Our 4th Anniversary Gifts to Each Other

The 4th anniversary conveniently carries four gifting options. Fruit and Flowers for traditional gifts and Linen and Appliances for the modern choices. Back in 2012, we were still relatively new to this gifting tradition (and young and broke!) so we only gave each other one gift from each of the traditional and modern categories that year. Eventually we started to gift from the entire list after we got the hang of it. And we wish we knew about all of the incredible ideas we’ve posted about here and on Instagram.

But, the point of this blog is to remember Our Present Journey together while generating some creativity for future gifts. We have definitely been inspired, and hope that you have found some exciting new ideas to give your loved ones. If you have any wonderful anniversary gift ideas or want your product featured on our page, please send us an email or DM!

Jay to Annie

Flowers

I chose Flowers as the traditional gift, because in all honesty, it was just easy to do. How can I go wrong with a big beautiful bouquet of flowers? Turns out, choosing an arrangement was not as easy as I once thought! I went to a local florist and told them my budget and the meaning behind the gift. Our anniversary was on a Thursday that year and we both had off from work for the holidays, so I knew we’d be exchanging gifts during the day before going out to dinner together. I couldn’t leave the house on our anniversary without raising any suspicion from Annie, so I arranged for the florist to deliver it to our house that afternoon. Not to sound old, but wow things were much harder just a handful of years ago! They crafted a beautiful bouquet that resembled the holiday flowers that our church was decorated with on our wedding day. Annie loved it!

Linen

Next I chose Linen for the modern gift for Annie. I’ve found a bunch of really useful appliances during Our Present Journey, but at the time, I was young and felt an appliance was certainly not the way to go for our anniversary. Now looking back on it, I’m sure I could’ve gotten something for our house that would’ve been a great gift. So in 2012, we had plans to start our family soon and wanted to take one last big vacation before we had kids. We booked an incredible resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico and immediately started planning things to do and places to eat. So, being a guy, I thought “I should buy Annie some really sexy bikinis for our trip!” It felt a little weird to just buy her some bathing suits out of nowhere though. So when I realized this year’s anniversary gift category was linen, I bought her a really nice linen coverup for our trips to the pool and beach on vacation. And, of course, added a few bikinis to the gift just for fun! It was an amazing trip and we’re currently trying to plan a trip back there with our kids. (*Photo is of Chichen Itza since the bathing suits and coverup have been donated post-kids!)

Annie to Jay

Fruit

Jay and I must’ve already been sharing a brain by our fourth year of marriage. I had zero ideas for fruit and he had no interest in flowers! But while driving to work one day I passed by an Edible Arrangements store, and the rest is history. It was the perfect gift for this anniversary. A blend of fruit and flowers that we both could enjoy together. I arranged for it to be delivered on our anniversary and Jay was shocked when it arrived at our door. Our “bouquet” was filled with various delicious fruits and topped off with chocolate covered strawberries and pineapples. The chocolate covered pieces were by far the best part! It was a fun anniversary gift for us to share and solved the mystery of buying flowers for a man.

Appliance

I’m not a coffee drinker, although my newfound love for chai lattes have really put a dent in our budget. So it never made sense to have a large coffee pot if it was only Jay making coffee for himself. And he would typically wait until he got into the office for his coffee anyway. But given the opportunity to buy him an appliance, I thought a Keurig would be the best option for him. It’s funny to look back at 2012 when the single serve K-cup wasn’t quite as ubiquitous as it is today. We have since upgraded to a newer model, but the single serve at the time was perfect for our house.

Thanks for reading about our 4th anniversary gifts! It was fun remembering this year, and realizing all of the new options we could’ve given for flowers and appliances. If you have any new or interesting ideas for gifts that you want to see on Our Present Journey please send us a DM or email! The countdown is officially on to our 15th anniversary in a few weeks. Stay tuned for the last few years of memories before our big day!