10 Romantic But Affordable Ways To Celebrate Your First Anniversary, Because It's Special

Depending on how fancy you want to make this dinner, it may get a tad pricey, but definitely not to the extent of going out to a super expensive restaurant. Pick your favorite ingredients together, light some candles, bring out the nice plates, throw in some roses, and voila! You have a nice dinner at home that's even more special because you worked on it together, and you didn't have to pay a fortune for it.

Pro tip: If you and your partner are celebrating your first wedding anniversary, you may even want to recreate the meal you had on your wedding night.

If you and bae are all about adventure and getting out there, going camping can be a great way to celebrate your first anniversary. All you really need is a tent, a sleeping bag, fire wood, and some food. If you don't live near a campground, fret not. You can camp out in your backyard, or even in your living room! Building a fort is, in fact, an adult activity.

If, on the other hand, you like nature but not enough to spend 24 hours in it, picnicking is the way to go. You can pick a spot near you that overlooks the city, or sits cozily in the middle of a local park, and dine on your favorite things. Again, this can also be done in a backyard or in a living room, if there's no accessible outdoor space near you.

Long gone are the days when writing love letters was the go-to way to proclaim your love for someone, but it's such a sweet way to do it, so I now declare I am bringing it back! If you can't figure out what to do for your partner on your one-year anniversary, consider writing them a love letter. And if you want to get really creative, you can even write multiple little letters, put them in balloons, blow up the balloons, and make your partner pop them to get the letters.

If you want to do something a little different to celebrate your one-year mark, be a tourist in your own city for the day. Visit all the cool local spots that people come to see that you may take for granted since you see them every day. Or, if you feel like you've seen your city enough, go one town over, and explore what they have to offer. It can be like your own little staycation.

This affordable way to celebrate your anniversary can kind of piggyback on the previous one. By hiding little clues throughout your city, you and your boo can see different parts that you don't really get to see very often. Not to mention, watching bae trying to figure out all your clues can be so fun!

Paint-and-sip classes are fun, but they can get a little pricey. So, instead of paying for one of the classes, consider making your own. Find a tutorial for a painting online, or totally freehand something you and your partner like (maybe even each other), grab a bottle of wine or two, and there you have it: your own at-home paint-and-sip class.

Maybe you and your partner went to dinner and a movie for your first date, or maybe you went a less traditional route, like a cooking class or an ice skating date. Either way, reliving your first date can be a sweet way to celebrate the love that's formed between you two, 52 weeks later. It's like an ode to the past, to the beginning, and a toast to where you are now. You made it!

Having a full-blown cake may not be exactly typical on a first anniversary, but hey, why not? You and bae can buy all the ingredients together, buy a heart-shaped mold (if you want to go all out), and bake it together. If you want to make it extra ~fun~, bake it naked.

So, if you want to do something special for your partner on your first anniversary, but you can't go all out financially, any of these nine things can be just as fun, if not even more fun. Remember: It's the thought that counts! Spending time with your partner is what matters most. Anything you do will be special, as long as you're together.