Top five destinations to celebrate your anniversary

Follow up a delicious steak dinner with a tango in Argentina. Photo / 123RF

Want to earn brownie points for your next anniversary? Forget popping off to the local shops for gifts of paper, wood, linen or tin — instead, take your love on a trip known for these very things, suggests Megan Singleton.

1. First anniversary: paper

Japan, Asia

Options are endless for your first year; you could buy paper tickets to a game or a concert, but what about booking a trip to Japan - the home of origami? The art of paper-folding can be dated back to a poem in 1608 which refers to it.

Start by making a crane and move on through the levels of complication. Just like your first year of marriage probably was.

2. Second anniversary: cotton

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Don't bother with a handkerchief or cotton shirt. Take your love to the American south where cotton plantations sprawl for days. Sadly, you can't drink in the history of cotton without the unpalatable taste of slavery, but if you need an excuse to go to New Orleans, it's where a third of all of America's cotton was traded.

3. Third anniversary: leather

Argentina, South America

Yes, a handbag would be nice for your third anniversary, but a trip to Buenos Aires would be even nicer! Famous for its beef industry, Argentina is the place to take your love for that new handbag - and a steak cooked medium-rare. Ask for it cooked "jugoso", which means juicy, then head out into the night to tango. Ahem.

4. Fourth anniversary: linen

Ireland, Europe

The unimaginative may hunt down a set of table napkins, but if you took your love to Ireland and bought fine Irish linen from a little shop in Dublin you'd be in the good books for at least another year. Linen actually is woven flax and, although the raw materials are largely imported by Ireland today, the ancient techniques and machinery established by the country's monks of old are still employed there.

5. Fifth anniversary: wood

Northland, New Zealand

A cheeseboard would be nice, but a trip to Tane Mahuta would be way more memorable. It's also a little closer to home, which might appeal to the wallet. Stay at Waipoua Lodge on the Kauri Coast and adopt a kauri tree through the Waipoua Forest Trust to celebrate your five years, not to mention doing something good for the world.

For more anniversary ideas see Megan's blog