My DH and I are celebrating our 1st anniversary soon. Any ideas? He'll be able to take a night off, but not enough days to take a vacation. We live in the Houston, TX area. I want something a little more exciting than dinner and a movie. We're also 30 minutes away from Galveston (beach). Neither of us drink, and we are a bit nerdy...

Theater, Dancing or a night at a hotel with good spa amenities.

I just found out that Sweeney Todd is playing in the theatre district. I really like the hotel with spa thing too!

We saw Sweeney Todd and enjoyed it, but maybe gory for anniversary night. But then again, with a nice hot soak and rub down afterward, who knows. Congratulations and have fun with each other.

Don't know how you feel about sports ... but for our first anniversary (which is the paper anniverary, if you want to be traditional) I bought 4 tickets to a local pro hockey team and we went with another couple.

There are some good sports teams in Houston ... might be an option?

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Ooooh! I'm not sure how much money you're willing to spend, but you guys should definitely check out the Spindal Top restaurant downtown. They have some amazing food, it' extremely romantic and the restaurant SPINS so you get a great view of Houston in 360 degrees!

Also, The Aquarium restaurant is really fun. It's a lot more laid back than the Spindal Top one...AND they have a ferris wheel, so you could still see the city! The inside of the place is really cool...it's a MASSIVE aquarium with all sorts of sea creatures. AND there's a touring area with lots of sea animals...and if I'm correct, they have white tigers there too!

Kemah is super fun especially with the warm weather...there's rides and restaurants and gift shops. Very fun!

Hmm what else...are the Astros playing? If there's a game, baseball games area always super fun!!

Good luck! There's LOTS to do!!

My hubby and I did a rose ceremony during our wedding - so every year we would give eachother one single red rose on the day of our anniversary as a reminder of our love for eachother.

We'll be celebrating our 1st year anniversary in Hawaii - as my DH's brother is getting married on the 8th. We'll be leaving on the 2nd, our anniversary is on the 4th, their wedding is on the 8th and we return on the 9th

We've agreed that we'll kind of sway from the roses on Hawaii, and go with a local bloom (purchased of course).

We never really had a honeymoon - so this will kind of be it I can't wait.

we were invited to the kentucky derby for our 1st anniv. it was pretty cool!!

our gift to eachother (sticking with paper) was a framed black & white drawing of the place we got married (it was in a non-traditional location) and the artist added our wedding date to the picture in an indiscreet location. no one would spot the date unless we point it out.

we just celebrated our 4th yesterday. (we didn't stick with the traditional gifts for each year though.) last night was low key. we're going out to a really nice restaurant on saturday. so we had a healthy meal (no wine) and we watched our wedding/reception DVD and then looked at our wedding/reception photos. both of our fathers have passed away since our wedding (his father last month) so it was nice to see them.

for our 5th we're tentatively planning a trip to Hawaii. i want us to renew our vows there so i can wear a nice slinky sheath dress. i hated the way my body looked in my wedding dress - but my joy was overwhelming!!

p.s. another option for a gift if you want to stick with paper is to have your wedding invitation framed (i did this for my step D and her husband's first.

Hmmm, I'm not a big sports fan, but I really like the Aquarium restaurant or Spindletop restaurant ideas. He's in college, and I'm a teacher, so Hawaii isn't really an option for us, but maybe in a few years...
For my gift, he's updating my engagement ring. I'm allergic to nickel, so he spent $$$ on my nickel free ring when we got engaged. However, that meant he had to get cubic zirconia instead of diamonds. My ring has 6 little CZ's on each side, and a big CZ in the middle. It's a beautiful setting, and no one can tell. Every year we're together, he'll replace 2 CZ stones with real diamonds. He'll do the big middle stone last. I know it sounds weird, but I love my ring, and we thought it'd be sweet to do every year.
And what does my DH want for our very 1st anniversary? A Wii game! Guys are weird!

Kemah, like someone else suggested, is fun and you can even stay at the hotel there if you want. I highly recommend the upstairs of The Flying Dutchman restaurant (dressier than downstairs)... I was happy with the food when I went there for a nice dinner a couple of years ago. Aquarium is also popular.

My parents really like going up to The Woodlands occasionally to eat at the Tommy Bahama Cafe and they usually end up staying the night... sometimes it's after going to a concert at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion.

You could also check out to see if anything is going on at the opera, etc. that night if you're into that kind of stuff. OR you could see if there are any good films at the Angelika. I know you said you didn't want the typical dinner and a movie, but a more "artsy" film might make it more special if you're into indie or foreign films.

Hmm, I haven't been to the Angelica in a year. I love all the ideas I'm hearing! Thank you so much guys!