1 Year Anniversary Gift Ideas for Your Girlfriend

A first anniversary with your girlfriend is a small milestone that feels big. The best 1 year anniversary gifts for a girlfriend show her you were paying attention all year, from her coffee order to the flowers you brought on the first date. Here are 12 ideas, most of them under $100. Our top pick is a song about your first year together, because it turns twelve months of small moments into something she can play again.

Hear a real Songbond song

This one was made for someone else. Yours would carry her name and your stories.

12 one-year anniversary gift ideas for your girlfriend

1. A song about your first year ($39.90). Share where you met, the first thing she said to you and the moments from this year you still think about, and Songbond turns it into an original song. You can ask for changes until it feels right.
2. Your first-date flowers, pressed and framed. Bring her the same flowers you brought that night, then have a few pressed and framed afterward. Pressing usually costs $40 to $100.
3. A bracelet with room to grow. Start a simple chain with one small charm for year one and add another each anniversary. Usually $60 to $200 to start.
4. A book you have annotated for her. Her favorite novel, or yours, with notes in the margins about where you were when you read each part and what it made you think of. Usually $15 to $30 for the book.
5. A night in a hotel in your own city. No flights and no packing stress. Room service, a late checkout and nowhere to be. Usually $150 to $300.
6. Tickets to a show she would never buy herself. The ballet, a comedy night, the musical she mentioned once in passing. Usually $60 to $200 for two.
7. Her usual order, delivered to work. Have her exact coffee and pastry sent over on the morning of your anniversary. Under $20, and it starts the day right.
8. A couple's journal with prompts. A question a day, answered by both of you, to fill in over year two. Usually $20 to $35.
9. A ring dish engraved with your date. A small ceramic or brass dish for her bedside table. Usually $30 to $70.
10. The thing she pointed at twice. The scarf in the shop window, the print at the weekend market. If she noticed it twice, she wanted it. Price varies.
11. A day in the town where she grew up. Ask her to show you her old school, the corner store and the park. Pay for lunch at her favorite childhood spot.
12. A silk pillowcase and sleep mask. A small everyday luxury she will use every night. Usually $40 to $100.

How to choose for her

Think about how she likes to be loved. Some people want to be surprised. Others want to feel understood. At one year, feeling understood usually wins.

• If she loves surprises: the hotel night, the show or the coffee at work.
• If she is sentimental: the pressed flowers, the annotated book or the song.
• If she is practical: the pillowcase set, the ring dish or the thing she pointed at twice.

Plan the day in three parts

A one-year anniversary does not need one giant gift. It works better as a day with a small start, a middle and a finish. In the morning, send something small: her coffee at work, or a note tucked in her bag. In the afternoon, give her the main gift somewhere quiet, not in front of friends. In the evening, go back to where you had your first date, or cook the meal from your first night in. If you are giving a song, the evening is the time for it. Play it after dinner, once the phones are put away.

Make her first-year song

Create a one-year anniversary song for your girlfriend. It is ready within 24 hours. If your anniversary is tomorrow, express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: songs about the day we met and just-because love song ideas.