Congratulations, you have made it to your One Year Anniversary!

Over the past year, you’ve likely hurdled through a few unforeseen challenges, but you made it through with a greater appreciation, stronger love, and deeper respect for your partner. And for that alone, you deserve to celebrate your first anniversary with a lot of quality time and a memorable gift to and from your one-and-only.

But what do you get someone for a first year anniversary? Well, we have a lot of tips and ideas for you, but for the sake of avoiding huge disappointment, let us begin with helping you narrow down the gifts to avoid giving.

5 Anniversary Gifts to Avoid Giving

1. Cash

On any other day, giving cash ‘just because’ might (okay, it definitely will!) be accepted! But on the day of your anniversary, um, not so much.

Giving cash as a gift is impersonal, lacks sentiment, and suggests you could not possibly take the time to put thought into your partner and what she means to you. Point being, it’s the last thing your significant other wants on what should be the most special date in your life.

2. Household Appliances

Yes, the washer & dryer are –without question– two of the greatest inventions ever made. But giving a household appliance as a gift on the day of a special anniversary is NOT –I repeat, NOT– a good idea.  It does not represent the person you married, the qualities you love about her, and will force her to think about the mounds of laundry waiting to be washed, dried, and folded. And believe me, there isn’t a woman alive who wants to think about laundry on the day of her wedding anniversary.

If a heavy duty appliance is on your partner’s wishlist, try saving the gesture for a different, less monumental time.

3. Gym Membership

After a whole year together as newlyweds, perhaps now is not the time to bring up any potentially hurtful conversations about weight gain. It can be a touchy topic at any time, and your first anniversary is definitely not the time for it. Instead, use this opportunity to appreciate each other for what you are and what you’ve become together over this past year.

4. Gas Station Gifts

We’ve all probably seen this kind of thing in the movies: Husband forgets it’s the day of his anniversary and tries to clean up his mistake by picking up some cheap, inappropriate gift from a local grocery store or gas station. Admit it, you’ve seen that happen and thought “What a doof!” Sadly, this type of thing doesn’t only happen in the movies. And that “doof” could very well turn out to be your own spouse.

But we get it– things happen, we get busy, and we forget the significance of a certain date. If you find yourself in this situation, promise to do one thing: Do not try to fix that mistake by rushing to the nearest gas station and buying something random off the shelf! You’ll only make matters worse. Instead, admit the truth– time got away from you and you didn’t get your partner what he/she deserves. Plenty of hugs, kisses, and an exceptional and timely gift following the blunder will make things better.

5. Toilet Paper

Yep. You read that right.

The thought of anyone actually giving toilet paper as a gift sounds ridiculous, right? Well, that’s because it is. But as is the case with every situation in life, there’s always one person who doesn’t know when not to take something literally. So, if you have an anniversary coming up and have heard of giving a piece of paper as a traditional anniversary gift, do yourself and your partner a favor: Refrain from giving her toilet paper. It is not cute, and it definitely is not funny.

And if you’re really wanting to stay in line with tradition, pull out a pair of scissors and actual paper, and get creative!

One down, a lifetime to go…

It can be difficult to find the perfect gift for someone, and quite frankly the gift migh not always work out. But as long as you put in some time and effort, we’re certain you’ll be fine, your partner will be pleased, and the two of you will go on to celebrate many more anniversaries together.

After all,  it’s the first two years of marriage that tend to set the tone for the years to come, so make sure you mark down your anniversary date for the two of you to see, and spend a day or two truly thinking about what would make the other person happy!