Most of the days of the year you can live carefree and without worry, but once a year it comes time to think of anniversary gift ideas for him. The first few years of the relationship, an anniversary is easy to remember because you’re so in love. You’ll have accumulated gift ideas from months past, and even plan your whole week around it making sure you get just the right gift.

But as the relationship grows into years, sometimes the date may catch you off guard. It’ll come on a day when you’re not even ready to think about gift ideas. Maybe you had set an alert for it on your phone sometime months ago, and the alert is ringing at noon of the same day, and you’re in the grocery store shopping for food. The alert starts beeping with the message, “Don’t forget your anniversary!” All of a sudden, you’re thrown into this frenzy, in the middle of the supermarket, thinking of anniversary gift ideas for him. You went from ground turkey to boxer shorts in 1 second flat.

“What’s good?” you think to yourself. You begin to list out the possibilities:

• that wristwatch you saw at that discount department store.
• you remember he needs new underwear. Maybe a pair of boxers!
• that power tool he’s been wanting.
• he asked if you liked Italian food the other night. Maybe a pasta strainer!
• tickets to the ballet or opera.

But do you want to know the secret to buying an anniversary gift for a guy? It is a secret that only guys know, but I’m going to let you in on it, and it’s going to change your world. Don’t worry, because anything you buy him, he’s going to love. He may “prefer” certain gifts to others, for instance, he may choose the watch over the boxers, if the decision was left to him (boxers may be more of a Christmas gift), but truthfully, if he is any kind of man, he’s not going to give two shakes about your gift. He may say nice things like, “How thoughtful!” and “Aw! You shouldn’t have!” but “really” he’s thinking, “Great, a power drill? Now she’ll want me to fix things for her.” But it’s really nothing to get frantic about, because a true boyfriend will like any gift.

Hopefully this has helped you begin thinking about anniversary gift ideas for him!