Do you celebrate wedding anniversaries?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Poll on wedding anniversaries. The second question is multiple choice.

[Firefly]

We do celebrate, but it's low key-- usually just the two of us going out to dinner, which is special for us because we rarely do that.

[Joker]

Yes, but low key. I usually make one of his favorite meals, he brings me flowers, and we give each other a card. Sometimes we go out. One year our dds wanted us to get all dressed up for our dinner in and they served us. We've also only remembered at the last minute, but since it's always low key it's never an issue. This is how we've been celebrating our anniversaries (and birthdays, as well as most holidays) since we've been married - even when we were single and had money. :D Neither of us have ever been big on going all out for that stuff.

[Mandylubug]

We've started making more of a big deal about them. We typically take a trip somewhere for five days. It is the only time we are ever completely childfree throughout the year.

[RebeccaS]

We do celebrate, but I said "other celebration." We usually go out to dinner with the kids. We don't exchange any gifts or cards, usually. Dh brought me flowers this last year, I think. It's very low-key.

[marbel]

We usually have a nice dinner, in or out, depending on what else is going on that night. We don't tend to give gifts, but occasionally we might give a little something. Neither of us really cares overmuch about such celebrations, but we want to model that sort of thing for our son, who is fairly clueless when it comes to such things as anniversaries, Valentine's Day and other romantic-type occasions. We hope he might marry someday and we would like him not to disappoint his wife by not doing anything to commemorate it.

 

I guess we are modeling for our daughter too, in the hopes that she will not be a demanding wife when it comes to romantic occasions. :)

[mamatohaleybug]

We do. Usually we go on a trip for a few days or at the very least we have dinner out and have our DD go to her grandparents' home for the night. No gifts or flowers or anything but we do like to celebrate. It's a super special day to me.

[cjzimmer1]

I said occasionlly if I remember but really it's more like it I have the the time, money and energy for 2 events. DS12 was born on our anniversary and so we always celebrate that first. I figure he will only be a kid so many years and then won't care to be with mom and dad on his actual birthday and since we do something on every other kid birthday I don't want him to feel slighted since he happened to be born on our anniversary. So if we have time, energy and money, DH and I will do something on a different date but if we are short on any of those we skip celebrating it that year. When kiddo is grown we will probably go back to going out to eat that day because DH really likes to go out to eat (I'm perfectly fine staying home).

[Crimson Wife]

We get a sitter and go out to eat at a fancy restaurant (something we rarely do). For our 5th anniversary, DH got me a gift certificate for a day at the spa. For our 10th, I was super-pregnant (youngest DD was due the following week) and I didn't feel up to doing anything. Our 15th is later this year so we'll have to see what DH decides to do.

[Impish]

We celebrate, however we can get away w/it.

 

Our 1st, it was a hotel room. 2nd, it was Dairy Queen w/a few mths old baby.

 

But, yeah, we celebrate it. And, at some random moment, when it's just the 2 of us, we're gazing at each other, and one of us will say, "Holy crap. ____ yrs now. Did you ever think we'd make it this far, go through everything we have, and still be happy together?

 

And the other says, "No. Hell, if I'd known what we'd be dealing w/over the yrs, I probably would've run screaming into the night."

 

Cause we're all romantical like that.

[elfgivas]

we got married three times in one year (one covenanting, one legal marriage, and one that we had planned to be the legal one but had anyway because everyone wanted to).

so we have three chances to remember, and most years one or the other of us remembers them....

sometimes we eat out, sometimes we have special food and eat in, most times we give each other cards, some years flowers and/or chocolates are involved.

 

anything that reminds us how much we really do like and love each other is worth doing :).

ann

[Truscifi]

We celebrate, usually with something low key like a nice dinner together with no kids. Last year was our 10th and we saved up and went on a cruise. We hope to be able to do something similar for our 15th.

[Lisa in SC]

We eventually celebrate our anniversaries. Never on the actual day as that's dd17's birthday, but eventually. We celebrate differently each year. Some year's it's very low key, others it's dinner and a movie or other event, still others it's a weekend away somewhere. We're planning a bigger trip or cruise for our 25th. We've never had a party -- I can't see us doing that until possibly our 50th. Possibly.

[Melissa in Australia]

We celebrate. it is the only celebration we do. We don't do Christmas, birthdays or anything else. What we do is have a special meal. It is always homemade pizza with apple pie for desert. this year we had out 20th. we had planned to go away for a weekend.... only instead we had to go to Melbourne to court... so we postponed it until later in the year.. but we have something huge happening in our life at the moment and will not get to go away.

[nd293]

We celebrated with a dinner at home or out for the first 10 years, maybe, but don't bother anymore.

[fraidycat]

I can't really answer the poll.

 

The answer is sometimes, and it depends.

 

If and when we do celebrate, it's low key - either out for supper, or special supper/dessert at home - and usually with the kids. I think we've celebrated once (maybe twice?) alone. But, it's not necessarily the "special" or "big" ones that we celebrate - it just depends what other things we have going on near our anniversary.

[fraidycat]

Forgot to add, one of these years I'd like for us to get away on trip somewhere. Maybe for our 15th or 20th we can plan something.

[Erin]

We always do something, even if it's nothing more than staying in and snuggling in front of a late movie. A couple times we've had get-together parties. Now that the kids are older, we go out for supper and/or movie...

[Chris in VA]

Darn tootin'! I think it's super-worthy of being celebrated. I am not complacent about my marriage, and I don't take it for granted. OK, sometimes I do, but I can't think of why I would not want to celebrate the most important human relationship in my life.

We have gone on trips for our 20th and 25th, but usually have a special dinner, either at home or out, and give each other cards.

 

Our 28th is coming up July 6th!

[jewellsmommy]

We always acknowledge our anniversary. It may be a special dinner, going out, or staying in and watching something. We have not yet had an opportunity to do a trip or an overnight, but I hope to eventually. Our 16th is in about 2 weeks!

[QueenCat]

Usually, we go out to eat somewhere nice (the Melting Pot is a favorite for a romantic evening), and spend the day doing something together. Most recently, we spent the day "in the city", hitting up a museum and some fun shopping before dinner. We try to go away for at least one night but this year's was the same week as college graduation for one child. Big milestones mean a week or at least a long weekend somewhere special. It's nice that the kids are past needing someone to watch them while we go :driving: .

[Dandelion]

We celebrate each year. DH buys me roses, we exchange cards and small gifts, and go out for a nice dinner. Our anniversary is in February, so we usually try to get away the weekend before or after our anniversary to go skiing as well (just the two of us).

[Mom in High Heels]

Well, considering the army likes to send him somewhere almost every year in March (we got married in March), we celebrate the ones we have together. Out of 18 anniversaries, I believe we've had 7 or 8 of them together. We have gone on holiday a few times and usually at least go out to dinner. We both always remember though. And like Imp, we marvel at the fact that we're still together. We're romantic like that too. ;)

[creekland]

We always celebrate by going on a small trip no matter how poor we have been. Sometimes the trip is two full days (+ travel days) and sometimes one. When each boy was born they came with us that year. Afterward, they stayed with my mom for all but one year when we did a lengthy western trip (we were still on a trip and snuck off for dinner together). We started doing it by accident - just went to an amusement park for our first anniversary - then decided we liked the personal celebration. Now we consider it one of our best decisions ever as we really look forward to the time together and spend a bit of it reminiscing both the previous year and all the years - then thinking about our future. We love planning on where we're going - from camping to 5 star places (usually cheap to be honest). It doesn't matter where. It doesn't matter if it turns out fancy or we laugh at the difference between expectations (from the internet) and reality (a couple places were REALLY yucky). We love being together and sharing the experience of growing old together.

 

The other neat thing we do? Aside from that first year when we weren't thinking about it, we take a picture (or have others do so) at our "destination" and put it on the wall. The first year the only thing we had from the amusement park was a frisbee we had made - so that's on our wall. We have a whole wall chronicling our married life together through the years and we get to talk about it many times when sitting in our living room together.

 

I'd never change a thing. We have our 25th coming up soon... ;)

[Melissa in Australia]

We always celebrate by going on a small trip no matter how poor we have been. Sometimes the trip is two full days (+ travel days) and sometimes one. When each boy was born they came with us that year. Afterward, they stayed with my mom for all but one year when we did a lengthy western trip (we were still on a trip and snuck off for dinner together). We started doing it by accident - just went to an amusement park for our first anniversary - then decided we liked the personal celebration. Now we consider it one of our best decisions ever as we really look forward to the time together and spend a bit of it reminiscing both the previous year and all the years - then thinking about our future. We love planning on where we're going - from camping to 5 star places (usually cheap to be honest). It doesn't matter where. It doesn't matter if it turns out fancy or we laugh at the difference between expectations (from the internet) and reality (a couple places were REALLY yucky). We love being together and sharing the experience of growing old together.

 

The other neat thing we do? Aside from that first year when we weren't thinking about it, we take a picture (or have others do so) at our "destination" and put it on the wall. The first year the only thing we had from the amusement park was a frisbee we had made - so that's on our wall. We have a whole wall chronicling our married life together through the years and we get to talk about it many times when sitting in our living room together.

 

I'd never change a thing. We have our 25th coming up soon... ;)

 

:001_wub:

[MissKNG]

We celebrate and it's usually dinner at our favorite diner or restaurant (a "normal" one, not an expensive fancy joint) and a night alone (girls at Grandma's for the night).

 

Next year is our 10 year anniversary and we are planning on going away for maybe a week.

[Alice]

We always do something. Some years it’s just dinner and a movie. Occasionally it’s more special. We just last weekend went on a trip to NYC for our anniversary. Neither of us are big gift people so we don’t typically give each other anniversary gifs but we do like to spend time together.

 

ETA: I remember on our fifth anniversary we went out to dinner and a movie. It was really exciting because we had a 18 month old who was not the best at being left wiht babysitters so we didn’t go out a lot. We laughed at the idea that before we were married we would have thought dinner and a movie for an anniversary sounded so blah. But at that point in our lives it was almost as exciting as fancy trip somewhere.

[creekland]

I forgot to mention, we don't do gifts, cards, or flowers, etc, either. Our time together on the trip is our gift - and the pic on the wall. It's far more precious to us.

[DawnM]

Our anniversary is Monday. We will probably have to celebrate another night as Monday is Scout night, but we will celebrate with a nice dinner out.

 

We don't really do gifts.

[BigMamaBird]

We go out every year to this really nice restaurant. We didn't go there for the first time this year because we were kind of strapped for cash and it's a pricey place. But we still celebrated. It's our anniversary, of course we're going to celebrate!

[applethyme]

We would probably celebrate if either of us could remember when our anniversary is. Usually MIL calls that day to say "happy anniversary." Afterward I call dh and ask if he remembered what day it is then we both laugh that MIL is the only one that remembers and life goes on.

 

Our fist date was memorial weekend so we celebrate that a little more sometimes with dinner others with a quiet night at home.

[FaithManor]

Yes, we normally go out for dinner or to a play or symphony. One year we went to Chicago.

 

This year was our 25th. We would have liked to take a trip, but DD got married 10 days before, and my dad had open heart surgery on April 24th, and a lobe of his right lung removed on June 4th. He was released from the hospital on the 11th - our anniversary - I had my hands full helping mom. So, when I got home from their place, dh had some chocolate and a rented movie ready for me.

 

However, to make up for the kind of crazy year it has been, dh is taking me to New Zealand in the autumn of 2014. That's going to be a fun year. Iceland with the middle boy in June, New Zealand in November (hoping they'll have nice spring weather at that time).

 

Faith

[ScoutTN]

We rarely have any extra $ to go out or get a sitter, so most year we just exchange cards or go for a walk or picnic at a park or something else free and simple.

 

Sometimes my mom will give us a gift card or keep the kids overnight so we can go out for a movie or dinner.

 

If we had the money for a trip, we'd make it a family vacation.

[nmoira]

There's so much going on around the holidays we usually forget, but make up for them (we have two wedding anniversaries.... long story, not involving divorce) as soon as we remember by going out for a nice lunch or dinner.

[Liz CA]

Yes! This is usually my chance to get a trip to the ocean. (Not a cruise!) If we cannot take the trip, we may go out for a dinner or just dessert.

[mom31257]

Well my 22nd anniversary is tomorrow, so this is perfect timing. We've always done something to celebrate, but it just depends on our life situation at the time. We have a gift certificate to a nice restaurant, so we're going out to eat tomorrow. We also have a $1 movie theater nearby, so we'll go see a movie, too. With dh laid off, we really can't do much. We had a nice 20th with an overnight trip, but it was still nearby. I would love to have a big trip for our 25th or 30th, but we'll be in the middle of kids in college, so I doubt we'll have the funds for much!

[OH_Homeschooler]

We mark the occasion somehow, although not always in the most romantic way. We give each other token gifts associated with the years of marriage, and if possible we try to get out and do something together. But with four kids/lack of babysitters/tight budgets, we don't have many opportunities to get out for a nice dinner.

[celticmom]

I convinced dh to take me to a SCA event for our first date. We deiberately married close to the date this event occurs every year and attend that event together as our anniversary celebration.

[HRAAB]

We always celebrate. There is a special cafe we go to (nothing fancy) where we can eat outside and then take a long walk by the river. We usually get a bottle of champagne, go home, tell the girls we're having private time, watch and movie and other things. :laugh:

[Kathryn]

No. We say happy anniversary but nothing beyond that. I think we got cards a couple of times early on, and we went away for the weekend for our first. But, after the first few first years we didn't do much.

[lavender's green]

We always celebrate. Usually it's a nice restaurant, other times (like when I was two weeks post-partum) it's take-out. When we're out of the small baby stage we'll think about taking mini-trips. I'd really, really like to go to Europe for the next big milestone anniversary...we'll see. :)

[No More Perfect]

Yep! We usually take a little trip somewhere. This year it was a resort that we generally go to. We have the best time just being a couple and, since we also happen to be the bestest of friends, it is just plain fun!

[Jean in Newcastle]

I tried to tell dh last night that we should go to China for our "china anniversary". The guy thought I was joking! :laugh: :glare:

 

Actually we will go out next week when I get back from being out of town.

[HS Mom in NC]

The two of us go out dinner. It's low key. Sometimes it has to be postponed for a week or two when life happens, but that's no big deal. Once we skipped it entirely because there was too much going on.

[KrissiK]

Yes, we celebrate. Most years we just go out to dinner, Last year was our 10th and we took a short trip (2 days) to the coast (in fact, my avatar pic was taken on that trip. We drove down Hwy 1 from Monterey to Morro Bay. The bridge you can barely see in the background is the famous Big Sur bridge). DH also got me a lovely anniversary band which I told him, on our wedding day, that I wanted on our 10th anniversary. This year my mom's taking the kids for the night and we're having a "Stay-cation". Hotel prices are outrageous at the coast, if you can get one, so we're spending the night at home, but doing some day-trips just the two of us.

[RebeccaS]

The two of us go out dinner. It's low key. Sometimes it has to be postponed for a week or two when life happens, but that's no big deal. Once we skipped it entirely because there was too much going on.

 

 

Now that you mention it, we've skipped ours a few times due to too much going on. Twice our church had a study weekend that we attended and it fell on our anniversary so we went to that and didn't really do anything celebratory. And early on in our marriage, when ds 8 was a baby he was in the hospital recovering from heart surgery on our anniversary. We decided to walk a few blocks down from the hospital and go to the Cleveland symphony on our anniversary, but I was sick and started coughing, had to leave the performance and wasn't allowed to go back in and dh fell asleep in his seat and never realized I didn't come back in. We were so stressed and tired that year, lol!

[happi duck]

I can't really answer the poll.

 

The answer is sometimes, and it depends.

 

If and when we do celebrate, it's low key - either out for supper, or special supper/dessert at home - and usually with the kids. I think we've celebrated once (maybe twice?) alone. But, it's not necessarily the "special" or "big" ones that we celebrate - it just depends what other things we have going on near our anniversary.

Forgot to add, one of these years I'd like for us to get away on trip somewhere. Maybe for our 15th or 20th we can plan something.

 

This is us...exactly. I answered no because it does really depend. We were going to take a trip for our 20th while our kids were at camp but alas this is the one year that camp was cancelled! Oh well!

[Kari C in SC]

I chose other celebration because it varies from year to year. Sometimes it is dinner for 2. Sometimes a family dinner out. Sometimes a trip. The trips are not usually on our actual anniversary though. Just somewhere around it. We don't do individual gifts. Sometimes we buy something for the house and call it an anniversary gift.

[Hoot]

I voted for "occasionally, if I remember," only because that was the closest that fit. Neither DH nor I can forget our actual anniversary date since it's on his birthday. We do celebrate some years by going out to dinner, other years it just kind of gets wrapped into his birthday dinner. We don't buy each other anniversary gifts though. If we get anything at all it is something we need or want for the house. I think last year we bought a new mattress, bedspread, and recliner for our bedroom.

[SailorMom]

We have a hybrid method :)

Every 5th year we take a big trip. This last one was our 20th and we took a 2 week cruise to Hawaii.

On regular years we take a one or two night mini-vacation or just go out for dinner depending on the situation at the time.

We don't celebrate Valentine's Day (we consider it a Hallmark Holiday and it is only a month-ish after our anniversary), and don't do elaborate birthday's or mothers' and fathers' days, but we do splurge on our anniversary. I think it has been worth every penny and then some :)