Anniversary presents are harder than birthday presents. A birthday gift is for one person. An anniversary is about two people and the life they have made. Flowers fade in a week and a dinner is over in an evening. A picture on the wall of the home you share is there every day, for years.
That is the case for giving art. Here is how to choose a piece that suits the occasion.
Why art suits an anniversary
- It lasts. It becomes part of the house.
- You both enjoy it. It is a present to the home as much as to the person.
- It can hold a memory. A picture can stand for a place, a night or a shared joke, without being a photograph.
- It marks time. A piece bought each year becomes a record of a marriage.
Start with your own story
The best anniversary art has a reason behind it. Think about what belongs to the two of you.
A place
The city where you met, married or first lived together. If that is Chicago or Nashville, we have skyline pieces for both. See Chicago skyline art. If it is somewhere else, a piece that has the feel of the place can do the job: a neon street for the city you met in, a misty mountain for the trip you took.
A night
The sky on an evening that mattered. Starlight City, a city under a starry sky with a ringed moon, suits a couple with a city night in their story. Moon pieces and star pieces work for anyone who has stayed up late talking.
A pair
Pictures of two. Wolf Pack shows two wolves side by side in deep blue, and wolf pairs often stay together for years. See wolf symbolism in art. Koi Attack has two koi, a fish long linked with love and perseverance in East Asian art.
A shared interest
The games you play together, the films you watch again, the music you both like. Space for the couple who watch science fiction. A fantasy forest for the pair who read the same books. See cosmic and celestial art and enchanted forest art for ideas.
A hope
Hand of the Stars, a hand reaching up into light, is a picture about reaching for something. Lost Forest Magic Portal, a doorway of light at the end of a path, is about what comes next. Both suit a couple at the start of something: a new house, a new baby, a new chapter.
The traditional gifts, year by year
There is an old list of materials for each anniversary. A few of them point towards art.
- First: paper. The classic occasion for a print. A poster or a framed poster is a paper gift in the truest sense.
- Second: cotton. Matching art t-shirts are a light-hearted second anniversary present. Check the fabric details on the product page.
- Fifth: wood. Our canvases are stretched over a pine frame, so a canvas can stand as the wooden gift.
- Tenth: tin or aluminium. Metal prints. We sell metal posters through Displate. See our other stores page.
- Twenty-fifth: silver. A silver-toned piece. Black Hole is silver and white on black.
You don't have to follow the list. It is a helpful prompt when you are stuck.
Choosing for a shared space
This present hangs in a room you both use. That calls for some care.
- Think of their taste as well as yours. The safest choice is something you know they have admired.
- Think of the room. Where will it go? What colours are there already? See should art match the room or contrast with it.
- Measure the wall. A made-to-order piece in the wrong size can be returned within 30 days, but you pay the return shipping, so measure first. See how to measure a wall for art.
- If your tastes differ, look for the overlap. See decorating a shared space when tastes clash.
Or choose it together
There is no rule that an anniversary present must be a surprise. Choosing a piece together, over a drink, can be the celebration. You get something you both want, and the choosing becomes part of the memory.
Which format
- Canvas. The most substantial. It arrives ready to hang and looks like a proper present. For the living room or the bedroom.
- Framed poster. Finished and smart. Good for a paper anniversary.
- Poster. For a first home on a budget, or to frame yourselves.
- Tapestry. For a big bedroom wall.
- A pair. Two pieces that hang together, one chosen by each of you.
See canvas vs poster vs framed poster.
By budget
Approximate prices at the time of writing.
- Under $40: a poster, with a card explaining why you chose it.
- $45 to $100: a small or medium canvas.
- $85 to $165: a framed poster.
- $120 and up: a large canvas for the main wall.
Where to hang it
- The bedroom. The most private room, and the right place for a piece that is about the two of you. See art over a bed.
- The living room. Where you spend your evenings.
- The hallway. The first thing you see when you come home.
Make it personal
- Write on the back. The date, the anniversary and a line to them, on the stretcher bar of a canvas or the back of the frame. It will be found again in twenty years.
- Write a card saying why you chose this picture. The reason is the present.
- Hang it before they come home. Finding it on the wall is better than unwrapping it.
- Start a tradition. One piece each year. In time you will have a wall that tells the story.
Timing
Every piece is made to order. Allow 2 to 7 business days for production and 3 to 7 business days for US delivery. Order three weeks before the date to be safe. If time is short, see missed the gift deadline: what to do.
Browse the canvas art and framed posters collections.