Our 11th Anniversary Gifts to Each Other

Hi everyone! Today we’re going back just four years to 2019 to celebrate our 11th anniversary together. This year had two categories – Steel for the traditional gift and Jewelry for modern. At first, steel felt like an impossible category for us and jewelry for Jay would be even harder. But after some creative thinking we think our gifts turned out pretty great! Read through the anniversary meanings to get a better sense of why these gift categories are so meaningful and special. And as always, follow us on Instagram for even more amazing gift ideas!

Annie to Jay

Steel

Jay was probably expecting a new set of golf clubs for steel this year. Aside from being entirely too expensive (plus, he already has them!) I felt that golf clubs were something he would need to pick out himself because I have zero idea what he would want or even needs (nothing, is of course, the answer!). I also thought about a gift card to a golf store, but that felt too impersonal to me. So, onto the actual gift already!

As you all know, our anniversary is right after Christmas so it’s an exciting time of year for our family. Jay grew up in a house that had real Christmas trees every year while my house had an artificial tree. Jay’s tree was wrapped in multi-color lights while mine had bright white. Jay’s tree had a bright star and my family had a beautiful angel on top of ours every year. I think you’re understanding where I’m going with this…

When we moved in together, we compromised and got an artificial tree with white lights and an angel! After a few years, Jay actually ended up liking the artificial tree better because it was just easier and cleaner. But he always made comments about how he missed having a star on his tree. I felt bad and decided it was finally time that each of our traditions were equally represented. So I bought a Christmas star that was made of stamped steel and gave it to Jay a few weeks early when we were decorating the tree with the kids. He loved it and was so appreciative of bringing a star back to his tree! And he also admits the white lights look great on our tree and reflecting off the star. Either way, we’re both happy that our traditions have fully combined into one family tree.

Jewelry

Moving on from steel, I knew I had a challenge ahead of me in the jewelry category. Jay only wears his wedding ring and watches. He doesn’t have anything else and I knew he wouldn’t want anything else. After days and days of searching for something creative I honestly couldn’t think of anything to get him. On Black Friday that year, I noticed Amazon was having a sale on AirPods, which Jay had mentioned he wanted since they came out a few years ago but didn’t want to spend the money on himself. It was a great sale though and I figured AirPods are accessories for your ears, kind of like earrings, right? Jay LOVED the gift and was thrilled that I didn’t get him any actual jewelry LOL!

Jay to Annie

Steel

Lots of time was spent Googling steel gifts, but I kept coming up empty on ideas. I didn’t want to buy her any home goods at the time and felt new golf clubs for myself weren’t exactly the best gift for Annie. I don’t remember exactly how, but I came across an online store called The Steel Shop that sold steel jewelry. How perfect was that for this year!? (I did actually buy her a separate jewelry gift, though this was the exact combination of the two!). I found a simple steel bracelet that I knew she would love. It’s rose gold, a color that she had taken a liking to recently and matched many of her outfits. It’s casual but also elegant and it works for a lot of different occasions. Annie still wears it frequently four years later so I think I did a great job on this one!

Jewelry

Even though I already bought Annie jewelry for the steel anniversary gift, I wanted to get her something from the jewelry category this year. By 2019, we had decided that our family was complete and we wouldn’t be having any more children. So I wanted to get something special to memorialize our three children and the incredible mother that Annie has been. I found a beautiful necklace with three birthstone pendants, representing each of our kids. I chose three tourmaline, a stunning dark pink stone to match the rose gold steel bracelet. It’s also the October birthstone, which is when our third child was born. The necklace is pretty fancy so Annie often wears it to special events or days related to our children. Overall, not a bad year for Annie’s jewelry collection!

And that concludes number 11! Thank you all for reading and we hope these ideas are inspiring some creativity in your gift giving. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box like Annie did with the AirPods. We would always prefer that a gift has meaning and usefulness rather than sticking exactly to the specified category. Especially when we know Jay wouldn’t want any actual jewelry! Only a couple weeks left until our 15th anniversary so please follow us on Instagram and check back here for some amazing new gift ideas!