My husband and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary and our fourth year as a couple this past weekend. With a work trip to Americus, Georgia falling on our actual wedding day and with a house full of guests joining us for Easter Sunday, the two of us had to make the our limited time alone together, special.

I am wed to a “closet” romantic- He humors me when I press into him about certain things that I want to do, and then, out of nowhere, he surprises me sometimes with ideas, all his own. I made the decision to follow the traditional theme of wedded gift giving, and this year marked “cotton” as our medium.

Other than buying clothes, I had no idea what I was going to contribute.

I then had an idea.

My husband’s mother created a tradition of her own when her boys were little- On Christmas Day, gifts would be stowed away underneath a Christmas tree while a larger one would remain hidden, saved for last. She would then create a puzzle, a hunt, a scramble, or a clue- infused game that would lead everyone to the highly anticipated present.

On my one-year wedding anniversary, the theme was “paper,” so when it was time to exchange gifts I handed my husband a rolled-up scroll with various clues compiled. I purchased gifts for every one of the five senses and hid them strategically throughout our home. There was a gun scope for “sight,” awesome Presidential cooking spices for “taste,” Nespresso pods and a campfire candle for “smell,” and so forth. I wanted to keep his childhood tradition alive for him, and decided that each year I would put together a puzzle on our special day to intertwine his past, present, and future. Aside from my very easy, lame clues (EI: “When I burn bacon, you might have to use this.” The gift was hidden under the kitchen sink, beside the fire extinguisher) my husband loved the sentiment.

This year, my goal was to roll all holidays into one fun activity so I once again put a different spin on my “cotton” theme, incorporating Easter, our Wedding Anniversary, and April Fools into my hunt. I purchased bunny rabbit-shaped plastic Easter eggs and proceeded to glue cotton balls to the rear. I filled each egg with jelly beans and scrambled letters from my letter board, each egg spelling out a word. I then hid the eggs around the house and through finding Peter COTTONtail’s clues in the morning, my husband would have all words necessary to locate his Easter Basket hiding spot. My husband loved the hunt until he found all of the eggs, unscrambled the words, went out to the garage to retrieve his basket from the cooler on top of our fridge, and found an APRIL FOOLS note. Hearing him swear softly as he read the note brought me nothing but satisfaction as I captured the moment on video- I stumped him! Finally, he uncovered the final clue and successfully located his basket, filled with travel necessities for our upcoming trip to Italy. (That’s an entirely different post, coming soon!)

My husband did a great job gift-giving as well- I got a beautiful cotton canvas of all of our past year’s most prized memories, pajamas for Italy, cushioned in a box of about 3,000 cotton balls, and a basket full of sweets and even sweeter sentiments.

Although my husband and I both don’t put a lot of emphasis on gifts, from a Love Language standpoint, we certainly love to think of out-of-the-box ways to make the other smile. It was so fun to be creative with an age-old tradition… I’m looking forward to our 3rd year- Leather!

What types of traditions do you and your spouse share?

First & Second Year Gifts: The “Smell” Basket, Mount Rubs-More Spices From Man Crates, Paper Flower Bouquets, A Calligraphy Set, & A Gift Certificate To Fix Up My Typewriter, Bunnies, Cotton Balls, Clues, The Top Tier Of Our Wedding Cake, A Canvas Of Memories, & The Cake That We Re- Created This Year Together, After A Few Glasses Of Wine.
Best. Idea. Ever.