What Is the First Wedding Anniversary Gift?
By Stacy, Momeo Co-founder · 2 min read
Your first wedding anniversary comes round faster than anyone warns you. A year ago there were speeches, a first dance and far too much cake. Now there's a date in the calendar, and the question of what to give.
What is the first wedding anniversary gift?
Paper. By tradition in the UK, the first anniversary is the paper anniversary, followed by cotton for the second and leather for the third. The modern list some couples follow suggests clocks instead, but paper is the one most people go by.
Why is paper the first anniversary gift?
The usual explanation is that a first year is like a blank page: new, a little fragile, and still being written. Paper also gets stronger when it's folded and layered, which is a fair description of a first year together.
First anniversary tickets for two
What year is the paper anniversary?
The first. Counting from the wedding day, paper is year one, cotton is year two.
What do you get for a first wedding anniversary?
Something made of paper that means more than paper. A few ideas:
- A letter. One you've written for the day, or twelve, one for each month of the year.
- Tickets for something you'll do together. A dinner, a show or a weekend away, given as a printed ticket so there's something to open on the day.
- A print for the wall. The city you went to on honeymoon, or the place you got engaged.
- A book with a note written inside the cover.
There are more, from tickets to prints, on our paper anniversary gifts page.
What is a good paper anniversary gift?
One that turns paper into a plan. A printed ticket for a day you'll spend together counts as paper and gives you both something to look forward to: dinner at the place you had your first date, a spa day, or two nights in the Cotswolds. Our Duo Set is two matching tickets on one card, one each, with a message on the back of both, from £5.99.
What should you write?
Keep it to the two of you. A few to start from:
- "Year one. Same table, same order, same person."
- "Happy paper anniversary. This one's for both of us."
- "One year down. Pack a bag for the weekend."
What if the anniversary is in a few days?
Printed tickets take 3 to 5 working days to arrive, so order a week ahead if you can. If it's sooner, a Print at Home ticket arrives as a PDF within minutes, ready to print that evening. And if you spot a typo after ordering a printed ticket, you can change it within the hour.
A year is a lot to fit on a piece of paper. Start with the day you'll spend together.
Personalised gift tickets for any experience
Choose the experience you've booked, add their name, the place and the date, and watch the ticket fill in as you type. We print it in the UK on thick card and post it sealed, with a kraft envelope to give it in. Print at Home from £2.99, printed tickets from £5.99.
See the paper anniversary gifts
