Everyone knows that a healthy marriage is comprised of several key elements: love, communication, respect, honesty and compromise. Beyond this list of important characteristics of a happy marriage is humor. Life together is a bumpy road for every couple. Anyone who says differently is either sugarcoating the truth or hasn't been married very long. Being able to laugh together is as much a key to success as being able to confide in each other.

Knowing what a roller coaster married life can be, the wife and I like to give funny gifts to newly engaged friends so they can start the laughter early. If you can't chuckle with your partner, the serious stuff can be way too serious. Lately, our go-to gag gifts are The Good Husband Guide: 19 Tips for Domestic Bliss and The Good Wife Guide: 19 Rules for Keeping a Happy Husband, both from Ladies' Homemaker Monthly.

These books are written in the spirit of cheesy, 1950s-era household politics with the doting wife and cardboard cutout ideal husband. They're marital satire at its most hysterical, because the “tips” and “rules” are so outdated they would never fly in a modern couple's home.

The Good Husband and The Good Wife are always showstoppers at bachelor and bachelorette parties and bridal showers. Recipients and guests love to hear the tongue-in-cheek suggestions and laugh at the retro pictures.

Most people give thoughtful, heartwarming and useful gifts at showers and engagement parties and we do, too. But we always like to throw in a little something humorous, because as serious as the commitment of marriage is, there's a lot of joy in sharing a good laugh.