Anniversary Gifts for a Wife Who Has Everything

If your wife has everything, another thing is the wrong answer. What she does not have is something that could only come from your marriage: a memory brought back, a promise made again, an evening planned by someone who has been listening. These 12 anniversary gifts for a wife who has everything are built from your story, not a store shelf. Our top pick is a song about your years together, because nobody else in the world has one like it.

Play a song made for another couple

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry her name and your stories.

12 anniversary gifts for a wife who has everything

1. A song about your years together ($39.90). You share how you met, the first apartment and the joke only the two of you get, and Songbond turns it into an original song within 24 hours. It is the one thing she cannot already own.
2. Your wedding day, told by the guests. Ask ten people who were there to write down what they remember: the weather, the speeches, the moment she walked in. Keep the letters in a folder. Free.
3. A ring to stack with her wedding band. A thin anniversary band that sits beside the one you gave her on the day. Usually $150 to $800.
4. The vows you would write now. Write new vows about the woman she has become, not only the one you married. Read them to her at dinner, then give her the paper.
5. The proposal spot, one more time. Take her back to where you asked and bring something to match the moment: the same flowers, the same drink, the same bench.
6. A tradition that starts this year. Take a photo of the two of you in the same place, and buy a long frame with room for twenty more. Usually $40 to $90.
7. Art from your honeymoon city. A print, a small painting or a piece of pottery from the place you went first as a married couple. Usually $80 to $300.
8. A dinner for the couples from your wedding. Invite the friends who stood beside you, book the table or cook, and do every bit of the planning yourself.
9. Your wedding song, played live. Hire a local musician to play your first dance song at dinner or in your living room. Usually $150 to $400.
10. A letter for each year of marriage. One page per year: what happened, and what you loved about her that year. Tie them in a stack. Free, and she will read them more than once.
11. Your wedding video, rescued. Old tapes and discs fade. Have it copied to a file and watch it together on the big screen. Usually $40 to $120.
12. A night at the hotel from your wedding night. The same hotel, and the same kind of room if you can get it. Usually $150 to $400.

How to choose when she has it all

A woman who has everything is usually a woman who notices effort. Choose the idea that takes the most of your time, not the most of your money.

• If she loves a surprise: the proposal spot, the live song or the hotel night.
• If she loves a plan: the dinner for your wedding couples or the new photo tradition.
• If she keeps every card: the letters for each year, the guests' memories or the new vows.

What to write in the card

The card often gets read more than the gift gets used, so give it real thought. Skip the usual happy anniversary line. Instead, write one thing she did this year that you noticed and never mentioned: the Sunday calls to your mother, the way she handled the move, the night she sat up with your son. Then write one thing you want the two of you to do next year. Two or three sentences, in your own handwriting, are enough. If the gift is an experience, put the date and the plan inside the card too, so there is something to hold on the day.

Give her a song about your marriage

Make an anniversary song for your wife from the stories only the two of you share. It is ready within 24 hours, and express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: anniversary song ideas for your wife and why a custom song makes a romantic anniversary gift.