It’s always difficult to decide what to buy the happy couple as a wedding anniversary gift. With many people simply opting to just send a card and some flowers, others like to honour the traditions of wedding anniversary gifts and choose to send something which represents how many years that a couple have been married for.
There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to gift buying, but this guide will list wedding anniversary gifts by year and offer wedding gift ideas to try and help the decision making process.
Wedding Anniversary Gifts By Year
Once you know which type of gift or item represents the different years of marriage, you can base the gift around this and tailor it to what the couple may want or need. Here’s a few examples of the type of gift by year:
● 1 Year – Paper
● 2 Years – Cotton
● 3 Years – Leather
● 4 Years – Linen
● 5 Years – Wood
● 10 Years – Tin
● 15 Years – Crystal
● 20 Years – China
● 25 Years – Silver
● 30 Years – Pearl
● 35 Years – Coral
● 40 Years – Ruby
● 45 Years – Sapphire
● 50 Years – Gold
● 55 Years – Emerald
● 60 Years – Diamond
Using this list will give you a helping hand when trying to think of traditional wedding gift ideas. If we take the 3 year anniversary for example, this could be something like a leather bound photo album with reminders of the big day, as this ties into the gifts by year and the couple’s special day. When moving up towards the 50 year anniversary milestone, many people like to gift gold clocks, jewellery or ornaments as this is seen as an even more special celebration.
You can adapt these as you want. As an example for silver there are plenty of luxury gifts for sports fans that could be ideal.
Modern Anniversary Gifts By Year
If the couple are slightly younger or have expressed that they aren’t too keen on following a traditional anniversary gift list, then following a list which provides more modern anniversary gifts by year is ideal. You’ll often find that the modern anniversary gifts by year have been adapted to take into account the lifestyles of newly married couples, as many couples now need more practical items for the home or their life together, rather than simply as a symbol to represent the gift for that year.
● 1 Year – Clocks
● 2 Years – China
● 3 Years – Crystal or Glass
● 4 Years – Appliances
● 5 Years – Silverware
● 10 Years – Diamond Jewellery
● 15 Years – Watches
● 20 Years – Platinum
● 25 Years – Silver
● 30 Years – Diamond
● 35 Years – Jade
● 40 Years – Ruby
● 45 Years – Sapphire
● 50 Years – Gold
● 55 Years – Emerald
● 60 Years – Diamond
Having these lists is all well and good if you’re very familiar with the couple or your partner. However, buying diamond jewellery isn’t really appropriate unless for your spose. After all, you’ve likely already given an engagement ring. Many people opt to buy bouquets of flowers, champagne or spirits, ornaments or even activity experiences such as hot air balloon rides or an evening at a high end restaurant, as opposed to following either the traditional or modern list of gifts.
Choosing a more generic (but still just as heartfelt) gift can take a lot of the stress out of trying to find the perfect gift which relates to its specific year and also means that the couple can be given gifts that they actually want or need, rather than sticking to a rigid list which may not take the couples’ requirements into account.
