3rd wedding anniversary gift ideas?

[NYCToon]

For my third wedding anniversary I got my wife a pearl necklace (the real kind :-P!) She loves it. Its an expensive gift but no woman hates pearls so it's really safe.

[Siepi]

Leather photo album filled with pictures from your three years together?

I refuse to give up the leather idea until you choose one of my suggestions.

[alan]

I recently gave my girlfriend a "Birchbox" subscription for Valentines day and got great feedback from everyone.

She gets 5 items (nail polish, perfume sample, lotion, etc.) every month in a box.

$10 / month

http://www.birchbox.com/

Joe should try and get a mens sample one to review...

It's a neat idea, but my wife has gotten hyper conscious about anything lotions or whatnot that she uses now that she's pregnant. She checks the labels on EVERYTHING and has ended up replacing all of her soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc. There's a pretty good chance that she wouldn't even use it.

[jopa724]

Great feedback from this valentines day gift

So I've got a month to find an anniversary gift for my wife. We'll have been married for 3 years.

She's already got plenty of jewelry that she doesn't wear. She likes to receive "experience" gifts such as date nights or concerts, but I feel like an anniversary gift (or at least some portion of it) should have some sort of permanence to it so she can look at it and think back on the milestone.

We're also in the midst of giving our home an enema. We're clearing out lots of clutter to make room for a pending baby. So whatever the gift is, it should preferably be small and easy to store.

And lastly, my wife is leaving her job to care for this baby so we're short on funds. In a perfect world, the gift would be $50 or less, but I can go a little higher if it is worth it.

To get the ball rolling, here are some general lines of thought:
1.) something baby-related (since we're in that mode right now)
2.) Etsy stuff (she loves that site)


Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

I recently gave my girlfriend a "Birchbox" subscription for Valentines day and got great feedback from everyone.

She gets 5 items (nail polish, perfume sample, lotion, etc.) every month in a box.

$10 / month

http://www.birchbox.com/

Joe should try and get a mens sample one to review...

[alan]

Get her a nice lens that she wants. If she's moving into photography full time, you know she'll end up buying it anyway. This way you get the credit for an expensive purchase!

I've actually done this before (multiple times), but it's not really in the budget right now. :-S

[Fred G. Unn]

she's moving into doing photography full-time.

Get her a nice lens that she wants. If she's moving into photography full time, you know she'll end up buying it anyway. This way you get the credit for an expensive purchase!

[Siepi]

Good point. Maybe you could contact the seller and see if it's possible to get the leather without dye, or ask them about the dye transferal.

[alan]

Well she carries a Nikon D7000 right now. It's not as big as they come, but it's far from small... And she's a tiny girl.

[Siepi]

If you went with a wrist strap, it might be more unlikely to rub off on her clothes.

[alan]

I noticed the same seller has monogrammed leather camera straps. I think that's really neat since she's moving into doing photography full-time. I'm only concerned that the dye will rub off on her clothes.

[Siepi]

I was actually thinking of getting a handmade leather keychain, but it never occurred to me to have it personalized. That's a neat idea. Perhaps the coordinates of the place where I proposed...

10.5184899,-84.688227

Exactly the idea. She can think of Costa Rica every time she has to run to get diapers.

[alan]

My girlfriend got me something like this recently, and it would fit the leather bill in addition to being small. It might not be much, but every time she reaches for her keys, she'll think of you and whatever the lat/lon you put on the keyring represents to both of you.

I was actually thinking of getting a handmade leather keychain, but it never occurred to me to have it personalized. That's a neat idea. Perhaps the coordinates of the place where I proposed...

10.5184899,-84.688227

[alan]

Trips to the library might be more difficult with baby in tow. With a Kindle, you can do eLoan from the library. When your digital book is in, it's available on the Kindle; no need to leave the house. (Also, if the hold expires, just put the Kindle in Airplane mode -- it's not smart enough to know to return the book.)

Nice. However, couldn't the same be achieved through the Kindle app on an iPad?

And she doesn't do the library. She prefers to add to our needlessly-growing amount of paper for which we have no good place to store and she won't let us get rid of it... *cough* fire hazard *cough*

[Siepi]

My girlfriend got me something like this recently, and it would fit the leather bill in addition to being small. It might not be much, but every time she reaches for her keys, she'll think of you and whatever the lat/lon you put on the keyring represents to both of you.

[marathon]

I've asked her about a Kindle before, but my wife prefers old-fashioned books. Otherwise, she's got an iPad mini. But the "keep her occupied" idea is a good one. I'll have to give it some consideration.

The gift card idea is also a good one, but we've always got restaurant/store gift cards on our Christmas and birthday wish lists so I want to do something different this time around.

Trips to the library might be more difficult with baby in tow. Plus she'll have enough crap; a Kindle weighs just 5-6 oz, a third of the weight of a paperback. With a Kindle, you can do eLoan from the library. When your digital book is in, it's available on the Kindle; no need to leave the house. (Also, if the hold expires, just put the Kindle in Airplane mode -- it's not smart enough to know to return the book.)