The Dude Gift Guide: First Anniversary

First Anniversary Dude Gift Guide by gesshoo on Polyvore

In a Father's Day gift guide I posted earlier this year, I discussed the dearth of male gift guides for men like my husband.  Most gift guides are for men who are a hybrid of hipster/prepster/dapper.  M does not fall into any of those categories.  His category is more "Boy Next Door."  He likes beer, bacon, sports, and doing stuff.  Stereotypical heterosexual male.  

As I approached our first anniversary, it was important to me to stick with the traditional first anniversary gift of paper.  But naturally a quick Google search for "traditional first anniversary gifts for husband" came up with some truly horrible suggestions.  So once again, I'm doing the heavy-lifting for you ladies with men in your lives like M.  I present to you The Dude Gift Guide: First Anniversary edition:

1. A certificate for an Orvis fly-fishing school.  This was my original gift to M, but after the engine incident, we had to scale back on our plans {read: spending}.  Hopefully we'll be able to make this happen next year.  I've attended the one in Vermont and they are so much fun! 
2. An autographed picture of his favorite sports hero.  I gave M an autographed picture of his other sports hero, Ray Lewis, as a wedding gift and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to top that gift. He loves it. 
3. An e-Reader.  I thought this was a punny play on the idea of a paper gift.  Plus M is always stealing my Kindle to read whatever I've got on there, so it's about time he gets his own!
4. Your DirecTV bill, showing him that you've paid for a season's worth of NFL Sunday Ticket.  I know it's pricey, but I figure M would be at a bar every Sunday spending at least $50 on wings and beers, so in the end, it's cheaper just to spring for the TV package.
5. Tickets to a pro sporting event.  M got hockey tickets last year for Christmas and he was thrilled. I've found that a lot of guys would rather receive experiences as gifts, rather than things, so this is a great option for the guy who has everything.  Now if the NHL can just work out its issues...
6. The New York Times History of [Insert His Favorite Sports Team Here].  This is what I ended up getting for M and it could not have been a bigger hit.  I got him the History of the Baltimore Orioles, and coming off of their historic postseason run, this was such perfect timing.  It's so fun to go through and read the really old newspaper headlines.
7. A cheeky money clip filled with cash.  If you're in a household like mine where the wife is in charge of the money, sometimes it's hard for me to make M feel like he's not on an "allowance".  I know he would love for me to hand him a big ole wad of cash and tell him to spend it any which way he chooses, no questions asked.