Anniversary Gift

This year, both sets of our parents (John's parents and my parents) celebrated their 40th anniversaries. The traditional 40th anniversary gift is Ruby. For a simple yet sentimental gift for them, I opted for a more modern route and created these anniversary prints for them. It highlights how many days they've been married (wow!), how many addresses they've lived at, how many children and grandchildren they have, and their 40th anniversary date on the bottom.

I typed up the milestones in a Word doc and played with different fonts and sizes. I trimmed some beautiful scrapbook paper to standard 8.5 x 11 paper size and printed them out on it. Then I matted and framed them and they loved them.

Be sure to "practice" print on plain paper to check your spacing/sizing before printing on your pretty paper!

Here is my parents' frame displayed on a buffet table with some Christmas decor. John's parents will find a place for theirs very soon, they just got their gift for Christmas.

 

You could use this idea for lots of special occasions, changing the dates and highlights however you want. It's a great way to display important milestones. It is similar to the framed dates I made for our entryway:

It is a great gift idea you can create for a friend or family member, but it's also something you can make for yourself! Start it early in your marriage, and just update the numbers every 5-10 years. Now I'm thinking of making something for our own home that includes pictures of our 5 year and 10 year anniversary dates.

Whatever you frame, be sure it includes important dates and milestones that you want to cherish, that's what makes it special!