Anniversaries

Anniversary parties can celebrate many things not just how many years a couple have been married! Unmarried partners, for example, may chose to celebrate the date they met or first moved in together.

Tradition

For wedding anniversaries, parties can be themed around the traditional gifts given for each year of marriage, for example:

1st anniversary: Paper - how about a celebration at Greek restaurant with plate smashing and paper money pinned to the former bride's clothes?

2nd anniversary: Cotton - how about a barn dance in the style of an American cotton picking fayre?

3rd anniversary: Leather - go for a Spanish theme, with tapas, paella and perhaps a matador and flamenco fancy dress!

4th anniversary: Books - theme your party on best sellers, and tie in entertainment, food and fancy dress around favourite novels. Or how about an Agatha Christie style murder mystery party?

5th Anniversary: Wood - a woodland picnic, or woodland theme for an indoor event.

6th Anniversary: Iron - think metal with a heavy metal or glam rock party!

And so on! with a bit of imagination, most of the customary anniversary gifts can easily become the theme for the entire event!

Big Anniversaries

‘Big’ Anniversaries, like Silver, Golden and Diamond, should have all the stops pulled out – they mark a truly amazing passing of time, and should be celebrated accordingly!

Consider a riverboat shuffle or river cruise party, a formal dinner and dance at a hotel, or even hire a country house for a big family celebration.

Silver, gold and diamond themes are fairly easily to arrange, with decorations, banners and tableware being readily available at party suppliers. Add individual touches with collages of photos of the couple on each table, placed in an appropriate frame (silver, gold, diamanté etc.) play music from the year they were married – CDs of popular songs from individual years are stocked in most music and gift shops. Send guests home with an individually iced cake with the couples dates on, decorated with tiny edible gold, silver or sparkling balls!

Other Wedding Anniversary Ideas

Some couples may prefer to celebrate their anniversary alone - but that doesn’t mean family and friends can’t still be involved! Loved ones could club together to send them for a meal or a weekend away - perhaps at a significant hotel or location? Flowers and champagne left as surprise gifts in their room could easily be arranged with the hotel - or how about a congratulatory DVD or video message from all their family for them to play when they arrive? (particularly if the recording was interspersed with footage from their wedding or other memorable occasions for them).

A Wedding Party

A wedding party is a fun way to recreate the couples big day, no matter how long ago it was! Getting guests to wear (if possible!) the clothes they wore to the original event, replicating the line ups for the wedding photos, having speeches and a wedding cake – a wonderful way for the happy couple to really commemorate their years together!

Other Types of Anniversary

Anniversaries could also be reunion parties - for instance, ten years since you left uni or college, or x amount of year’s service in a job. Work related anniversaries could have a ‘conference’ style theme, with plenty of PowerPoint presentations highlighting the persons' time with the company. Have fun with speeches, and perhaps even produce a company newsletter style invitation or commemorative handout of the event. A committee of workmates should find such a party a breeze to organise!

Anniversaries – what ever they're commemorating – should always be celebrated to the max!