Though it might seem risky to give an “impersonal gift card” on your anniversary, the ideas below will erase all doubt. They are convenient, flexible, and can still be made highly personal. It’s all about showing your sweetie that you know him or her well enough to pick the right gift card.

If you’ve been together for a while, get a dollar amount equivalent to your years together. (Or a multiple! 5 years = $50)

By the Numbers

Get Inspired: Buy a gift card equivalent to the number of years you’ve been married (e.g. $23 for 23 years of marriage). Partner the card with other things in exactly that same number: 23 flowers, 23 truffles, 23 well wishes from 23 friends.

If you’re crafty, fill a jar with a gift card and write 23 things I love about you. If you’re not so crafty, just make a list. The presentation matters less than the sentiment.

Bed and Breakfast Getaway

Get Inspired: Get a gift card to a Bed and Breakfast Inn and deliver it with a few accessories for the trip. Flip-flops and a new sun hat for a stay on the coast. A new book and a snuggly hoodie to curl up in at cooler climates. Tell her you can’t wait to get away together.

City Escape

Get Inspired: Get a gift card to a hotel in a nearby city. Deliver it with a weekender bag and roses or a pair of luxurious pajamas. Live large and get reservations for a swanky restaurant or make plans to stay in the room all weekend long.

Traditional Anniversary

Get Inspired: Turn traditional anniversary gifts into a modern gift card options. Instead of first anniversary “paper,” get a gift card to an office supply store or attach a restaurant gift card to an artistic notepad. Instead of wood, get a gift card to the golf store for a new set of woods.

Be creative. Traditional 20th Anniversary gift is china. Get a gift card to a Chinese restaurant instead, attach it to a bag of fortune cookies, and write your prediction for another twenty years together.

Still Bananas For You

Get Inspired: Get a gift card to Banana Republic and attach it to a fresh bunch of bananas. Make homemade banana bread, banana pancake breakfast in bed, or banana cream pie for dessert. Or pile on all the fixin’s for a banana split. Play Bananagrams and just have fun together.

Any gift card will work. Just stay with the banana-themed accessories and write, “I’m still bananas for you after all these years.” Or download this Free Banana Gift Card Holder

You’re the Apple of my Eye

Get Inspired: Filling out the fruit basket, get an Applebee’s Gift Card and attach it to something simple like real apples, a homemade apple pie, Appleletters, apple butter, or an apple-scented candle.

Or go extravagant and attach the Applebee’s Gift Card to something from the Apple Store.

Dream Come True

Get Inspired: Get a gift card to a pampering place like spa, salon, a bed & breakfast, or a relaxing restaurant. Attach the gift card to something dreamy like a lullaby CD, a sweet picture, or a cuddly pllow. Write “Being with you is a dream come true.”

Download this Dream Come True” gift card holder for free.

Couples Therapy

Get Inspired: Celebrate this anniversary with aromatherapy–a gift card to a spa for a couples massage or couples retreat. Deliver it tied to an aromatherapy essential oil sampler set, aromatherapy soap set, soothing CD, candles, or matching robes. Tell your love, “I think we need to go to couples therapy.”

Keep the Flame Alive

Get Inspired: Get a gift card to the restaurant from your first date or the hotel you stayed in on your honeymoon. Deliver it with a candle and set of matches from the restaurant. Write a note that says, “You’re keeping the flame alive” or “You Light up My Life!” I know, corny but sweet.

Someone You Can Count On

Get Inspired: Do you have a Saturday morning ritual of reading the newspaper at the bagel shop? Do you have a standing date night on Friday night? Whatever the routine, get your loved one a gift card in honor of this thing you do together. Attach the card to something else predictable—a self-setting clock, a calendar, a calculator. Add a note that says, “It’s nice to have something and someone I can always count on.”

Fortune-ate To Have You

Get Inspired: Put a gift card in a take-out box and deliver it with handmade fortune cookies that tell your honey what’s in store: “You’ll soon be polished and pampered (pedicture)” or “A dark room and buttery fingers await (movie)” or “Get dressed up and expect to be served. (restaurant)” Add a note that says how fortunate you feel to be together.

Look online and on etsy for ways to make your own boxes and fortune cookies. The one pictured on the right is by Kendra’s Card Company and it is darling.

More

Check out gift card ideas in the Wedding and Valentine sections for ideas that can be adapted to Anniversary.