14 Hands-on Anniversary Gift Ideas, gathered in one list

This post is a little compilation of sorts, with a few never before seen items tossed in for lively. We are rounding up a slew of personalized and meaningful momentos that we have sprinkled throughout our house to remind us of special days gone by. Because you gotta keep the romance alive at home, right? Some of them are homemade Hands-on projects while others are simply things we chose to display (that we previously had tucked away in a closet or drawer). And the good news is that none of them are quite hard to do (or hard to swing, for those on a budget). Hooray for straightforward and sweet home accessories that feel oh so customized – without draining the ol’ bank account of course.

Our first item is the wedding shadow box that we already mentioned in a wedding post a while back. But we figured a bigger (and clearer) photo would better depict the setup. All we did was toss in fabric from our Hands-on table runners along with our actual place cards, invitation, thank you post card, favor envelope and a save-the-date photo strip along with a lemon & lime napkin from our big day. Voila: our wedding in a box. Learn more about how we put it all together here.

When it came to filling an inexpensive Ikea frame that we picked up to accessorize the three floating shelves in our dining area, we both hoped to hang a bit of food-related art to set the stage. So we looked no further than three go-to wedding photos (one that features the table setting, another that shows off some of the fresh fruit that we served, and one that showcases all of our fairly white wedding cupcakes lined up and ready to be devoured). We enjoy that instead of being tucked away in an album they are out for us to enjoy on a daily basis.

One of our most treasured wedding remnants are the photo strips that our friends and family left behind for us (we requested that they slide through the booth at least twice so they could take a photo strip with them and leave one for us). We keep all of them corralled in a lovely white leather album, but we selected a few go-tos to photocopy and hang on the wall above our console table in the living room in two distinct frames. Simply taping seven of them to white cardstock (3 in one frame, 4 in another) was all it took to showcase them for less than a dollar. And we enjoy when our friends and family stop to check them out on their way in the door.

A tradition that dates back to our dating days is to step into a photo booth at a restaurant or bar on a special day to commemorate the event. Then we simply record the occasion (engagement, anniversary, birthday, found out we are prego, etc) on the back and stick them in a cup on the open shelves in our dining area to enjoy. Read more about that tradition right here.

And speaking of sticking things in a cup, we also have a tradition of having sushi every single New Year’s Eve that we have been together (the first few years were a coincidence, but now we make an effort to grab sushi on the last day of each year). Then we simply write the date and the place on a chopstick that we take home from the restaurant and corral them all in a fairly vase to keep track of all the delicious meals we have shared to usher in the beginning of each year together.

We are back to wedding paraphernalia, and this time it is two stacks of cards that our beloved friends and family filled out for us. The pile on the left is in fact a collection of RSVP cards that people sent back with adorable little notes on them to share in the excitement. And the pile on the right is a stack of sentiment cards from our wedding day itself (instead of signing a guest book we asked people to share advice or simply leave a plain message on these Hands-on voice bubble cards that we printed out in our wedding colors). Flipping through each stack from time to time is certainly something I truly enjoy- and I frequently find distinct cards on top of each pile to indicate that John has been flipping through them as well. Even those quirky wood block printing letters (picked up at a flea market) remind us to stop and smell the roses when it comes to our relationship.

Another cute little tradition we have kept going is sending ourselves a postcard whenever we travel. It is a strong way to record special memories from the trip – like restaurant names, and activities that we have enjoyed. And instead of tucking them away in a box in the closet, we drop them all into a glass vase on the fireplace mantel in the den that we can glance at to remind us of all the lively places we have experienced together.

This is an example of a plain purchased item that makes us feel all warm and fuzzy when we gaze at it. We snagged this print a while back for $35 including shipping, and the soft “thistle” color truly complements the sandy-gray paint on the wall of our living room. John is a typography freak, so he adores it for the graphic nature of the print. And I enjoy it for the oh-so-sweet message that we see every time we step in the front door.

Next we have yet another little typography-based collection of two. When we spotted each of our initials at a local shop a few months back, we had to have ’em. Especially because they are white and ceramic (and we all know how much I enjoy anything white and ceramic- like those birds in the background). Sometimes when I am watching TV I find myself staring at our initials adoringly- kind of like a fifth grader who scribbles the name of her crush over and over again in her notebook. Sure it is sappy, but it is remarkable how compact reminders of our union like these can be so touching- and they truly make a room feel extra personalized and special.

Next we have the vintage map (from 1907!) that I scored for low-cost on eBay and mounted in a frame without the glass on top of a piece of cork board that I picked up at Target. It was a Christmas gift for John a few years back and it is been quite a hit. We simply use plain map pins from Office Max to track all the places we have been together, from the California road trip we enjoyed a few months after we began dating to the big 40 hour drive to and from Texas that we tackled last summer. Check out a video of that crazy trip here.

And lately we brought in yellow pins to the mix to indicate the places that we have been with Clara. In fact she’s already enjoyed a trip to the coast of Delaware (and she’s a strong little traveler… thank goodness!).

We cannot forget the framed keys that I whipped up for John to celebrate all the places that we have lived since we began dating five years ago. The first key is from John’s Upper West Side apartment and the second is from my apartment in The Village (where we each lived in 2005 when we met). The third key is from our first shared apartment here in Richmond and the last one is the key to our current casa (both from 2006 when we packed up and moved to Virginia).

And it was especially straightforward to make (after I begged John’s old roomie to send a copy of his key my way to complete the collection). I picked up an affordable little shadow box from Target and simply adhered each key with a few dots of Liquid Nails and scribbled the location and date of each key underneath. To this day it is one of our go-to items in the whole house. The keys are like lively little artifacts of our relationship.

We also filled the sliver of space above our bed with personalized initials which say “J”, “and” (in sign language), and “S.” This free project simply called for a bit of googling around for initials we enjoyed (which we customized in Photoshop and printed right at home). Then we popped them into three already-owned Ikea frames that we knew would be ideal for the space.

We enjoy that they even indicate which side of the bed we sleep on. Sweet.

This next project is a more recent one that we shared with the big bathroom makeover. We enjoyed the idea of some DIYed “vintage”signs to fill up some wall space in there, but when it came to what the signs would say, we hoped them to have meaning to us. So since we worked right near Grand Central (where we met) and had both lived in Astoria, Queens at one point, we chose that selecting those locations for our homemade signs was the way to go. Now they are connected to so many memories, and the fact that we made them together also feels more romantic than anything we could have picked up at the store. Learn more about how we whipped them up here.

Here we have a customized calendar that we made at the beginning of this year. We chose that nothing would feel more personal and sweet than picking a quote that we enjoy for each month of the year. And while some are simply plain weird (like April’s “You look like a rabbit” and June’s “And then he ate my brain”), some are downright sweet (like July’s “I do” in honor of our wedding month). Check out the whole calendar making process and download a free template to make your own here.

Here is another NYC related item that brings us back to the good old days of strolling hand in hand through Central Park or Washington Square Park together. We in fact received a box of New York City Walk cards as a gift, and after we moved to Virginia we chose that instead of keeping those cards in a drawer we should frame a few of our go-to walks from back in the day. It was especially straightforward to pop them into inexpensive Ikea frames, and we enjoy that they remind us of time spent together during our courtship in the big apple.

Lastly we have our little vacation jars, which are filled with everything from a hot stone from a massage that we enjoyed on our Alaskan honeymoon to shells, sand, and even a Metrocard from our trips of yore. Plain fifty cent canning jars become charming time capsules when you fill them with items that you’ve collected on each journey and label them with the location and date written on a piece of clear tape in the front of each one. It is such a low-cost-o project, and they are another set of keepsakes that never fail to elicit complements and interested glances from friends and family. Plus it is consistently lively to pick up things for each jar while we are traveling and sift through ’em to select only the best of the best when we get home.

So that is how we do our best to inject some romance and a bit of customized personality into our humble home on the low-cost. What do you folks do to commemorate special events when it comes to home decor? Any frame collages of family members? Or collections of magnets from trips you’ve taken together? Do tell.

Psst- For more Hands-on art ideas, check out our How To page (see that tab under the header?) and scroll down to the “Artsy Ideas” category.

Pssssst- As good as John and I think we are together, Burger and Clara have us beat. They are the cutest little pair that ever lived. See for yourself here.