A personalized anniversary book for any year together

One year together: a dating anniversary book

A first anniversary as a couple has no traditional material and no rulebook. A one year anniversary book for your boyfriend or girlfriend tells the story so far, and in a first year almost everything is a first: the first hello, the first trip, the first fight you laugh about now. Each one can become a page. That is what our personalized love story book was made for; its card on the order form reads “For anniversaries & the story of how you met.”

Married a year ago? The first wedding anniversary is the paper anniversary, and our paper anniversary gift covers how you met, the wedding and year one.

Year two, five, ten: the story so far

Tradition gives later anniversaries their own materials (cotton for the second, wood for the fifth, tin for the tenth), and a book pairs well with any of them. The harder part is choosing. The book holds 15 illustrated story spreads, so a long story becomes a highlight reel of about 15 moments: the first apartment, the wedding, the move, the dog, the night the power went out.

Start with a list. In our fictional sample book, Maya and Jordan mark an anniversary by writing favorite memories on scraps of paper: the coffee date, the wrong turn, the strawberry cake. A list like that is the outline of an anniversary book.

An anniversary book for your husband or wife

After enough years, you stop telling each other your own stories because you both know them by heart. An anniversary book for your husband or wife puts them back on the page: the house that needed more work than either of you admitted, the trip you still disagree about, the ordinary weeknights that mattered most.

Put the wedding date, a line from your vows or a private nickname in “Any exact words, dates or inside jokes that must be in it?” Choose Romantic for an anniversary dinner, or Funny if laughing is what has kept you together. Add everyone who should be in the book, people and pets. That can include the kids, and the cat who runs the house. For children’s photos, a parent or guardian must place or authorize the order.

Your parents’ 25th or 50th anniversary

A 50th anniversary gift for parents is hard to get right; they don’t need more things. What they may never have had is their story told back to them by the people who grew up inside it.

For a book from the children, choose “Someone worth a book.” The order form sums it up: “Celebrate a friend, a parent, a birthday, or a lifetime of family memories.” It asks three questions:

• Who and what are we celebrating? Friendship, a parent, birthday, retirement, or family memories.
• Your favorite memories: Three little stories that show who they are.
• What you want them to know: The thank-you, the wish, or the words you want to keep.

Before you order, collect one memory from each sibling about your parents as a couple: the road trip with the broken air conditioning, the song they dance to in the kitchen. For the last page, try a line from all of you, like “Thank you for showing us how it’s done.”

Start a book for your parents, or, for a book about one person’s life, see our family story book.

Need ideas?

Our love story book ideas guide is full of prompts, from how you met to the hard days you got through. Answer the ones that make you smile and send us what you have; a few notes are enough to begin.

Timing

Anniversaries don’t move, so count back from the date. Allow about 3 weeks for a printed book, including creation, your prompt approval, printing, and delivery. Dates are estimates. Allow up to 5 business days for the first proof.

Read the proof closely for names and years, then approve it; we do not submit your book to Lulu until you approve its current version. Your occasion date is a request, not a guaranteed delivery date. If the date is firm, contact us before ordering, or read our order and delivery details first.