Here I am, asking for gift advice again.

Our one year anniversary with the boyfriend is next week, then his birthday is early February. I made him a Christmas gift, and since I spent very little money to make it, I'm prepared to spend some extra cash on his other gifts if needed. (We end up spending about the same amount of money on each other as is.) I'm asking for advice about the anniversary gift, though. He's not a picky person, but I'd still like to get him something that I imagine he'd like.

Okay, I've currently got two ideas. One idea was to get some dog tags engraved. I was going to put our names and the date of when we became a couple on them. There is a store in my local mall that offers this, so I got on their website and customized some to get a ballpark idea of how much it would cost. It ended up being close to $60. It's a price that I'm comfortable spending, but for a pair of dog tags? Especially considering the fact that I dunno if he'd rather keep it as a keepsake or knick-knack or if he'd actually wear them.

Second idea was to get him a watch. He currently has a simple-ish watch, but he only wears it to work. This is why I'm not sure whether to go this route or not, cause I dunno if he'd really wear it. But then I remember that I never wore bracelets because I could never find one I was content with, but then he gave me one for my birthday that I ended up loving so I wear it practically every day. This made me wonder if he'd wear a watch more often if I was able to get him a nice one that he likes.

But I still don't know. I liked how the dog tags idea resembled "us" as an anniversary gift but not sure if it's worth the price. I've already considered a scrapbook, but we only have a few pictures of us together. Maybe I'll save that idea for another year.

Oh yea, he recently bought himself a drumset and some cymbals. He has one more cymbal that needs a stand, but I don't wanna mess up and get the wrong thing, lol. I guess I could get him a gift card to the local Guitar Center and let him pick one out. Or I could just ask their advice at the store. Surely they would know. But ehhh I dunno.

Do any of these ideas sound good? Or do you have any suggestions? I could post some of his interests if you guys are curious.

I'm indecisive, I know.

I really like those ideas! My ex-boyfriend got himself a really nice watch when we were dating and he really liked it. He didn't wear it very often because he didn't want to mess it up / have it get in the way at work, but when he DID wear it (on dates or going out) he loved it. And he's not into clothes or fashion at all, so it was surprising.

I personally loved engraved things, and I wanted us to get the backs of our watches engraved, but my ex wasn't really into it. Idk why, maybe it was just him, but he (and most guys I've dated) aren't super sentimental so it doesn't really do the same thing for them that it does for me. And now I'm glad I don't have his initials on my watch and vice-versa so it ended up being a good thing.

And i think a stand of Guitar Center gift card is super cute! Its practical, shows you pay attention to whats going on in his life, and you want to get him something you know he'll like. Plus he can always exchange it if you're a bit off. So I'd vote for watch or stand/gift card, but I think all your ideas were really cute and thoughtful :)

Your local Petco or other large pet store probably has a dogtag engraving machine--you can pick to tag shape and put up to 5 lines of text on each side depending on the machine! I got mine for about $11 (so for two it would be $20, which still falls in a more manageable category).

The downside of doing the $$ for a cymbal stand is that he might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere. Watches are hit or miss, but even if he hates the design maybe the fact that you gave it to him will make it special :) or keep the gift receipt.

When in doubt, I love presents that are experiences. Take him somewhere fancy? Check out groupons if you don't think it is too cheesy. What does he love? If it is music, see if any of his favorite bands are touring and surprise him with tickets? If it is the outdoors, make a reservation to go camping/hiking together. If he loves movies, find an IMax type place and take him to the movies. Get tickets to his favorite sports team. What does he love that he wouldn't be willing to spend on himself?

Thanks for the advice! I decided against the dog tags idea. I'm replacing that idea with one of those "52 reasons why I love you" diy projects, placing a different reason on each playing card of a playing deck. I know how guys can be with sentimental things, but he seems to be one of those rare few who would actually like that. I think he'd like something more that I made as opposed to bought, for a sentimental gift. But that won't take too long to make. I still plan on buying him something. He did point out his sister's boyfriend's watch and mentioned that he liked it. It wasn't anything over the top, either. A nice watch, but simple. I was looking at similar styles online, so I'm still keeping that idea into consideration. I imagine I'll end up going with the watch, but yea.

That was something that came across my mind recently, too. He bought his snare stand on Amazon. He may end up doing the same for this stand as well. Not to mention, it's not that high on his priority list. I know he'd like to have it, but he could also wait if needed. I tried looking for some band tickets, actually. But the ones I've looked up are mainly on tour out of country or farther away in the states than where we live. It would've been a good idea, but oh well! We might be going out for our anniversary if he doesn't work, though!

My boyfriend and I decided that for anniversaries (and also Valentine's Day), instead of buying each other something, we go do/purchase something for both of us as a couple. Usually it ends up being a fancy dinner night out, and we dress up for each other. I think we also went to 6 Flags once. We also decided that for Christmas, we surprise each other with a gift, and for birthdays, we get something that was specifically requested. To make all of this easier, we created a google doc that we can both edit where we keep a wish list of things we want, as well as clothing sizes.