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Wedding Anniversary Gifts and Traditions

Anniversary Gift History

The practice of giving certain materials for different wdding anniversaries dates back to medieval times. It began with milestone anniversaries like 25th and 50th. It's grown more....

Suggested gift ideas are shown:

anniversary year

- Traditional Anniversary Gift

- Modern Anniversary Gift

Dozen Red Paper Roses
1st year Anniversary
1st Year Anniversary

-Cotton
-Clock

2nd year Anniversary
2nd Year Anniversary

-Cotton
-China

3rd year Anniversary
3rd Year Anniversary

-Leather
-Crystal/Glass

4th year Anniversary
4th Year Anniversary

-Fruits/Flower
-Appliance

5th year Anniversary
5th Year Anniversary

-Wood
-Silverware

6th year Anniversary
6th Year Anniversary

-Iron/Candy
-Wood

7th year Anniversary
7th Year Anniversary

-Wool/Copper
DeskAccessories

8th year Anniversary
8th Year Anniversary

-Bronze/Pottery
-Linen/Lace

9th year Anniversary
9th Year Anniversary

-Willow/Pottery
-Leather

10th year Anniversary
10th Year Anniversary

-Tin/Aluminum
-Diamond

15th year Anniversary
15th Year Anniversary

-Crystal
-Watch

20th year Anniversary
20th Year Anniversary

-China
-Platium

25th year Anniversary
25th Year Anniversary

-Silver
-Silver

30th year Anniversary
30th Year Anniversary

-Pearl
-Diamond

35th year Anniversary
35th Year Anniversary

-Coral
-Jade

45th Year Anniversary

-Sapphire
-Sapphire

60th year Anniversary
60th Year Anniversary

-Diamond
-Diamond

The origin of associating special materials to wedding anniversaries dates back hundreds of years, during medieval times in Europe...

Giving something silver for a 25th wedding anniversary, or gold for a 50th anniversary seemed right, if you could afford it. It seemed appropriate to celebrate a milestone occasion with a gift of rarity and value. Silver is a precious metal, lovely and yet slightly malleable. Gold is rarer still and even more precious. It’s why we now call them the silver anniversary and gold anniversary.

In the early 1900s, gift lists were gradually created, matching a material to each anniversary year. Though parts are commercial in origin, a century later it’s all taken on the patina of tradition. They’re a nice place to start when looking for an anniversary gift for any year.

There is a traditional gift list and a modern gift list. These lists have remained relatively unchanged over the decades. The beauty of these wedding anniversary gift lists, is they suggest a different material for each year. It gives you a starting point for choosing a gift, and ties it into tradition… If you decide to use them for one or more of your anniversaries, be creative. The material can be the gift itself, or the wrapping for a different gift. It can be most anything…

As to the meanings behind the materials chosen for each year, they’re open to speculation. In general, the gift material chosen for each successive wedding anniversary year seems to grow both in value and durability. This seems especially so for the major years of the traditional gift list. They have the most logical progression of materials and symbolism…

From paper for a 1st anniversary, wood for a 5th anniversary, and tin for a 10th anniversary, to silver for a 25th anniversary and gold for a 50th anniversary. It seems appropriate for affordability of the gift itself (especially when a couple is just starting out). It also seems right symbolically, since the later anniversary years inherently define a more durable relationship. They are harder to achieve, rarer and therefore more precious. The following is a combination of research, intuition, and speculation…

The symbolism behind the gifts of the many anniversaries in between, take a bit more imagination. Of course they still have the patina of age, since they’ve been around for many, many years. And the materials chosen for these anniversaries are equally useful as a starting point for gift giving.

Within the modern gift list especially, there’s a tendency for some of the gifts suggested in the earlier years to be more practical. The logic, most likely, is that funds are shorter in the early years of marriage, so practical may be more important than romantic. It also appears that they are not meant exclusively for men to get for their wives. Many of these early gifts are shared household gifts, such as china or silverware. Others such as desk accessories, originally would have been meant for a husband. Of course, over the following decades, it’s become an equally appropriate gift for either spouse.

Want more background? Just choose any wedding anniversary year with our ”Anniversary Year Keypad”, and then move your mouse over “Gift Background”…

Anniversary Gift Ides

Need some ideas for a wedding anniversary gift?... with a name like "Wedding Anniversary Gifts by Year" you know we're here to help!

We offer unique gift ideas by wedding anniversary gift year. Traditional anniversary gift lists suggest specific materials for each year. So in our gift background sections, we'll tell you what these are, and why.

Anniversary Year Keypad

Just click a number on our Anniverary Year Keypad to get started...

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