How Do Mustachians Celebrate Anniversaries?

[magswill_1999]

Just curious ... How do Mustachians celebrate their anniversaries?  We're two Mustachians celebrating ten years of marital bliss. Funny thing, neither of us want to go out to a fancy restaurant or buy jewelry and what-not for each other. Which is all fine and good, but curious how others celebrate.

[Spork]

Occasionally for birthdays/anniversaries we'll go to a nice restaurant.  Usually something we find difficult to do at home.  (Sushi, for example.)

But usually we have a celebratory meal at home -- usually a nice rare steak or lamb chop.

[Michelle119]

We are celebrating our one year anniversary tomorrow and going to dinner. Next week we splurged and bought tickets to see a band that we both enjoy. We have always been more of buying experiences than buying jewelry and junk for each other.

[Spork]

And to explain all of that, I got married on Halloween. :)

Judging by your profile pic... I have a suspicion that your anniversary is just plain fun.  (We did St Paddy's Day... but... outside of drunkenness, there isn't much in the US associated with that day.)

[kkbmustang]

The Hubs and I just hit the 18 year mark. We didn't do anything but wish the other a happy anniversary. Of course we are remodeling our house and didn't want o spend additional money so there's that.

[pdxvandal]

We're also celebrating our 10-year in October. We're going to Puerto Vallarta for four nights. Not very Mustachian, I know, but since we had our child in 2010, we haven't been able to do much travel.

My sister is coming over to take care of our daughter for the four nights. Got two round trip tickets from Oregon for $800, thanks to an Alaska Airlines companion ticket. I'm OK with spending money on travel and experiences, but not on jewelry or tangible things.

Typically, though, we go out to dinner. This year, we decided to splurge a little.

[Ozstache]

Normally we don't do anything special for our anniversary, however this year was our 25th and my parents gave us some money towards a special meal out. My wife has always wanted to go to a fancy restaurant by the lakeside so, since she's always been a loyal mustachian otherwise, we decided to splash out on it and with me promising not to complain about the fancypantsness of it all. Although it ended up costing quite a bit, we had a fantastic and memorable evening with a beautiful meal and a nice bottle of wine.  It did show me that sometimes it's OK to put your spendypants on to go out!

[Rural]

Sometimes we go out to dinner; if it's a weekend we'll pack a picnic in the Jeep instead and head for the top of some really big rocks (weather permitting). Except this year, when we both forgot, which is slightly embarrassing, but okay.

[gooki]

We will happily go out for lunch or dinner, and skip the gifts.

At least with eating out I know most of my money is going back into the local economy.

[NumberJohnny5]

Sleep late, finish decorating the outside, have a nice lunch out, putter around and maybe take a nap, then relax outside on comfortable chairs and greet all the little ghosts, princesses and superheroes that come to visit our house. It's great fun.

Coming up on our 11th anniversary this year.


And to explain all of that, I got married on Halloween. :)

The Lady of the Manners would surely approve, probably with glee.

[Frugalady10]

We got married on Earth Day, without realizing it was earth day. so I always feel like I have to do something good for the planet. my favorite thing to do is get a babysitter. Then just do anything alone the two of us,even if its just go home..

[renbutler]

Usually we try to have at least an evening alone without our two young children.

Our sixth anniversary is coming up in a couple weeks. I think we're going a little bigger this time -- a day trip to Mammoth Cave without the kids. :)

[Joshin]

We forget our anniversary every year. It usually plays out like this:
him: Is today our anniversary?
me: no...I think it's tomorrow.
*off to check our marriage certificate*
both: Oops! It was yesterday. Happy anniversary, babe!

This has been going on for nine years. To be fair, it is just some random date in January with no other significance, chosen solely because it was the cheapest day to rent the wedding venue. I also always remember birthdays and put together rather slamming celebrations for those, if I do say so myself.

[Rural]

We forget our anniversary every year. It usually plays out like this:
him: Is today our anniversary?
me: no...I think it's tomorrow.
*off to check our marriage certificate*
both: Oops! It was yesterday. Happy anniversary, babe!

This has been going on for nine years. To be fair, it is just some random date in January with no other significance, chosen solely because it was the cheapest day to rent the wedding venue. I also always remember birthdays and put together rather slamming celebrations for those, if I do say so myself.

I've decided not to worry about it at all. As I told my husband when he started to get that panicked look in his eyes, as long as you act like you're married every day, the rest is gravy.

[maryofdoom]

My husband has joined the volunteer fire department's bagpipe band, and the annual firemens' convention is always the weekend of our anniversary. So for the past few years, we've been spending our actual anniversary apart. He will usually cook me a nice dinner sometime around then, though, which is always pleasant.

[hybrid]

Oh gosh, I'm pretty sure I should not share that on this forum....

Um, and we go out to dinner too.  For 27 years now.

[snshijuptr]

This year I believe the plan involves staring at each other saying "holy crap it's been 4 years!" In previous years it was "holy crap we've got a baby, screw our anniversary", "holy crap we are going to start trying to have a baby we should actually go out to a nice meal", and ... I don't really remember our first anniversary. We both think gifts are majorly overrated and usually an annoyance for the giver and receiver so we don't really bother with that.

[Random]

We were not together for our first four anniversaries (field work).  Number five we were traveling around the US Southwest with my wife's parents.  Went to a bed tex-mex restaurant in Gallop that served shrimp cocktail sauce with chips.  Fun, not romantic.

Our anniversaries since have been low key.  Often we have been strapped for cash because of building out of pocket or some such.  I think we refer to our 10th as our "Tyvek anniversary".  We splurged the year we turned 20 by buying a skiff to use for beach camping.  Not at all associated with the anniversary, but we felt like we had splurged for the year, so the 20th was our "aluminum anniversary"

[MrsPete]

I think we're in the majority here:  We either have a nice meal out, or we cook something special at home.  No gifts (or even cards) are exchanged. 

We did take a trip for our 10th and 20th anniversaries.

Related topics:  We tend to celebrate Valentine's Day, Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day in the same way, but we do give gifts for birthdays and Christmas.   

[Ms Betterhome]

We usually buy a bottle of real champagne ( as opposed to sparking wine), and drink it in the bathtub. We're up to 9 years this coming February, will probably do something fancier for our Decade.

[travelbug]

We normally get Thai for dinner and eat it at home so as we can relax and chat and don't have to get dressed up. We did go out one year, but most years we opt for Thai and each other's company.

We don't do gifts or cards. Just love.

We have had 13 anniversaries so far.

[Zaga]

For our first we went to Florida, then came back to an emergency in the family.  Then for our 5th we went on a cruise and came back to a very stressful work situation with my job being eliminated and me being switched to a new department.  I don't remember so much the other ones, they were pretty low key.  Lesson seems to be that going away leads to loads of stress in our house.

[ace1224]

we aren't actually married but this summer was ten years.  we usually forget to remember, then remember and high five, and then decide to go out to dinner

[rubybeth]

We are not mustachian when it comes to anniversaries. We are coming up on five years in August, and we are always on vacation during our anniversary because we got married the day before my extended family's annual lake resort family trip. We usually try to get away from the family for a bit, go into the nearest town and have lunch. There's usually some reminiscing with family about how lovely our small wedding was, which is always fun. I love jewelry, and have gotten a few expensive pieces over the years but my collection is just about complete (usually eBay finds). This year, we decided to splurge and also get tickets to the Vampire Weekend concert a few days before our anniversary. A couple years ago, we got season tickets to the orchestra (3 concerts).

[Rebecca Stapler]

In years past, I had flowers delivered to work. Not sure if that will happen this year.

Right now, the plan is that our son will sleep over at grandma's. Not sure what else is on the menu yet!

[jrhampt]

Ours is in the summer.  Weather permitting, there's a scenic bike ride by the shore that we like to do, followed by dinner.

[MsSindy]

Back in the day we use to go out to fancy dinners.  Lately I just plan fancy meals at home - complete with a tablecloth, china and some decorations (themed).  After he goes to work, I set up everything so when we both come home, the table is set and I just need to do some last minute prep.  He'll usually bring a small bouquet of flowers for the table.

If it's a weekend, we'll usually go out dancing - found a Meet-up group that caters to those of us over 35, so that's been fun!

After 22 years, I'm looking for something different to do to mark the occassion.  If it's mid-week, dinner at home is fine and preferred.  But I think I might do something like a picnic - in our living room since it is January and usually snowy.

We stopped exchanging gifts for all occassions about 2 or 3 years after we got married - if we wanted something, we bought it (this was pre-MMM).  It's the same now, it's just that we don't want much!

[Hunny156]

We stopped doing the gift-giving thing years ago.  I usually troll discount vacation websites to find deals for places we want to travel, so those become our "gifts".  I will literally tell hubby "Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary & Merry Christmas!"  We do exchange cards on the actual day, but that's pretty much it.

On a slightly related note, I even got hubby to call off the mindless gift giving from his Mom this year!  Just a simple card exchange, and that's it.  So much easier than trying to think of the perfect gift several times/year, being very mindful of costs, and then having to answer the awkward question "What do you want for your birthday/Christmas?"  My answer is always the same, nothing in particular.  If I need something, I go out and buy it.  If I can't afford it, I save up and then buy it.  I don't create wishlists and hope someone else will take care of my needs...

[ghatko]

We don't do anything for our anniversary. My husband couldn't tell you our anniversary if his life depended on it :P He might be able to give you the season it is in. I don't mind, and neither one of us wants gifts/cards. So I will usually wish him a happy anniversay and that is it.

[Mrs3F]

My husband and I will be celebrating our 10th in a few weeks we're spending a night in a very fancy hotel paid entirely with travel points. 

We've never really been big on exchanging gifts..... would much rather do something cool together.

[Eric]

Congrats!  We're also celebrating our 10 year anniversary this February.  We'll travel somewhere, probably by plane, for a long weekend.  But we have the benefit of getting free hotel stays through my wife's work, so that helps keep costs down.  We wouldn't travel as much without that benefit.

[iamsoners]

hmmm, we seem to splurge more than most here but probably less than the general public.  We usually pick one of the nicer chain hotels somewhere within a three hours drive, check-in and try to use all the amenities.  It's January so for me that includes turning the heat up to 80 degrees and feeling warm for the first time in weeks.  Then we go out to dinner at a new restaurant.  Overall cost is usually about $200--way more than necessary but we love it.

[kolorado]

My 13th anniversary is in November. We'll probably do what we did last year, which is order a big Chinese take-out dinner and stuff ourselves silly at home with our kids. I made a special dessert to go with it and dressed up too. After dinner we put a movie(library!) on for the kids downstairs then went to our room and just snuggled and talked. It was one of the most fun anniversaries we've ever had.
Before that we'd drop off the kids at my mother's and see a movie or go out to eat for $40. Big spenders here. :P We never buy each other gifts. But we did rent a mountain cabin for a week on our first anniversary. Cost less than $1000 for travel, the cabin and food and it was wonderful.
As a Quaker, I'm not into having a ton of days to celebrate every year, especially days that businesses are so eager to push as an excuse to buy stuff, so I keep it to our birthdays and Thanksgiving. The only reason I acknowledge our anniversary at all is for my hubby. It matters to him which I think is sweet. :) For us, it's really about planning to eliminate some of the distractions of an average day so that we can spend quality time together. We should do that more often. :D

[ghatko]

We don't do anything for our anniversary. My husband couldn't tell you our anniversary if his life depended on it :P He might be able to give you the season it is in. I don't mind, and neither one of us wants gifts/cards. So I will usually wish him a happy anniversay and that is it.

I forgot to add that we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary in April.

[swiper]

We don't do anything for our anniversary. My husband couldn't tell you our anniversary if his life depended on it :P He might be able to give you the season it is in. I don't mind, and neither one of us wants gifts/cards. So I will usually wish him a happy anniversay and that is it.

I forgot to add that we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary in April.

I knew it was in the spring before reading "April" ...  Happy belated anniversary sweetheart :p

[anastrophe]

We too used to go out to dinner and now make a nicer dinner at home. But our anniversary is in the fall so sometimes we go hiking too:)

[MakingSenseofCents]

We always like to do more simple things, such as a picnic in the park or a nice dinner on our patio :)

[termetgirl]

We go together to a specific store in our city that sells Sid Dickens tiles, and we choose one together. So, we currently have five on our wall, and it will be six this year. Because our anniversary is a few days off from Christmas, and we often travel around that time of year to see family etc., I take a few minutes to write on a slip of paper a little about what we did that anniversary and "where we were at" in life at that anniversary (ex. "pregnant with N"), and I tape it to the back, before it goes up on the wall. Strange tradition, I suppose, but we enjoy it, and it's about $80-90 for the tile and the only collection in our lives. Aside from our children. There is no gift buying for each other, and no surprise, but it's still lovely and I look forward to it all year!!

[davisgang90]

Usually a nice dinner out.

For 10 year we did a 5 day cruise

For 20 we went to a Sandals resort

22 was inch thick rib eyes on the grill

[adesertsky]

I've got a 9 year this month.  We'll probably eat at a moderate restaurant with something special (for Chicagoans- we'll probably get the Peking duck service at Sun Wah in Uptown).  Maybe we'll go on a hike or something, too. We don't do anniversary gifts.

[SnackDog]

We acknowledge the day, if either of us remembers it.  That's all!  No spending!

[lentilman]

15 years.  $25,000 earrings for her and an albino alligator gearshift cover for my McLaren for me.



(Just Kidding- we had a lunch out and flowers.) 

[boy_bye]

Our first anniversary will be next month! I can't believe how fast this year has gone! I am guessing w will have a nice romantic dinner at home ... Since we moved, there is literally no other place we'd rather be!

[Dee]

Anniversary, like many others here, are usually dinner out. (But we eat out more than true mustachians so anniversary eating out is a step up in dinning and I order a beer, maybe even two.)
For last Valentine's day, I proposed we each make a donation to Oxfam -- they had a special program running for this, with gift suggestions and electronic cards. My boyfriend agreed wrote me a really sweet love note on it that I still have posted on my fridge. And some village got chickens or mosquito netting or whatever it was we chose. (See, I have forgotten the item that went along with it already, as I likely would have if it had been a material gift exchange between the two of us. But there is a good chance that the ultimate recipient of the gift has not forgotten what it was and is getting good use out of it to this day.)