by Virginia L. Allen

Created on: November 07, 2011

Your first year wedding anniversary is fast approaching and the excitement of the wedding and the honeymoon have already faded. Still, with all the challenges you both have faced and triumphed over together, this is a time for celebration.

Here are five ways to celebrate your first wedding anniversary:

1.) Relive all your firsts - what a great way to celebrate your first wedding anniversary then by reliving all your very firsts. Dine at the restaurant or cafe you had your first lunch or dinner date. Rent the very first movie you saw together and make it a movie night. Or take your spouse to the place you had your first kiss; have a band serenade you both and end it with a passionate embrace and lip-lock.

2.) Anniversary scavenger hunt - scavenger hunts aren't for kids only. Surprise your significant other by putting together a scavenger hunt that consists of locating a list of items or list of places that have some significances to you both. At the completion of the scavenger hunt, present your honey with a much anticipated gift from the heart.

3.) Couples only soiree - a couples only soiree is not your average dinner party. It is a positive, lively and educational dinner party for couples celebrating their first wedding anniversary. Invite a small group of married couples that have enjoyed matrimony for five years or more. Each couple is assigned to give the newlyweds one piece of advice that has contributed to their own happy and lasting marriage. Since the traditional first year anniversary gift calls for paper, be literal and incorporate a paper theme when decorating. Use paper lanterns for lighting, set the table with elegant paper dinner/tableware and gift the guest with paper party favors. 

4.) Game night - there are several "couples only" board games that will spice up any game night. Board games such as The Discovery Game:for a Married Couple, An Enchanted Evening, and Speak Love/Make Love are just a few that will make for an exciting and romantic game night for the couple celebrating their first wedding anniversary.

5.) Purchase tickets - tradition states that a first year anniversary gift should consists of paper. So why not surprise your spouse with tickets to a broadway show, a sports event, a movie theater, a ferry ride or a balloon ride. If you have the funds to spare, surprise them with a pair of plane, train, or bus tickets for a couples' retreat.

So with these ideas in hand, go out and celebrate your first anniversary with style, flair, and lots of fun!

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