A good anniversary is about attention, not spend. Here is what to do when the budget is genuinely tight, without the day feeling like a compromise.
In this guide
- Spend on the setting, not the gift
- Free things that land
- Under $25
- Under $75
- Make the timing do the work
- The one thing worth saving for
Spend on the setting, not the gift
A candlelit table at home with proper glasses costs nothing and reads as an occasion. A supermarket gift set costs $40 and reads as an errand. If money is short, move every pound into the atmosphere and none into the object.
Free things that land
- A letter, written properly, on paper
- A walk to the place you first met
- A photo book made from what is already on your phones
- Reading your vows to each other
- A day where one of you takes over everything the other usually does
- A playlist with a written note about each song
Under $25
- A print of your vows or your coordinates
- A single good candle
- The ingredients for the meal from your first date
- A framed photograph from the wedding you have never printed
- A bottle of the wine you had at the reception
- A keepsake ornament with the year
Under $75
- A photo book, printed properly
- A personalised keepsake box or engraved glassware
- Lunch out instead of dinner — the same restaurant, half the price
- A class for two through a community centre
- Flowers from a real florist plus a card that says something
Make the timing do the work
Anniversary dinners are expensive because everyone books the same evening. Go the following Tuesday. Book lunch instead of dinner. Choose the restaurant you love rather than the one you think is appropriate. You will spend a third as much and enjoy it more.
The one thing worth saving for
Photographs of the two of you. Most couples have none between the wedding and their tenth anniversary. Even a short session, once every few years, is the only anniversary purchase that reliably becomes more valuable over time.
From Sagevow
A personalised keepsake — names, date, the vows themselves — outlasts every other anniversary gift on the list.
