We are in the low key group. A nice dinner out on a weekend around the anniversary date. H buys flowers, I get chocolate (so predictable after all these years - but I get there is some comfort in that predictability).
We got married a few days after Thanksgiving… a busy time of year, with lots of social and family gatherings. When we were younger, we celebrated with a nice dinner, but after we had kids, and more complicated social lives, half the time we’d literally forget about the anniversary and remember days after it passed.
These days, DH and I prefer small trips instead of presents or expensive dinners. A long weekend in the mountains at some B&B… a few days in Mexico or Palm Springs… an eating vacation in Santa Fe. Off season flights can be incredibly cheap (I’m flying from Denver to Los Angeles next month for $150 round trip!) and it’s a great way to spend time together, just the two of us. Like it was when we were younger and anniversaries mattered 
We are in the low key, too. Nice dinner out on nearest Saturday. We do exchange cards, but not gifts - except when it’s a milestone H always gets me roses.
We were married in the same week as my birthday and Hanukkah (most years). (What was I thinking?!?!?!)
In recent years we’ve gone to a B&B about an hour away for a couple of days (usually mid-week) to decompress. The pace also has a nice restaurant, though as we go out exploring, we have found nice country mom-and-pop cafes, too. Totally agree with powercropper about the need to spend downtime with each other. We are in the “travel now while we’re healthy” phase and enjoying it a lot.
my husband hates spending money on cards. He draws a card on a piece of paper (he can’t draw) for the kids and encloses $5 . They enjoy it. They get a card from the boring parent. I get the drawn card from him but not the $5!
We were married in a restaurant so for the first twenty years or so, we had dinner there. We really liked being able to visit the place where we were married. But the restaurant has deteriorated over the years and we now pick a special local restaurant for dinner. We spent three days in NYC for our 25th.
All of your posts have been so interesting to read! Thanks!
I wish that we had celebrated in memorable ways in the earlier years. Oh, yeah,
we had kids :x instead. It would be nice to have solid memories for the big years
in any event. It is going forward that we are trying to figure out.
powercropper has expressed my thoughts. Maybe this is more important than we have
made it. That said spending down time together is not what H and I need as we are together
a lot as we are both semiretired. We do good things like hiking and walking. And there is no
where except snow or rain within a drive. We need small adventures, nice hotels, amazing food.
Which means if we celebrate anywhere near our anniversary we fly.
I really liked learning about all of your anniversaries. We seem to have a number of friends
who have big celebrations for the major ones (which I actually do not know which ones are
the big ones. 5,10,25,40,50??). H and I would both hate that.
Cards and a nice dinner out. But really…I’m patiently waiting for the trip to Hawaii!
Timely! Our anniversary is one day off of OP’s. H and I discussed it and we are going out to dinner at a local seafood place where I love the bar area and eat belly up to the bar. I always prefer “nothing fancy.” Cards, but no gifts. My DH being who he is will probably get me at least 3 cards. And me, being me, will get him one.
Our neighbors told us they were going to Hawaii to celebrate their 25th anniversary. My husband and I were like, that’s a thing?
Oregon, hiking and historical places (and food) are our idea of ‘decompressing’ – it’s just nice to be away from work and the demands of the house. Even sitting at home with a good book is stress-inducing when there are piles of laundry and chores to do.
We go to a really nice dinner. For the big ones (5, 10, 15, etc) we could to the same place we went on our honeymoon. It’s 3,000 miles from home and although it has changed so have we Takes a while to set everything up and takes nearly 2 days to get there but its totally worth it. We can’t believe how fast time flies.
We aren’t big on gifts but my H usually will buy flowers and a Trder Joe’s chocolate bar. Our anniversary is in early fall as is my birthday. We like to travel during that month so we will say the trip is for our anniversary or for my birthday or both. My H just booked a weekend trip to a coastal beach town for our anniversary. It’s not for 9 months so it was nice he is planning ahead. This year we are doing our big vacation in the spring because our S is getting married in the fall. When the kids were young my H would sometimes arrange a sitter and we would go somewhere close for one night.
My D recently was booking her wedding date and I gave her some advice. Don’t have it the day after your birthday or around Mother’s Day. You think you won’t mind now but you will down the road.
Interesting how many people exchange cards. I often think of cards for sending to someone - when you can’t see them in person. I personally rarely buy cards - seems so wrong to read it and toss it - and keeping a stack of them would not be my thing. A hand written note on a scrap piece of paper would mean the world to me though. It’s the words - not the canned message or pictures on a card that appeals to me.
We did not have a wedding so we picked the date of our first date to celebrate. We need to rethink that date as everything is so expensive around that time so we rarely celebrate.
It so happens that H and mine 32nd is tomorrow. We do different things each year including not really doing anything. Sometimes he’ll get me flowers. Other times I buy him a gift like a new watch ( he likes watches). Sometimes we go out to dinner and other times not.
We did go to an all inclusive resort for our 30th. It was actually a few weeks after the anniversary and we would have gone anyway, haha. But we told the resort it was an anniversary and we got some special things such as a rose petal path to a hot tub in our room filled with bubbles. ( all the rooms have hot tubs) There was also a bottle of champagne and chocolates. We don’t ever do bubble baths but felt we needed to given all the resorts efforts. So we climbed in. HahHa.
We discussed today maybe going out to dinner tomorrow. We’ll see how we feel tomorrow.
When my mother was alive, she always sent us a $50 check to go out to dinner. I miss her.
Happykid, “Hey guys, Happy Anniversary!”
Happydad, “Damn, I forgot again.”
Me, “Oh, I guess it is. Do you want to go out or something?”
Happykid, “Really, I have to remind you? Every. Single. Year? What is wrong with you guys?”
Me, “That’s why we have you, Happykid. To remember stuff for us.”
It will be 31 years this June. We’ve honestly forgot until sometime late on the anniversary day more than half the times . My sisters claim it is because we didn’t have a big wedding, and so didn’t get the date beaten into our brains.
Happykid no doubt has it on their phone calendar!!!
Morrismm, your anniversary and my b/d, a good day to celebrate. Years back, I mentioned to a g/f that I missed getting cards, as my parents and older aunts were deceased. Ever since, she sends a B/d card. Sweet.
ChoatieSergeant does not know our anniversary or either of our birthdays. My 60th BD was two weeks ago. I kinda like that he probably still thinks I’m 59 or 48 or? Pretty sure if you asked him our ages, he’d have no clue. However, he turns 21 next week and you can bet he’s counting on us to remember. 