My second thought was: "Man, as far as husbands go, I have NO IDEA what's on that list of anniversary gifts."
My assumption is that the list was put together specifically to remind husbands that, not only did they forget their anniversary, they further forgot what *specific thing* they were supposed to get that year. So! to be helpful, I've put together the first ten on the list PURELY FROM MEMORY, to help other husbands out there:
Year 1: Paper. Year 2: Copper Pots. Year 3: Selection of Bulgarian Shoes. Year 4: A Small Marmot. Year 5: Radial Tires (and/or snow chains, if needed). Year 6: Gift Certificate to Chuck E. Cheese. Year 7: New Keyboard. Year 8: Jewelry that you picked up at the last minute by walking past the case at Macy's and going "That'll do." Year 9: Selection of Tropical Fish. Year 10: Entire "Where's Waldo" book collection, including the very rare last book: "HE'S RIGHT THERE."
So there you go! Help from one husband to many others! Congratulations on your anniversary!
I always thought it was :
1. Paper
2. Rock
3. Scissors
4. Repeat
Actually, I have paid no attention to that over the years. I have found no matter what the anniversary - that jewelry, flowers, Godiva and an evening out with dinner and champagne works just fine. I have yet to have my wife throw jewelry back in my face and demand paper, cotton, leather or whatever.
(Married 36 years and she still loves me)
If anyone's interested, here is the old-fashioned and the modern anniversary gift list. All the way from one to one hundred.
http://marriage.about.com/cs/anniversaries/a/wedan nivideas.htm
Note that on your hundredth anniversary, you owe her a 10 carat diamond. Hold out for it, ladies!
Sandra Boynton made a great anniversary card a long time ago that gave a year-by-year rundown ... I'm pretty sure it was weirder than that list at about.com, but not quite as funny as Dave's.
Gave it to my parents years ago, so now I don't have to find an anniversary card anymore -- my mom just takes the card out of the drawer every year.
Wish I could find a scan of it somewhere.
For our 15 anniversary my wife and I gave each other matching Lazyboy Barcaloungers. (Well, different models for our different shapes, but matching upholstery.)
My husband and I are of the go shopping together and say 'You want that? Happy special occasion!' variety. This year for our anniversary we are going to Emerald City ComiCon. Which was more decided after I was booking everything and thought "Huh, why does April 6th ring a bell? Oh Yeah!"
Well - I haven't gotten a marmot (or a sugar glider), but I have gotten a kitchen faucet, an all-in-one printer (that's kind of a paper thing, but it was for my 47th Bday) and a screen door. So my hubby does OK. We manage to celebrate the biggies (10 years - a month in Europe; 25 years - 8 days on the Chesapeake Bay (we had our kids late)).
But fellas - the event you must NOT miss is the first Mother's Day, when the whole pregnancy/labor thing is still fresh in our minds. We may not be YOUR mother, but we had YOUR kids, so pony up! Tasteful beats cutsy, unless the kids made their own gifts.
For the first Mother's Day I started a tradition of sending her to a spa for a day of pampering. Massage, manicure, pedicure, whatever else they do in those things (I dare not ask). I took charge of the kid/s and she had the day off.
Funny, when I got to the bottom of the page it had a Google ad with a pair of diamond stud earrings. And not the tower add next to the text box is talking about anniversary gifts. Google does a great job with the key words.
