Extreme wedding anniversary gifts

The wedding anniversary: an occasion for you, your chosen one and a 2,000ft fall. Whatever happened to romance? Well, it seems love now comes in all sorts of high-speed, high-adrenalin ways.

Many couples are blowing out the candlelit dinners in favour of more daring pursuits. Today’s full-on romantics are bored with sitting around in restaurants and gazing into each other eyes over the petit fours. Instead of a box of chocolates and an item of jewellery, a wedding anniversary gift is just as likely to be bungee jumping off a bridge, rafting down a river or rolling around in a plastic ball.

Milton, aged 36, and Lauren, 34, decided to celebrate their eighth wedding anniversary by falling head over heels for each other again, only this time from 2,000ft above Hawaii.  Milton says: ‘I have a list of things I want to do before I leave this world, and skydiving was one of my top five. Now I can move on to the next thing.’ But was Lauren as keen on throwing herself out of an aeroplane for her anniversary as her husband? ‘I had to convince my wife for an entire year that this would be the ultimate anniversary celebration,’ he adds.

So did Lauren and Milton end up on cloud nine or crash down to earth with a bang? ‘It was definitely better than the same old anniversary dinner you have year after year,’ says Milton. ‘It was very romantic because this was something we were doing together and it connected us in a different way, all the way from the anxiety build-up to the exhilarating conclusion of our great experience.’

The high-flying couple now plan to try bungee jumping in Bloukrans, South Africa, which claims to be the world’s highest bungee jump. So would they recommend a high adventure anniversary to other couples? ‘Of course. Set yourself apart and enjoy the feeling of freedom in the skies,’ is Milton’s advice.

Five reasons for an adrenalin-racing anniversary:
1.    Don’t worry too much about what extreme sports activity you choose. You’re a giant leap ahead of those poor suckers who have forgotten it’s their anniversary and are sleeping in the broom cupboard.
2.    Keep this to yourself – you don’t want to be seen as manipulative – but in the same ways as horror movies are known to get the adrenalin racing, a pulse- racing day may just led to a high activity evening of adventure.
3.    No-hassle surprises with everything sorted out are always a hit.
4.    If your partner is less than able at the chosen sporting activity, don’t worry; it’s a chance to show your caring side. If you have one.
5.    A shared experience of danger will bring you closer together. Remember the marriage vow – ‘Til death do us part’.

You can check ideas for your wedding anniversary on: theactivitypeople.co.uk