A two-year wedding anniversary is a significant event. The spirit of the first year gradually subsides, euphoria gives way to everyday life, the most pressing questions arise in full force: about own housing, about the distribution of finances, about spending a vacation.
Very often, after two years of marriage, the time comes for a family to expand: a baby is either on the way, or very small - up to a year old. In this case, this is an additional test for a loving couple, an event that completely turns their whole life upside down. Yes, the second post-wedding year cannot be called easy!
But you can also find a lot of beauty in this period. After all, every moment deserves to be lived with a smile and pleasant memories. This time will not be repeated, and it belongs to the newlyweds. You can now safely say to your friends: “We’ve been together for years!”
If on your first wedding anniversary you organized a party for two or invited guests, then it makes sense to celebrate this day on your second anniversary. If the first date has passed almost unnoticed, it is not too late to establish pleasant traditions for celebrating this day: there will be many more wedding anniversaries ahead if loved ones try to please their significant other as much as possible.
Why a “paper” wedding?
The second wedding anniversary is not yet considered an anniversary. This holiday is popularly called a “paper” wedding.
Most interpreters cite as justification for this name such properties of paper as the ability to easily ignite and burn to the ground if handled carelessly, as well as the fragility of this material. Almost all explanations agree on one thing: paper as a symbol of a wedding anniversary indicates the strength of this union that has not yet come.
Yes, two years is not enough time for a marriage to definitely be declared strong. But paper has other functions and properties!
Let's remember what wise people say about this material.
“Paper will endure anything.” More than ever, during this period, novice spouses will need patience and understanding.
“Without a piece of paper, you are a bug.” Paper is also a document. A paper wedding may mean that from now on the union is finally recognized by people as having taken place. The relationship is cemented, “documented” by two years together and, possibly, the appearance of the first child.
And finally, “Every piece of paper has a front side and a back side.” Yes, the first blots may appear on your blank sheet of paper, but this is the only way the story of a life together is born.
It is not customary to celebrate the second anniversary as widely as the first wedding anniversary: the reason may be a small child or the expectation of one, as well as possible planning of the family budget for more pressing issues. However, we should not forget about this day. Be attentive to your husband or wife, as well as to loved ones for whom this date has arrived, and your concern will certainly be appreciated. After all, bringing joy on this day is not at all difficult!
We offer you many, many ideas for cute gifts for a paper wedding below.
Bad gift ideas
- Don't give different gifts to husband and wife. The spouses as one whole and the gift should receive a common one.
- The worst gift would be alcohol. He brings negativity. It is not customary to give a bottle to married couples.
- Gifts with sexual overtones. The items are not prohibited, but it would not be entirely appropriate to give such a gift to spouses who have lived together for 2 years and have not lost their former passion.
It is not the gift itself that is important - what is important is attention, love, care. Be responsible when choosing a gift and bring joy to family relationships.
Paper gifts that are so nice to exchange
Pleasant and inexpensive tokens of attention given by spouses to each other on their paper wedding day can be of the same type, differing only in taste preferences. In two years, you have probably already studied the tastes of your loved ones well. So, you can present each other with a wide variety of surprises on this day.
- Book. For those who love to read, it will always be a wonderful gift. The main thing is not to make a mistake with the genre and author. Choose one of the new books, a novel based on your favorite movie, or thus start a family library.
- Subscription to the print edition. For your wife, subscribe to fashionable glossies, like Elle, VOUGUE, Cosmopolitan. The stronger half will probably be grateful for “GQ”, “Men`slife”, “Maxim”. Well, if you subscribe to Playboy, you will become a model of boundless trust for your husband!
- Poster, poster. Inexpensive and creative if you guess correctly with the image. Are you a fan of a musical group or a football club, a fan of beautiful landscapes or interesting sayings on an abstract background? A collage of your photos can also decorate the room.
But you can order posters and collages using this link.
The service offers many templates to help you choose the right design. By the way, you can also order many suitable gifts there, for example, a checkbook of wishes, a calendar, sweets in funny paper packaging, and so on. Three balls is highly recommended!
- Notebook. This accessory will certainly be useful to both a businessman and a housewife, and if presented with love, it will be doubly appreciated.
- Postcard. On a day like this, a must! You can buy a ready-made version or make it yourself using various techniques. Write words of love on it, you can also add a monetary addition.
- Telegram. If you worry about this in advance, your significant other can receive a telegram of congratulations on beautiful letterhead that day.
- Poem. If you can compose yourself, this is a great opportunity for creativity. Rhyme a confession for your loved one, write it on a beautiful card or something like a scroll and present it or read it out loud at a romantic dinner. If you do this in front of guests, you will rise even more in the eyes of your loved ones. Poetic creativity is alien to you, but are you sure that such a gesture will be appreciated? Order the writing of a poetic congratulation to craftsmen: of course, on the Internet you can find lines for all occasions, but we need an exclusive version, created for the only person in the world.
- Letter to the future. Write a message to your loved one that he should open at the next family anniversary. And don't forget that the third anniversary is called a leather anniversary.
Book
You can give your wife a book for their 2nd wedding anniversary, but such a choice should be made only if your wife is interested in literature or at least has a favorite writer whose works she is madly in love with.
It is better to give the book as a gift so that it is preserved for a long time and is bright and attractive. If you do not know your wife's exact interests in terms of literature, then you can present her with a popular romance novel or the Kama Sutra as a sign of your ardent love.
There is another option for a symbolic, but very original gift - a figure made from book sheets. The folded leaves can make a word, a heart, your wife's name, or the first letter of your last name.
Paper surprises for your beloved. What to give your wife for her second wedding anniversary
Surprise and delight the hostess of your family hearth, not forgetting to give her gifts on this memorable day for her. Women are ready to forgive a lot for men who do not forget about their wedding anniversaries!
What would be nice for a wife to receive and easy for a husband to choose?
- Gift Certificate. Where? Here, focus on your wallet and the tastes of your wife. SPA salon, jewelry store, fashion boutique - in any case, you will give your wife a pleasant surprise and save yourself from the painful choice and fear of not pleasing.
- A book for recording culinary recipes, if it is beautifully designed and presented with a kiss and admiration for her cooking ability, will undoubtedly delight any housewife.
- Paper craft kits. Many women, in their moments of leisure, happily indulge in the magic of quilling, decoupage, making papier-mâché and other types of paper-related crafts. There is also craquelure, origami, applique, scrapbooking...
- Sketch book for lovers of drawing. An album is possible, but a sketch book is more refined and original.
- Anti-stress coloring book. Beautiful whimsical images that need to be shaded or colored help to calm down, put you in a meditative mood, and create an uplifting mood.
- Notebooks for self-development. This is the latest trend in the world of creativity psychology. The pages of the notebooks in the “Destroy Me” and “Rediscover the World” series contain interesting and extraordinary tasks that will help you evaluate the surrounding reality with new eyes, throw off the power of stereotypes and simply get a dose of pleasure and good mood.
- Puzzles are a favorite activity for many ladies, distracting them from negative thoughts and the desire to eat an unaccounted for sandwich. Choose puzzles with at least 1000 elements, with a beautiful picture, or even more interesting, order an individual puzzle based on a photo.
- Self-adhesive picture on the wall or on the refrigerator. It will decorate and refresh the interior, the main thing is to choose a suitable image.
- Photo wallpaper, if there is a corner in your home that is scheduled for transformation, and you are ready to help in gluing them.
- Paper packaging for any gift you choose will automatically turn it into one that matches the holiday theme.
What kind of paper can you surprise your husband with on his second anniversary?
If your attentive husband does not leave you without gifts on family dates, then you should not lag behind! Well, male forgetfulness is a reason to become a legislator of family traditions. Give your loved one a pleasant surprise on your paper wedding day, and he will not be in debt.
And there is plenty to choose from.
- Business diary, planner, diary. Always necessary for a man of any profession. You can engrave his name or memorable words on the cover.
- Stationery set. Not exactly paper, but it is designed for writing on paper! Quite a good companion option.
- Purse. For the same reason as above: it is convenient to store papers and personal documents in it.
- A passport cover will adequately highlight the owner’s important paper document.
- A friendly cartoon based on a photograph. You can order such a gift on the Internet. There are also programs that allow you to create it yourself and then print it. Men love warm, friendly banter.
- Gifts with jokes: if your loved one has a great sense of humor, you can look in the appropriate stores for souvenir toilet paper with interesting designs, for example, in the form of banknotes or fruits.
- Geographic map of the world: for some reason, many men admit that since childhood they have dreamed of such a decoration for the wall of their room.
- A set of playing cards, if such a pastime is welcome in the family.
- Atlas or road maps, if you spend a lot of time driving.
- A pack of photo paper or printer paper: not quite romantic, but practical and useful.
- Paper “cake”: slices of a beautifully decorated cardboard cake are mini-boxes, in each of which you can put a small pleasant surprise: candy, a lighter, mini-deodorant, a souvenir bottle of alcohol, etc.
- “100 reasons why I love you” is an invariably popular gift for women, when the appropriate number of note-paper rolls with mini-confession are placed in a box or jar.
- The checkbook of desires pleases men with the possibilities that a loving spouse is ready to provide as a gift: “Car Wash”, “Romantic Dinner”, “Private Dance” and even the indulgence “Forgiveness”!
What kind of invitations should I make?
You can find many invitations for various celebrations on sale. But they are not memorable and boring for the most part. In addition, there is always a risk of purchasing exactly the same ones that, for example, a friend had at her wedding. It is best to make wedding anniversary invitations
- such invitations will be unique and special;
- handmade invitations contain a piece of spiritual warmth;
- If the anniversary will be celebrated in a certain thematic style, then the invitation cards will be able to reflect the desired style.
DIY anniversary invitation
Invitations for your second wedding anniversary can be made from paper antique scrolls . To do this, you need to write the invitation text on paper with an aged effect, roll it up and tie it with a lace ribbon.
If you have very little time left to make invitations, you can make them from photographs of the newlyweds
Selected photographs must be printed on photo paper, cut out figures and glued to a cardboard card. Use a piece of lace fabric and a glue gun to create a bride's veil, and a piece of black material to create a tie or bow tie for the groom. On the back of such an original invitation card, write the text when and where the celebration will take place.
If you don’t want to make postcards with your own hands or don’t have time for this, then you can order them from a printing house , providing your design. The price for production will vary, depending on the complexity of the work and the materials used.
Sample invitation templates for celebrating 2 years of married life:
- “We sincerely invite you to the celebration of our second anniversary, we will be glad to see you at the address...”
- “Let me invite you to the second anniversary of our married life. We will be very pleased if you share this joy with us.”
- “Two years ago, in your presence, we said “yes” to each other! and started a new family. We invite you to celebrate the paper anniversary."
The text of the invitation also needs to indicate exactly the time and date of the celebration, and where it will be held: at home, in a cafe or restaurant, etc.
Relatives bring joy to the young family. What to give to friends
If you are invited to this family holiday or just remembered a pleasant date coming up with good friends, do not deny yourself the pleasure of presenting a themed gift. You can, without spending significant money and effort, choose a successful gift that will bring joy to your loved ones and will be based on paper as the main theme of the day.
An unspoken rule is that on wedding anniversaries, friends and relatives should not give separate gifts to spouses. The gift should be intended for the family as a single and indivisible whole, such is the specificity of these holiday dates.
Let's choose!
- Photo album. Surely, over the course of a couple of years, the family has accumulated a significant photo archive, which will be further expanded with the birth of the baby, so such a gift will never be superfluous.
- Calendar. You can, of course, purchase a regular wall or desk calendar with beautiful images. But if you have photographs of the couple or you can borrow them in advance under a plausible pretext, then there is the possibility of creating an exclusive memento that will be kept in the family for a long time, reminding of your attention.
- Cinema or theater tickets. Give the spouses the opportunity to feel the romance of a date again and be alone. If there is a baby in the family, you need to make sure that the couple can leave him under someone’s supervision that evening, otherwise the gift may cause disappointment. But how nice it will be to be back in the kissing seats in the last row or at a fashionable performance!
- Certificates. Impressions have long been considered wonderful gifts, extraordinary and bringing people closer together. Choose the type of experience that you think will suit the young couple best. Skydiving? Hammam? Master Class? Couples massage? Dinner on the roof? Pool? There are countless options.
- Watches for creative people. An interesting gift that encourages joint creativity. This wall clock with a silent mechanism is made of thick cardboard and comes with special felt-tip pens, which you can use to paint the dial to your own taste.
- Board games. This tradition is increasingly returning to families where people are already fed up with the divisive power of gadgets. Therefore, as a gift, you can purchase classic games that use paper, such as lotto, or modernized versions of favorite entertainment, such as Scrabble, Monopoly, Memoria, UNO or Mafia.
- A toast in verse. Place your congratulations on a beautiful card and read it while raising your glass. Just don’t use ready-made templates that set one’s teeth on edge with their triviality: you need creativity from the heart!
- Chinese sky lanterns. The beautiful and romantic custom of launching burning paper lanterns will add a festive mood to any evening, and especially this one.
Help spouses take a break from family life
Standard wedding anniversary gift ideas symbolizing the names of weddings by year are quite boring: chintz for a chintz wedding, wood for a wooden one... Boring. A change of scenery is not a reason to unwind!
- It is better to give an unusual gift in the form of a subscription to a spa or sauna, where you can visit together.
- If you wish, it is not difficult to arrange a romantic trip to the countryside, to taste the fresh air and impressions. Many companies organize such events.
- Walk around the city in a carriage or convertible, horseback riding in the park.
- It’s always nice to have a dress-up evening: the spouses are dressed in outfits of the last century, then an ordinary dinner in a restaurant will turn into a bright, memorable surprise.
- Congratulations on a billboard visible from the apartment windows.
It is important for friends to correctly grasp the mood of the couple, then any gift for their wedding anniversary will please them. If these are extreme sports enthusiasts, they will not be inspired by relaxing procedures
Those who love solitude will be depressed by the noisy festival organized in their honor. It is more pleasant for them to be alone, away from relatives and loved ones.
How to present money in an unusual way?
The first thing that comes to mind as a paper gift is crisp banknotes, always useful and welcome, but, alas, not at all original. Nevertheless, this gift is always popular. What if we add a little creativity to his “presentation”? Then the recipient couple will have, in addition to the money itself, memories of the pleasure they experienced during the presentation.
- Original envelope. Place the money in an envelope decorated with a themed inscription, funny picture, applique or quilling. You can purchase a ready-made one or put it in an envelope, in addition to money, also the positive energy of your own handicraft.
- A bag full of money. Can you imagine, to the question “What did they give you for your paper wedding?” the newlyweds will answer: “N gave me a whole bag of money!” Roll the bills into a tube and place them in a gift bag made of canvas or other thick fabric.
- Keep your money in the bank. And the jar itself can, at your discretion, be tied, rolled up, and closed with a lid. The volume of the jar depends on the financial capabilities of the donor.
- A bouquet of money can be made according to a sketch from the Internet or ordered from skilled craftsmen. But do not choose this method of presentation if the young couple is sensitive to order, and crumpled bills will become a culture shock for them.
- “Rake the money with a shovel!” - a good wish for a young family, along with a corresponding gift: a children's bucket full of banknotes and a spatula attached to it.
- Crafts made from money. From this pliable material you can build anything that comes to mind and that you have the patience for: from an elegant cake to a boat with green sails. Be careful not to damage banknotes.
- Money will rain on the one of the married couple who bursts the balloon, previously filled with money rolled into neat tubes and inflated.
- Money tree. It’s not that difficult to make it from a wooden base and banknote leaves, or you can hang money on the branches of a houseplant: such a gift is always appropriate in a family home.
Any gift in original paper packaging
Whatever you decide to give as a gift, you can always create a “reference” to the paper wedding for the gift by wrapping it in paper. In shopping centers that offer gift wrapping services, you will receive a beautiful, elegant package decorated with a bow. But you can come up with a few more interesting ways to present a surprise wrapped in paper.
- A huge package. Wrap your gift in many layers of newspaper or wrapping paper. A large, voluminous gift will certainly surprise the recipient, and each layer removed will add more fun and memories that will fill the entire room before the couple gets to the coveted gift!
- “Matryoshka” boxes. Place the gift in a cardboard box. And she goes into another box, a larger one. And that one - even bigger. And so on, as long as the container lasts. Each package can be designed in an original way and equipped with humorous inscriptions.
- With filler. Fill the container in which you will place the gift with thin strips of multi-colored corrugated or craft paper.
- Paper bag with photo. Any gift bags with names, images of the married couple, and parting wishes are printed to order.
- A box of non-standard shape. Armed with thick cardboard, a paper knife, finishing materials and online instructions, you can make a gift box of the most unexpected shape: tetrahedron, heart, polygon, flower.
Whatever gift you choose, may your second wedding anniversary worthily continue the string of joyful family dates!
Inexpensive but memorable things - 10 interesting ideas
You can save a lot on a gift if you present an inexpensive item that, for some reason, a person cannot buy for himself for a long time. A long-awaited item can complement a wardrobe, interior, and become an indispensable assistant when carrying out kitchen work or household repairs.
You can present a man with the following things for the anniversary of your marriage:
- Cordless screwdriver.
- Grinder with a set of discs.
- Multifunctional screwdriver.
- Hammer in a case with drills.
- Grinder.
- Electrician's kit.
- Glue gun.
- Plumbing pliers.
- Hand cutter.
- Embosser's set.
- Portable workbench.
- Container for tools and construction equipment.
Such a gift to your husband for his paper anniversary will not seem petty or offensive to him. The item handed over will symbolize that the household is supported on it, in which the woman completely relies on it. Having the right tool at hand will allow you to quickly and effectively eliminate any malfunction.
