Brie Meyers and Corey Smetana don’t limit showing their appreciation for each other on just the sixth month or one year anniversary.

Because Smetana is part of the Air Force on campus, he is required to go to field training and, at times, forces their relationship to be more distant than the couple prefers.

“He sent me flowers while he was away for boot camp over the summer because he knew he was going to miss it, so he sent me a dozen roses,” Meyers said.

Anniversaries are typically celebrated yearly to show appreciation for a significant other, but for Meyers and Smetana, they celebrate monthly.

“We started off celebrating first month through sixth month and then one year,” Meyers said. “Now, when we celebrate, we just go out to dinner at our favorite resturants.”

While gifts given on anniversaries, personal or universal, are might be cards or flowers, Meyers likes to make her gifts more personal by handmaking them.

The couple started off by having movie nights, which is what Meyers said she described as “our thing.”

“For Valentine’s Day, I made him a movie night bucket, since that is how we started off, with popcorn, candy bars in a popcorn bucket,” Meyers said. “Then I made him an ‘I Love You’ present, which I’ve been working on since summer and I made him an Air Force blanket for our one year.”

Smetana wanted to do something a little more elaborate for their one year, so he took Meyers out to dinner to Olive Garden and got her a promise ring.

“This was a big thing for both of us because it was our first time being a relationship for a year,” Meyers said.

Maryann Sandusky-Gibson, owner of The Flower Basket, said the most common anniversary presents bought at her store are rose pedels, roses, daisies, balloons and plants.

“We usually get months such as one, two, three and six and then generally one year,” Sandusky-Gibson said. “The young men who come in here probably tell me more than I want to know about their gift ideas, but they are far more romantic now than back in my day.”

Gift ideas Sandusky-Gibson said some men have told her about are sprinkling rose pedals on the bed, in the bath tub and along with romantic scavenger hunts.

“I’ve even heard about guys buying single roses to lead up to an anniversary and then on the anniversary, buying a dozen,” Sandusky-Gibson said. “The oldest anniversary that has come to us was 68 years.”

Juniors Cole Stanton and Audrey LaVergne have been dating for eight years and only celebrate yearly anniversaries.

“Audrey and I used to celebrate short-term anniversaries earlier on in our relationship, but over the years we switched to just celebrating anniversaries every year,” Stanton said. “I think that as long as we spend time together enjoying our anniversary or holiday, we are both just as happy as any gift we get each other.”

Stanton said going out to eat or getting chocolate or cookies is always a good gift.

“Everyone is always a fan of The Cookie Jar,” Stanton said.

Maureen Lanigan, one of the owners of The Cookie Jar, said they see a lot of repeat customers who buy cookies and customized cookie cakes.

“It’s always nice to see regular customers year after year who celebrate anniversaries,” Lanigan said. “Two of our most popular cookie packages are our small hot cookies one and cookie cakes.”

Both The Cookie Jar and The Flower Basket enjoy helping couples celebrate their anniversaries, whether it’s for personal anniversaries or traditional holidays.

“I don’t think it matters how young or old you are, love happens when it supposed to,” Sandusky-Gibson said.