1st Anniversary Gift Ideas for Your Husband

You have been married a year, and you want a gift that says you noticed all of it. The best 1st anniversary gifts for a husband look back at the wedding day he only half remembers and the first year that came after it. Here are 12 ideas, some on the paper theme and some not. Our top pick is a song about your first year married, because it says the things he would love to hear and rarely does.

Hear a song made with Songbond

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

12 first anniversary gift ideas for your husband

1. A song about your first year married ($39.90). Share the wedding, the new address and the habits you discovered once you lived together, and Songbond turns it into an original song. It is ready within 24 hours.
2. A shadow box of his wedding day. His boutonniere, his cufflinks, a scrap of the tie and the order of service, arranged in a deep frame. Usually $40 to $80.
3. The photos he never saw. Ask guests for the phone photos they took on the day, then print the best ones in a small book. Usually $30 to $60.
4. Paper tickets to his team or his band. A paper gift he will actually want. Print the tickets and slip them into a card. Usually $80 to $250 for two.
5. A map that joins your two hometowns. One print with the town he grew up in, the town you grew up in and the place you live now. Usually $40 to $90.
6. A small copy of your wedding cake. The frozen top tier rarely tastes good after a year. Have a bakery make a small fresh version of the same cake. Usually $40 to $90.
7. A day doing his thing, with you along. A round of golf, a fishing trip or a track day where you show up for the thing he loves. Usually $60 to $300.
8. A comic strip of your wedding day. An illustrator draws the day in six or eight panels, including whatever went wrong. Usually $50 to $150.
9. Your honeymoon dinner, at home. Cook the dish you ate on your honeymoon and open a bottle from the same place. Usually $30 to $60.
10. The best man's speech, printed and framed. Ask for the text and have it set in simple type. Usually $20 to $50.
11. A shirt tailored to fit him. A shirt made to his measurements fits like nothing off the rack. Book a fitting or order made-to-measure. Usually $60 to $150.
12. The tool he keeps borrowing. The drill from next door, the ladder from his dad. Buy him his own. Usually $80 to $200.

How to choose for your husband

Start with how he spends a free Saturday. The gift that fits that day is usually the one he will use and talk about.

• If he is sentimental: the shadow box, the guest photos or the song.
• If he is practical: the tool he keeps borrowing or the tailored shirt.
• If he loves being outdoors: the day doing his thing or the tickets to his team.

What to put in a first-year song for him

From the stories people send us, the details that make a song land are small and specific. Words like loving, kind and thoughtful fit almost every husband, so they make a weak song. What makes it his is the thing only you know: how he sings in the shower but denies it, the nickname he gave the new car, the way he checked the locks twice on your first night in the new place. Write down five of those before you order. Add one line from your vows, and the song will sound like your first year and nobody else's.

Make his first anniversary song

Create a first anniversary song for your husband. It is ready within 24 hours. If the anniversary is today, express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: first anniversary songs and an anniversary song for your husband.