ideas for wedding anniversary celebrations for two

Look at Photos of Your Wedding and Early Years

There are times when it’s fun to do this with the children. On the other hand, there are times when it is best to look at the photos with just the two of you, so you can remember those private jokes that you can’t tell anyone else. If you wait too long to do this, you might forget those good times, and that would be a shame. Recalling them periodically will make sure you don’t forget.

Revisit Some of the Locations from your Courtship

Going back to the places you visited together before you were married can be a lot of fun, especially if you haven’t been there in a long time. Take pictures of yourselves so you can compare them to when you were young and foolish.

Take Photos of the Two of You

Whether you ask a friend, or go to a studio, make it a point to take photos together every 5 or 10 years. You may not see the need for it now, but if you are trying to put together photos for a 25th anniversary, it can be sad if there is nothing after the first 5 years of marriage! You keep thinking, “We’ll do it sometime.” and sometime turns into no time. You can even make it into a really goofy date--change outfits and locations, and see what kinds of strangers will snap a photo for you, or make it a contest to see which of you is better at getting people to agree to take your picture. The winner gets to choose the restaurant to eat in. If you do something different every anniversary, document it with photos. You may THINK you won’t forget, but so much goes on, it is frightening how quickly memories become fuzzy!

Make a Family History Collage

For our 20th wedding anniversary, I made a collage to represent our 20 years together. I used CD cases fastened to a base. I chose one photo to represent each year (that was really hard!) and embellished them with miniature objects like games we played or books we read together. It was a lot of fun to make, and my husband loves it. The interesting thing is, that is what guests to our home spend the most time looking at. Many of them have said they would like to make one, too.

Fix up You Bedroom like a Ritzy Hotel Room

Which would your husband enjoy more--working together on an anniversary project to redecorate your bedroom and work on planning and fixing up everything together, or to come home and find your bedroom has been transformed into an amazing hideaway? Either way, it is a good way to let him know that he is still important to you and that your relationship is worth investing in. If you think your house is too small to have your own bedroom, think again. This time, try to come up with creative solutions. When our first child was born, we were living in a 2 room apartment. Our daughter would wake up at 4 in the morning and as soon as she saw us, she wanted to play with us. We moved our double futon into the closet--we couldn’t stand up, bet we had plenty of room to sit and lie down, and best of all, we could sleep until 6 a.m. because when she didn’t see us, she would go back to sleep.

view more ideas for fixing up your bedroom

Go Away for the Weekend

There is nothing quite as good at making you love your kids more, and your spouse more, than being away from the kids for a couple of days. Being away allows you to relax and refocus in a way you can’t when they are around. Yes, you miss them like crazy, and everyone is delighted at the reunion. But being apart helps you forget what you were mad at them for, and gives you time and space to think about what is really important. It gives you time and energy to focus on your mate, and let him know that he is still important to you. Then you go home feeling like you love the kids and your spouse more than when you left two days ago--it’s good for everyone! So drop those kids off at the grandparents, or with a trusted couple, and go have some fun. What are you going to do with all that time together? See below.

Dates to Communicate

If it is impossible to get away for a whole weekend, compromise and go on a date every week during the month of your anniversary. There is so much to talk about, and it is hard to squeeze it in during normal hectic days. And if you are out of practice talking, it can take awhile to warm up. Here are some topics you might want to discuss (ease into it with easy topics before tackling the hard ones!) :

1.Have fun--remember fun times in the past, and plan fun times for the future
2. Talk about dreams and worries, at work and in the home
3. Talk about the children--their accomplishments, their problems, their dreams. This is a good time to let your husband know how important he is in the lives of your children, and give him hints on how he can help each child, or grow closer to each child
4. Talk about money--how much is made, saved, given to church/charity, how it is spent, how to save more, what needs to be saved for, etc.
5. Talk about each other-- where your relationship is now, where you want it to go or grow, spiritually, emotionally, and physically

10 Dates to Have Fun

1.Go to a museum: art, history, science, music, sports, foods, manga, trains, planes, etc.
2.Go to a garden (take a rain check of there is something you want to see that blooms later in the year)
3.Go on a mountain hike
4.Go on a bike hike
5.Go on a camping trip
6.Try out a new restaurant
7.Go to an amusement park
8.Go on a tour : factories, (chocolate, perfume), parade of homes, picking fruit or vegetables
9. Go on a ride-- rickshaw or horse drawn carriage, what ever is available locally
10. Go to see a play, seasonal show, concert or sports event

10 Stay at Home Dates for When You Can’t Get Away

1.Read a book together--There are so many possibilities--read a mystery and see who can figure it out first, read a parenting book to improve as parents, or a marriage enrichment book to work on your marriage, or work your way through a Christian book to grow spiritually. If time together is short, read separately (he could read it on the train going to work), and discuss it when you are together. If you husband doesn’t like to read books, you read it, then tell him about it and discuss what you have learned together.
2. Find love songs together online, and then listen to them, of course
3. Watch a movie together (looking at movie trailers to find a movie to rent online can be a date, too)
4. Look at photo albums or videos of your children, especially if they are of events in the child’s life that he had to miss, like a game or play
5. Play a game together
6. Cook together
7. Start a hobby together
8. Plan a future trip together
9. Plan family times together
10. Take a bath together

10 Amazing Dates for the Wild at Heart (and for Walter Mittys, too!)

1.Ride in a hot air balloon
2. Ride on a river raft
3. Go wind surfing or sailing
4. Go scuba diving
5. Go snow skiing
6. Go water skiing
7. Ride on an Elephant ( you have to go to Thailand for that!)
8. Take a motorcycle trip
9. Take a river or bay cruise
10. Take a tour to a place you have always wanted to go

Why Do Fun Things Together?

At first glance it may not seem important at all, especially when there are so many things that have to be done TODAY! I understand that life is busy, and that it leaves no time for something as frivolous as dates with your mate. But here’s how I look at it. If you spend all your time together discussing problems and how to solve them, which often leads to disagreements, all these negative feelings become associated with this relationship. You start thinking, “Oh, no, here we go again. Can’t we just skip it this time?” As you each become busy in your own worlds, you grow emotionally distant. If the only time you come together is for the hard things, you end up trying to avoid each other. On the other hand, if you take time to play together and enjoy each others’ company, all those good feelings become associated with that person, and you find yourself wanting to be with your spouse even more. And if you don’t do anything out of the ordinary, all the years kind of blend into each other. You begin to think, “Yeah, we spent a lot of time together, but what did we do?” You don’t usually take pictures of yourselves watching T.V. or washing the dishes! Make the time to do special things together, and build a memory bank of happy experiences! Here is one of our stories:

My husband was listening when I dreamed about going to the Snow Festival in Hokkaido one day. It was just a pipe dream because I knew it was too expensive to go. But one year my husband gave me a puzzle to figure out, and it was a trip to Hokkaido. I could not believe my eyes!! He got the baby sitter, and bought the tickets. It was just over night, but we had such a good time! We took tons of pictures and fell asleep with the light on and fully dressed. On the way home, the plane was late, and we had to run down corridor after corridor, staircase after staircase to catch the last train home. Immediately after we stepped on, the doors closed behind us--we made it! We have lots of fun and funny memories of the trip, and photos decorate our bedroom. It showed me that he loved me in a huge, huge way.

For more ideas, check out my Valentine’s Day page

Seasons > Special Days > Ideas for Wedding Anniversary Celebrations for Two