Dear Lee – Anniversary!

  Dear Lee,

My anniversary with my partner is approaching, and I want to start thinking of anniversary gifts. We've been together for two years and as we're in a comfortably solid place, I'm less stressed about finding "the perfect gift." Still, I would like to come up with something meaningful (and, as we're both grad students, something that isn't too expensive). Last year, I made him a photo book of our first year together. I kind of like the idea of doing something similar so that we end up with a book for every year, but I also don't want to literally do the same thing. Do you have any ideas?

Thank you,

Olivia

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Dear Olivia,

Thank you for writing, and congratulations on your anniversary!

I'm glad to read that you're less stressed about the perfect gift for the second anniversary as I know the pressure for that first one is SOMETHING.  As far as a gift to mark the occasion, I love the idea of carrying your tradition forward with something photo-based, like you said, but not exactly the same thing.  Here are some ideas:

No. 1 — A really nice framed photo (or two!) of the two of you.  Here in the U.S. I love Framebridge  and anything from Artifact Uprising but any local framing gallery will do.

No. 2 — A nice photo album filled with pictures and mementos from the past year.  Maybe you're like me and you keep various mementos like movie ticket/opera ticket/etc. stubs, cocktail napkins, brochures of museum visits, a leaf from a nice walk (somewhere, right now in the world, my husband is rolling his eyes as I've saved an absurd number over the years), cards or letters you've written one another, really any little memento will do.  My husband leaves me little notes to remind me of things, often with a joke or a little drawing, and I've kept every single one.  Save everything, and make a beautiful little book for the two of you.

No. 3 — An instant camera.  I love the FujiFilm Instax Mini 8 Camera or the Polaroid Snap.  It's so different than using your phone, and your photo is automatically printed and ready to be tucked away in a mirror's edge, or an album.  I also love that there's no editing.  Sometimes the best photos are outtakes, not the ones that are too posed or too picked over.

I hope this helps!