Simply spending time with your parents is the perfect inexpensive anniversary gift.
Celebrating your parents' anniversary is a special time. Most moms and dads are happy receiving anything their children give them or even thrilled just to spend time celebrating together. You don't have to always spend a lot of money to honor your parents on their anniversary. In fact, they might even appreciate your frugality.
Recreate Their Wedding
Most brides and grooms spend a lot of time planning their weddings which are over in a day. Relive the fond memories created on this day by recreating their wedding. Look at pictures of their wedding cake and decorations they used for ideas for your party. Locate the people who were attendants at their wedding and have them bring along old memories. Avoid spending a lot of money by making some homemade items that recreates the spirit of their original wedding rather than having it professionally done.
Scrapbook Spin
Scrapbooking is a popular pastime that many people appreciate. Your parents will love the effort you put into a memory book for them. Gather pictures of not only their wedding but each anniversary since and include family memories as well. Make the scrapbook extra special by including personal accounts from important people in their past, such as old neighbors or the minister who married them.
Potluck
An old-fashioned family potluck is a great way to give to the parents who are not into material things. Contact multiple family members and ask them to bring their favorite dishes and memories of your family. Everyone can share stories about your parents while gathered around good home-cooking.
Picture Painting
Give your parents a professional-looking photograph they can hang on their wall to remember this anniversary. Take a photo you already have of your family or have someone take a recent one of just you kids. Go online or to a local print shop and have the photo printed on canvas. To save even more money, buy a cheap canvas at an art store and stretch the new photo over it yourself. It will look similar to a professional painting and your parents will love it.
Paper, Wood, Silver
Follow the tradition of giving an anniversary gift according to the number of years your parents have been married. Martha Stewart Weddings suggests using this tradition to create a personal experience for your parents. For example, the 14th anniversary gift tradition is ivory. If your family has a great sense of humor, you can put together a basket of Ivory soap with a gift certificate to a great restaurant. If you want to save money, just use some creativity and your parents will enjoy the effort.
