fun is what it is about.

Talk about the fun and love they share, their hobbies that they enjoy together and the support they have for each other. Ask family and friends for anecdotes that you can share during your speech.

Talk about how they have shown you what a successful marriage is; falling in love with the same person many times, enjoying each other and growing as a couple, truly celebrating every day of their wonderful journey.

If their journey has meant that they have overcome the odds and it is appropriate to mention it then this is an important part of their lives together and shows how strong they are as a couple and the commitment they have for each other and their family.

You couldn’t have a 50th anniversary speech without mentioning the family and friends that have been part of their journey and hopefully most of them will be with you to help celebrate, having seen lots of anniversary speeches don’t list every single detail and dates of when they moved to a particular house, your speech should be a glimpse at their lives and the successes that they have had.

Speeches start with words of pride and pleasure at being asked to toast the anniversary couple and always end with lets raise our glasses and congratulate Mr and Mrs for 50 great years so far and the many more to come.

Only four months into our marriage, it’s still not too soon for me to consider anniversary presents for my lovely wife. Roses are just too predictable, and I already gave them to her for the wedding, so being someone who plans everything, I’m starting to think about any possible great gifts.

Every year the same question comes into play another year, another question what to give as an Anniversary gift, seems that at this point in our relationship, the free calender I got at work mentions that a relationship of our length merits clocks. In younger times a traditionalist would have offered paper. Well, being at traditionalist at heart, a paper clock would be appropriate or maybe a pad of paper clocks.

But what about next year? China? Cotton? Leather? The list goes on and on. If you talk to florists they would be the first ones to tell you that nothing says “happy anniversary” like a dozen long stem roses, that no doubt, cost them pennies to your $150.

There are no wedding gifts listed for anniversaries between the fifteenth and the twentieth. Why not? What makes a good 18th anniversary gift? By that time, the magic of marriage has faded quite a bit, leaving you with the dreaded “practical gift” as the most likely choice.

The “practical gift” is one of those gifts where you are sort of embarrassed that you took the time to wrap up. Dust mop heads and 75 watt light bulbs don’t inspire the sort of romantic embrace as a diamond ring. They do, however let your wife know that you know what she really needs, even if she was about to run to the store and get it herself.

A much more economical choice for an anniversary gift is making a batch of “love coupons.” Grab some kind of paper and create coupons good for a massage or household chore to be done by you without grumbling, redeemable any time. While still practical, this homemade gift proves that you put enough though and time in to show that you really care.

I hope this has given you a couple of ideas of what to do for your sweetheart. I guess the sky’s the limit for me, but in the end I think I know what sort of anniversary gifts my wife will be getting.

Marriage is wonderful and a bit complicated. It is a serious commitment between two individuals. That commitment should be remembered no matter how long you have been together for a long time. It is a promise that the couple made in front of witnesses, not just on the wedding day but for the days and years beyond. It is a commitment that makes two people willing to grow old together no matter what the circumstances.

Being married is not that easy. The sweet, rough, pain and happy moment that you both have been through together and your marriage bond still going strong from year to year is something for both of you to be proud of.

And this year, do something different to celebrate your wedding anniversary from the previous year.

Go for vacation

It such a long time you both have never gone for a vacation. Take a break. Apply for a week’s leave. Sit down together and discuss where to go. But, please, no fighting over the decision of the place to go. Think of a place that you both like to go. List down of all the places in a piece of paper and don’t forget about the budget. Going for a vacation is not meant to be broke after coming back from the vacation. The kids? What about the kids? There are two solutions. Whether you leave them behind with someone you trust, such as your parents or your in-laws or you take them along. But, beware. You both might be very tired after the vacation with the kids.

Do fun activities together

Is there an activity that you both love doing it together but don’t have the time? Activity such as, cycling, hiking, camping, riding on a hot air balloon, boating, riding horses or even going to movie together. If yes, this is the time. Take a leave and off you go, please. You will realize there is so much of missing moments between both of you.

Dine out or specially cook

If you both can’t take leave, celebrate it romantically with candle light dinner either at your favorite restaurant or at home. If you are to celebrate at home, cook something special. Talking about cooking something special, wife do you still remember what was your 1st cooking after you got married? An over cooked meal with a burned fish? Perhaps you can still cook the dish but give it a slight better cooking this time. Ask your husband, “Do you still remember my 1st cooking for you?” Let’s hear his answer then. The situation might also be vice versa, where the husband was the one who cooked 1st time after got married.

If you choose to have outside dinner, I would suggest that you both go to the first dining restaurant that you went for your dating last time. It will bring back nostalgia to both of you.

Drop a special note

On the day of the anniversary, husband, leave a note on the dressing table or on the bath room mirror or stick it at the refrigerator before you go to work. A simple note saying that, “Honey, I love you. Thanks for being me after all these years.” Well, you can compose a better love notes than I am. If you find hard to compose one, get a book on love notes from amazon.com or barnesandnobles.com. Or, take a lyric from a love song that you both enjoy listening.

Traditional gifts

Husband, if you are planning to give a traditional gift for your wife such as flowers, please put an add-on to it. You can combine flowers with chocolate; flowers with keepsake box; flowers with ticket to movie show; flowers with aromatherapy massage oil or flowers with jewelry. Wife, if you are planning to give a gift for your husband, perhaps you can get him a set of toiletries of his favorite designer fragrances, a new shirt with his favorite color, tickets to his favorite sports event or gifts that are related to his hobby. Not another socks, ties, undergarment please.

Seeds of Love

Husband/wife, your spouse enjoys gardening. Choose few packets of vegetables seeds or flower seeds of her/his favorite selection and wrap it in a pot where the plant going to be plant. Write down a note saying that “Let’s plant together our Seeds of Love and let our love grow each minute, each day, each week, each month and years”. (Our note is just an example. You can compose a better one that ours.) And, do plant the seeds together. Choose a special moment for both of you to plant it.

Create “Do You Still Remember This Moment?” Scrapbook

Do you have a memorable photo apart from your wedding photo? A long time vacation photo, a birthday photo, any photo which the event was a memorable one. Pick as much photos as you can and start doing your “Do You Still Remember This Moment?” scrapbook. With this type of creative memory scrapbooks, memories come back to life when the books are viewed. Pictures make more sense as they are paired with words or laid out in an organized fashion. Reliving moments preserved in the scrapbooks could be a good way to keep family ties and strengthen bonds. Additionally, well kept books could serve as heirlooms that would keep a family’s legacy throughout the coming generations.

The renewal of vows

The renewal of vows is a ceremony where a couple relives their commitment and vows to reaffirm their love and devotion to one another. The couple can set a date that will coincide with the date they celebrated their original wedding. Many couples prefer to renew their vows on the exact date of the 10th, 20th, 25th, or 50th anniversary of their wedding. These are significant dates that they cherish, despite the trials in life as married couples. It is also important and significant to many couples who wish to celebrate their marriage with their families and friends. This celebration is very significant to many couples because they would once again affirm their commitment be unified with love.

Time is a luxury that people do not have. There are things that are beyond the control of people that are unforeseen which happen in the blink of an eye. The best thing to do is spend quality time together no matter how short or long, making each other feel loved and special at all times, even though if it is not yet your anniversary day to celebrate.

Anniversary

Congratulations on reaching another year of marriage together. Today, each new year is becoming more and more rare with the high divorce rate and if you have made it this far it must mean that you have a successful marriage that deserves to be celebrated. So let’s take a look at what gift you can buy your loved one to show them how much you appreciate them.

How to Announce Your Wedding Anniversary

But wait, before we do that, let’s think about how we are going to tell everyone about this wonderful occasion. Today, whether you are twenty or seventy, you realize that more and more is going on online and this is also a great way to announce your wedding anniversary. Set up a web page that tells your story, plays your music and has pictures of your life together.

This doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive - simply go to the Events listed website and sign up for a free account and easily publish your own wedding anniversary announcement online. Its your own web page, no design skills needed.

Traditional and Modern Wedding Anniversary Gifts

Ok, so where were we? Oh yes, deciding on wedding anniversary gifts for your loved one. Well, in the past there were always the traditional wedding anniversary gift ideas but today you now have a choice - you can either choose to go for a traditional gift or choose from the modern gift idea. Here are some suggestions:

-First wedding anniversary: Traditional gift - Paper; Modern Gift - Clocks.

-5th wedding anniversary: Traditional gift - Wood; Modern Gift - Silverware.

-10th Wedding anniversary: Traditional gift - Tin or aluminum; Modern Gift - Diamond jewelery.

-15th Wedding anniversary: Traditional gift - Crystal; Modern Gift - Watches.

-20th Wedding anniversary: Traditional gift - China; Modern Gift - Platinum.

-25h wedding anniversary: Traditional and Modern gift - Silver.

-30th Wedding anniversary: Traditional gift - Pearl; Modern Gift - Diamond.

35th Wedding anniversary: traditional gift - Coral; Modern Gift - Jade.

-40th Wedding anniversary: Traditional and modern gift - Ruby.

-45th Wedding anniversary: Traditional and modern gift - Sapphire.

-50th Wedding anniversary: Traditional and modern gift - Gold.

Have you noticed that the last few years of gift ideas are the same for both the traditional and modern? This is like your reward for being true through all these years - you deserve the best!

Wedding Anniversary Theme Parties

Street Lamp Shimmer: Romance under the street lamps (and candlelight). Hire some cheap street lamps, set out some softly glowing candles and play your favorite classical music in the background. If you want then you can also invite friends and family along to celebrate this with you, or even just make it a romantic party with just the two of you.

Prom Again: Did you and your spouse go to the prom together when you were younger? Then re-live those happy memories by having your prom again. Play the same music, have the same theme and you may even want to invite the same friends that were there on the night. Have a blast and think of all those happy memories.

Organizing a wedding anniversary theme party for someone else? Think about the couple you are organizing it for and what they like. You might think of an author’s tea party for those who love reading or a more adventurous party for those who are more active.

Whatever you choose to do, ensure that the day is truly romantic and memorable. Give your spouse a gift they will remember forever and share those beautiful moments together, and maybe with others.

After finding homemade anniversary gift ideas was a lacking resource online, I did some research. I found there were endless choices when it comes to homemade gift ideas around. However although there are a lot of ideas - not all are suitable as wedding anniversary gifts.

Why should you make your anniversary gift at home? A gift from the heart is always a good choice. Homemade gifts do not have to be overly complicated to make or tacky. Even if you lack skills in the craft area you can make a successful homemade anniversary gift.

After all - you were promised homemade anniversary gifts that you can actually make! I will share with you my two favorites. They are both easy to make and you most likely will have all the needed ingredients and bits and pieces at home.

My favorite homemade anniversary gifts are - yummy bath salts and love messages in a jar. Both come under the “gifts in a jar” category. They are my favorites because they are easy to make, require no particular special skills and usually everything you need - you already have!

My all time favorite is bath salts in a jar. Lets face it - who doesn’t love a gift of pampering? A trip to the spa isn’t always an option. Except for possibly the glycerin (which is an optional ingredient anyway) you more than likely have all the needed ingredients at home. Bath salts are a great anniversary gift idea as they can be adapted easily, to make a different “flavor” just use a different essential oil! You could make lavender bath salts, citrus bath salts or any other essential oil that you like.

A close second is love messages in a jar. This requires a bit of planning on your part. The idea is that you write up lots of romantic love messages (365 to be exact!) and put them in a jar of love. You don’t have to come up with all of them yourself, anniversary quotes can be used for some of them.

The most important thing with homemade anniversary gifts is - do them well. After you have made the effort of making them - don’t let yourself down with sloppy presentation! Giving gifts in a careless manner is what gives homemade gifts a bad name - don’t turn your efforts into tackiness!

Have fun with you homemade anniversary gift creating!

Personalized anniversary gifts really show your partner that you care about them. Everyone knows that anniversaries are one of the most important things to celebrate about. It signifies the strength of one’s relationship and it is only apt that one should give a present for this particular occasion. If you are wondering about what might be the perfect personalized anniversary gift for your loved ones, then you might want to consider custom figurines.

Custom figurines are becoming more and more popular today. Not only are they affordable, but they also bring about a certain unique taste that everyone will surely appreciate. There are numerous shops which will gladly come up with your own personalized anniversary gift. All you need to do is to give them your picture, preferably one in which the two of you are together and voila! They will have a miniature image of you in a cute figurine. Anyone would surely appreciate this personal anniversary gift because it will always remind them of the time you have spent and will still be spending together. This personalized anniversary gift would be a great item to mingle with your other decorations at home. Handcrafted with precision, these miniatures would surely delight anyone

Remember that it is best to give away some personalized anniversary gifts. It only shows that you value your relationship with your loved one and you cherish it with your life by spending time to actually think of one meaningful present that could please them. Try giving away a custom figurine to your loved one and see how a smile comes up on their faces.

One blissful year (hopefully) has passed since your memorable wedding day and perhaps even more memorable honeymoon! Your spouse is expecting a first anniversary gift. What should you get? You decide to consult a listing of traditional wedding anniversary gifts. You anxiously look for the traditional gift for a first wedding anniversary and notice it’s…paper?

Following are romantic paper gift ideas to help celebrate your first wedding anniversary:

• Find an original edition of your spouse’s daily newspaper from his or her date of birth or your from your wedding date.
• Write a romantic love letter.
• Buy a new book or an old edition of a book your spouse loves, or find a book you can cuddle up with in bed and read together.
• Find an old postcard from a place that’s meaningful for the two of you, such as from your honeymoon destination, where the proposal occurred, or where you first met - and get it framed.
• Purchase an adult board game to play it together.
• Purchase plane tickets for a vacation together!
• Make a personalized calendar with pictures of the two of you, marked with all the dates that are important to you.
• Decorate your home with Chinese paper lanterns.
• Buy drawings, pictures or prints for your home.
• Frame a photo of you or of the two of you together.
• Give a gift card to a favorite store or spa.
• Purchase tickets to a special event, such as a concert, sporting event, or theatre tickets.
• Get a subscription to a magazine of interest to both of you, such as something travel- or cooking-related.
• Purchase a year’s supply of gift wrapping paper or personalized note cards.
• Create a scrapbook of your first year together, your wedding, or one containing honeymoon memorabilia.

Use these paper gift ideas to find a unique way to celebrate your first wedding anniversary.

Milestone wedding anniversaries are often celebrated through gatherings with family and friends. Though it isn’t necessary, there are guidelines as to the types gifts given to the couple celebrating their anniversary. Whether you’re traditional or modern, there are many ideas with each type. Below you’ll find the types of gifts given with each milestone anniversary and ideas for those types.

5 years

Wood (Traditional) / Silverware (Modern)

Ideas for wooden items can include furniture, decorative signs or displays, clocks, coat racks, jewelry boxes or even art pieces. Many items are wood-trimmed or accented with wood. Wooden items can be hand-crafted, customized or personalized for a unique and heartfelt gift.

Silverware can refer to flatware or utensils, but also to gifts made of silver. For instance, jewelry, photo frames, candlesticks, coins, jewelry boxes or cases, and mirrors. There are a great number of elegant keepsakes with silver accents that make great gifts for couples celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary.

10 years

Tin, Aluminum (Traditional) / Diamond (Modern)

Many decorative items and keepsakes have tin or aluminum accents or trim. A few items that may contain tin or aluminum and make great gifts for married couples are clocks, fans, or even gift baskets that include tin or aluminum cans of coffee, food, etc.

Diamonds are most often found in jewelry like bracelets, rings, earrings and watches, but they can also be found in other keepsakes that make great gifts. Visit your local jewelry and diamond store for more ideas.

15 years

Crystal (Traditional) / Watches (Modern)

For the traditional gift, crystal is often found in jewelry, but can also be found in light fixtures, dishes, wind chimes and more.

For the modern gift, there are countless types and styles of watches that would make great gifts for a couple celebrating their fifteenth wedding anniversary.

20 years

China (Traditional) / Platinum (Modern)

The traditional version of this traditional gift would be china dishware. A creative interpretation would allow for an oriental gift basket, gift certificates for Chinese restaurants or markets, or Chinese herbs and teas.

There are a variety of jewelry items made from platinum (which is more precious than gold), like bracelets, rings, and earrings. The scientific element of platinum also plays a role in the art world with print-making, so a print could make a great gift for this anniversary, too.

25 years

Silver (Traditional) / Sterling Silver (Modern)

Silver is found in many, many items that make good gifts, such as jewelry, various collectibles, coins, musical instruments, kitchen utensils or cookware, and mirrors.

Sterling Silver is an alloy of silver and is used often in items able to be engraved, making them great gifts to personalize for the couple.

30 years

Pearl (Traditional) / Diamond (Modern)

Pearls are most often used in jewelry (and are also the birthstone of those born in June). There are also religious implications associated with the gemstone, as it is mentioned in several religious tomes. Therefore, religious items may also be suitable.

Diamonds, like pearls, are most often found in jewelry.

40 years

Ruby (Traditional) / Ruby (Modern)

Both traditional and modern gifts for this anniversary involve the gemstone ruby. Like others, it can be found often in jewelry, like pendants, bracelets and earrings. Rubies are also the gemstone of persons born in July, are associated with the Sun in astrology, and are very highly valued in Asian countries.

50 years

Gold (Traditional) / Gold(Modern)

Gold, suitable for traditional and modern gifts for the couple celebrating their fiftieth anniversary, can be found in jewelry, as well as many other decorative items. A few good gift ideas for this anniversary are coins, collectibles, photograph frames, watches, artwork, and some items can even contain gold thread.

For unique ideas, look for items, businesses or even places with the key words in their names. For instance, “Crystal Cruises” “Gold Canyon,” makers of aromatherapy candles, or “Ruby Falls” America’s highest underground waterfall. There are many choices to make when choosing a suitable, memorable and meaningful gift for the couple celebrating a milestone anniversary.

Well, another five years have passed and you’re celebrating your sixtieth wedding anniversary. Hard to believe that even if you married at 21 years of age you’d be over 80 right now. Not many people stay married this long and you should be very proud of your accomplishment. Of course, it’s time to get your spouse a gift for those 60 years and anniversary gifts at this stage of the game don’t come cheap. Regardless of whether you go the traditional route or the modern one, you’re still going to be spending a pretty penny.

This year’s traditional anniversary gift is the yellow diamond. The modern anniversary gift is just a plain diamond. Now, you might be wondering what the difference is. Well, it’s really very simple. Yellow diamonds are harder to find, or more rare, so a yellow diamond, say one caret, would be a lot more expensive than a regular diamond of the same size. That’s why the modern list was made. People on fixed incomes will probably have a hard enough time getting any kind of a diamond, but at least the regular diamond won’t cost them as much. So what can you pick up for this special occasion that fits the bill?

Because these gifts can be so expensive, many people are taking the diamond theme and really expanding it. For example. Did you know that the game of baseball is played on what is called a diamond? Well, it is. So what many people do is spring for tickets to a baseball game, especially if their anniversary falls between April and October. So ladies, if your husband is a baseball fan, this could be a perfect gift for him.

Keeping with the expanded diamond theme, since diamonds are one of the suits in a deck of cards and cards are used for gambling, what some people do is to take their spouse to the nearest casino. If of course you’re living hundreds or even thousands of miles away from one of those, this is a perfect chance to take your spouse on a nice plane ride to Atlantic City or Las Vegas. Talk about a really big surprise for your anniversary.

If of course you’re determined to go with the modern or traditional theme, either of which will set you back a few bucks, there are a few things you’re going to have to do.

For one thing, you’re going to have to see how much money you really have to spend. At 80 years of age there aren’t going to be many places that are going to give you extended credit so you’re most likely going to have to pay for this in cash or with your credit card, which will have to be paid off eventually.

Of course, you can always get gifts with very small diamonds where the diamond itself is not the main part of the gift.

With a little imagination, you can get an anniversary gift that won’t break your bank account and still put a smile on your spouse’s face.

Most of us enjoy a whiff of a delicious perfume, either on ourselves or on somebody else. Instead of buying just any perfume for an anniversary, why not get one that directly has something to do with the theme of the celebrated anniversary? There are infinite amounts of options out there, so you do have to know about your partner’s preferences. If a woman like musky notes, don’t bring home a fruity perfume! To play it safe, I would recommend that you buy the smallest size possible, so it’s not that much of a loss if he or she doesn’t like it (and people sometimes have adverse reactions to certain scents). Plus that way, he or she will have used it up by the next anniversary and you can go out and buy more!

Anniversary 1 is Paper: We start out pretty lame, since I could not find any perfume that contained the word “paper” in it. But, there are cards with perfumed inserts, which might be most appropriate for women.

Anniversary 2 is Cotton and we have a few more options here. Cotton is associated with the scent of freshly washed linen, so most of the perfumes have a lighter note. For a woman get Cotton Splash Perfume by Marc Jacobs, White Linen Breeze by Estee Lauder or Crisp Cotton Perfume Oil sold in The Body Shop. For men there are not that many options; you could go with Cotton Candy Perfume by Demeter for men and women, or Lucky You by Liz Claiborne, since one of its ingredients is Cotton flower.

Anniversary 3 is Leather. A scent mostly associated with men (because of the whole cowboy thing, I guess), you have a lot of option for the guys: Containing the word leather in it’s name are a series of English Leather by Dana, English Leather Wind Drift, English Leather Timberline and English Leather Musk.

The following fragrances for men carry a note of leather: John Varvatos, Polo by Ralph Lauren, Carlos Santana, Chaps by Ralph Lauren, Dunhill Fresh by Alfred Dunhill, Gentleman by Givenchy, Gucci Pour Homme by Gucci, Nicole Miller for Men, Safari by Ralph Lauren and many, many more. You can always ask for more fragrances with a leather note at the perfume store, should none of these appeal to you.

For women it’s the same thing: there are only few perfumes that have the word itself in the name. The only ones I found are Leather for Women by Demeter and Aigner in Leather by Etienne Aigner. But when it comes to perfumes with a note of leather, you have more options: Cabochard by Parfums Gres, Fendi, Habanita by Molinard, Image by Nino Cerruti, No. 19 by Chanel, Caleche by Hermes and more.

For anniversary 4, Fruit or Flowers you will have so many options that I can’t possibly name all of them. Most of the perfumes have both flower and fruit notes, so if you want to go with one of the two only, you’ll have to speak with a knowledgeable salesperson in the perfume store.

Only a few options for her are Fruit de Bois by Jean Charles Brosseau, Jessica McClintock for women, Fruity Rythm by Adidas, Pacific Paradise and Island Kiss by Escada, Faconnable Femme by Faconnable, Guess for Women, Head Over Heals by Revlon, Incanto and Incanto Charm by Salvatore Ferragamo, Flower for Women by Kenzo, Spring Flower and Fantasia de Fleurs by Creed, Fleur de Diva by Ungaro, Fleur de Fleurs by Nina Ricci … let me just catch my breath! The list goes on and on, so you will have many options here. Make sure with your darling which fruit or flower she likes, else she just might get a headache!

Since men’s fragrances tend to be less fruity and sweet, you would think that you would have fewer options, compared to women’s fragrances, but don’t forget that almost all perfumes have a flower or a fruit thrown in somewhere. Some ideas for him are: Baldessarini by Hugo Boss, Black Code by Giorgio Armani, Neroli Sauvage by Creed, Curve by Liz Claiborne, Sport by Royal Copenhagen and Very Sexy for Men by Victoria’s Secret.

Now to the last theme of the first five anniversaries. Year 5 is Wood, so if you include fragrance notes like sandalwood, you are going to have a lot of options again. For women, get Glamourous by Ralph Lauren, Eau de Dior Relaxing by Christian Dior, Shi by Alfred Sung, Versace Woman by Versace, Sensi by Giorgio Armani, Black Cashmere by DKNY or Blush for Women by Marc Jacobs. Honestly, there are so many I could fill up a whole page, but these will give you an idea.

And finally, for men you have Black XS by Paco Rabanne, BLV Notte by Bulgari, Brit for Men by Burberry, Cacharel for Men by Cacharel, Dune by Christian Dior, Gravity by Coty and Gucci Pour Homme, just to name a few.