1 year of marriage
Paper Anniversary: Gift Ideas for 1 Year of Marriage
The paper anniversary marks your first year of marriage. A year after the wedding, life together has found its rhythm: the first routines, the first silly arguments, and a wedding day still fresh enough to retell in every detail.
It is also the one anniversary where tradition makes the gift easy, because a book is made of paper. A comic book that tells the story of your first year is, quite literally, a paper anniversary gift. If you are looking for a 1 year anniversary gift for him or for her, here is what paper stands for, gift ideas that follow the tradition, and a few that tell your own story.
Why paper for the first anniversary?
Tradition holds that paper suits the first year because it is where everything starts: a blank page, the first chapter of a story you are writing together. On its own, a sheet of paper is fragile, yet it becomes surprisingly strong once it is folded, layered or bound into a book, a little like a marriage that is still new and grows sturdier with time.
Paper is also how most couples keep their memories: the wedding invitation, the cards, the photos, the ticket stubs from the first trips. That is why a book about the two of you fits the first anniversary so well. It follows the tradition to the letter and holds the year you have just lived.
The custom of a different material for each year of marriage builds from there. The early anniversaries use everyday materials such as paper, cotton and leather, and the later ones move toward precious ones, up to silver at 25 years and gold at 50. On the modern list that many gift guides also use, the first anniversary is linked to clocks. Plenty of couples simply pick the one they prefer, or combine the two.
Paper anniversary gift ideas
A comic book of your first year
How you met, the proposal, the wedding day and your first months as a married couple, told in 24 comic pages with both of your faces as the characters. A paper gift in the most literal sense, and one you will pull off the shelf again at every anniversary.
Discover the couple comic bookLove letters to open later
A set of sealed letters, each marked for a moment: open when you miss me, open on our fifth anniversary, open after our next argument. A simple paper gift that keeps giving for years.
A framed print of where it happened
A map of the town where you met, got engaged or got married, or the night sky over your wedding date, printed on good paper and framed, with your names and the date at the bottom.
Tickets for an evening out
Concert, theater or game tickets are paper too, at least when they are printed. Choose a show that means something to you both, or the artist you danced to at the wedding.
A year of dates in envelopes
Twelve envelopes, one for each month, each holding a date idea for the year ahead: a picnic, a cooking class, a sunrise walk. The paper gift that turns into a full year of plans.
Paper flowers that last
A bouquet of folded paper flowers, made by you or by a paper artist, perhaps from the pages of a book you both love. Unlike fresh flowers, it will still be there next year.
A comic book to tell the story of your first year of marriage
One year is enough to have stories to tell: the proposal, the planning, the wedding day, the honeymoon and the first habits of married life. You chat for about ten minutes with our AI scriptwriter, who asks the questions and turns your answers into a 24-page comic book, with both of your faces as comic characters, created from one photo of each of you. You choose the tone, sweet, teasing or cheeky, say what to leave out, and write the dedication yourself. The cover and the first page are generated before you pay, so you see your comic book before you order it, and you can ask for up to 10 free edits before anything is printed.
How is your personalised comic book made?
No form to fill in: you tell our AI scriptwriter about your couple and it turns it into a personalised comic book.
-
Step 1
Tell us about your couple
Your photos, nicknames, habits, jokes and memories: our AI scriptwriter asks the right questions, in about ten minutes.
-
Step 2
Approve the script
Our AI scriptwriter writes a 24-page comic book: one short funny story per habit. Something to change? Just ask.
-
Step 3
See the free preview
The cover and the first page are generated with your faces, before you pay anything.
-
Step 4
Order, the AI creates the rest
The other pages are generated as soon as you order, and you can retouch them for free before printing.
Free retouches before printing
Once your comic book is ordered, you can have any page you don't like changed, for free, up to 10 retouches.
- You see every page before it is printed.
- Something to change? Describe it in a few words.
- The AI redoes the page with your change.
- Nothing is printed until you approve your comic book.
How to celebrate your paper anniversary
For a first anniversary, most couples keep it to the two of them: dinner at the restaurant where you got engaged, an evening with the wedding photos and video, or a weekend somewhere that brings back the honeymoon. Many American couples also thaw the top tier of the wedding cake they saved in the freezer, even if it does not always taste the way it did a year ago. Others read their vows again, or each write a letter about the year, a paper gift that costs nothing at all.
Traditional anniversary gifts by year
| Years of marriage | Traditional gift |
|---|---|
| 1 year | Paper |
| 2 years | Cotton |
| 3 years | Leather |
| 4 years | Fruit & flowers |
| 5 years | Wood |
| 6 years | Iron |
| 7 years | Wool or copper |
| 8 years | Bronze |
| 9 years | Pottery |
| 10 years | Tin or aluminum |
| 11 years | Steel |
| 12 years | Silk or linen |
| 13 years | Lace |
| 14 years | Ivory |
| 15 years | Crystal |
| 20 years | China |
| 25 years | Silver |
| 30 years | Pearl |
| 35 years | Coral |
| 40 years | Ruby |
| 45 years | Sapphire |
| 50 years | Gold |
| 55 years | Emerald |
| 60 years | Diamond |
What people ask us about this anniversary.