DIY and low cost anniversary gift ideas

Hi guys! I am just popping in for a minute. I had actually not planned a post for today, but then my amazing husband did the best, sweetest, and very thoughtful thing which I had to share. One, because he is an amazing man and deserves a little public bragging. Two, because it is such a good DIY gift I needed to get it out there for all of those summer anniversaries coming up. See, today is our 9 year wedding anniversary, I have no clue where the time has gone. Don’t worry, this is not a post where I get all mushy and sweet. I will save that to tell my husband. This post is about a DIY and low cost anniversary gift ideas. Dale has been bitten by the DIY bug as well, and while I do enjoy getting jewelry or other gifts. This one that he gave me is one of the best ones yet. He did this, with the kids help without me knowing about it. I apparently need to pay attention more to what is going on around this house.

OK, so maybe a little gushing before I get to the low cost gift ideas. We got married when we were babies, and this past 9 years has seen us through a lot. We were two kids in love and wanting to do things our way, go through life together. Still today, we are not kids anymore but we have had a few of those. It is amazing what kids, over a decade together, a house, jobs, finishing college, and life will do to love. We are fortunate enough that with each obstacle it has brought us closer and more in love. I shared a little bit of our story at SheKnows and you can read that full post if you wanted to. We had a whirlwind start but have settled into a chaotic different kind of whirlwind. However, now we are a team, he is my main man and legally obligated best friend. What can I say? Love is pretty amazing!

Now, onto the low cost gift ideas I promised you, I have always been a big fan of music. I adore the words and feelings shared. I also have always tried to find a song that matched what I was feeling at any given time. This is a tradition I started back when I was 8 and deliriously in love with Johnathan Taylor Thomas, I rocked out to Mariah Carey like it was no ones business, her songs of love fit my devotion to that cute actor. I have continued with the tradition (not the JTT obsession) and used music as a way to articulate how I feel.

Dale and I have a notebook that we write in with any poems or songs we come across that means something to us. Usually about us, our love, our journey, our marriage. He writes in it when he comes across something and I do the same. The first entry in it is our wedding song. It has been a tradition we have done for years now, and when one of us has written in it we leave the book on the other persons pillow. It is amazing to read something that your spouse has chosen as a reflection of us. Depending on what we are going through it is sweet words of love, or words of getting through a hard time, or saying sorry. This has become our new journey, our story.

It is such a simple way to make sure the love of your life knows just how special they are. It is really nice to not just feel it but know it. With each new entry we both get that great validation that we are still in this, he still gives me butterflies, and I still make him feel warm and fuzzy. See, this is why I have to use other peoples words to affirm my love. I turn to stereotypes and phrases not even close to how I truly feel. Those singers, poets and songwriters have a way with words I will never have. I borrow their words, but the feelings are very much the same.

The other part to this DIY and low cost anniversary gift ideas is what I received just this morning! Dale made this for me with our wedding date and a sweet note in the chalkboard portion. I will be completely honest and say that the note written in the center has been added in photoshop. He wrote something that was special to us in it. While I want to share the idea of this with everyone, his words are special to just us.

Dale did not take any pictures of this process (shame on him) but it is a really straight forward idea. He used a 2×4 that he stained with a dark walnut stain. I know this because it is my absolute favorite wood stain and I can spot it anywhere.

He purchased the tiny chalkboard from Michaels and used a standard nail in the 2×4 to hang it.

The letters he made by getting a stencil and tracing our anniversary date. Then cutting them out. He used thin wood for this and then finished it off with turquoise spray paint. Because it is my favorite color to decorate with and we always have a lot of it hanging around here.

I cannot even tell you what this means to me. It is the best example of how we have grown and gotten to know each other. Nothing like 9 years of life to confirm he can throw together a gift like this and make me have happy tears. This is one of those gifts you cherish, more so for the thought, idea and work he put into it over the actual gift. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I adore the results. But knowing he wanted to make this for me, put thought into how I would want it to look, and did this to make me happy. My friends, someone putting in effort to make you happy is such a special thing that needs to be cherished.

We are fortunate to have 9 years of marriage (12 of being together) with happiness, work, tough times, struggles, laughter, quiet moments, chaos, and love. So much love. When it comes to gifts, but especially anniversary gifts, from the heart is always the way to go. These DIY and low cost anniversary gift ideas will not break the bank, or even take that much effort. But the results is a happy partner who feels so loved. That is what celebrating an anniversary is all about. Taking the time in our crazy life to acknowledge what you have been through, where you have been, and where you will go… together. For now I am off to take my kids to the library, we have a baseball game tonight for my boys’ and we wont get to officially celebrate our anniversary until this weekend. Because, life; but, we get to cheer on our boys, enjoy our crew of littles and take in the life we have, together.