Wedding Anniversary Gifts by Year
Every anniversary has a traditional material attached to it, and every year a lot of people look up which one, discover it is "tin", and are no better off than before.
Here is the list, followed by what to do with it.
The traditional list
Years one to ten
- 1st: paper
- 2nd: cotton
- 3rd: leather
- 4th: fruit and flowers, or linen
- 5th: wood
- 6th: iron, or sugar
- 7th: wool, or copper
- 8th: bronze
- 9th: pottery
- 10th: tin, or aluminium
The milestones after that
- 12th: silk
- 15th: crystal
- 20th: china
- 25th: silver
- 30th: pearl
- 35th: coral
- 40th: ruby
- 45th: sapphire
- 50th: gold
- 55th: emerald
- 60th: diamond
The lists vary between countries, and Australia mostly follows the British version above. A modern list also exists, which substitutes things like clocks, appliances and jewellery, largely because it was written to sell those. If the two disagree, the traditional one is the one people mean.
How literally to take it
Not very, is the honest answer, and this is where most people get stuck.
The materials date from a time when the point was building a household: linens early, metals later, precious stones for the long haul. Buying a couple a tin object for their tenth anniversary because a list says tin is following the letter of a tradition and missing all of it.
Three sensible approaches.
Use it as a theme, loosely. Wood for the fifth becomes a wooden cheeseboard. Crystal for the fifteenth becomes good glassware. The nod is enough, and it shows you looked it up.
Use it for the card, not the gift. Mention the material in the message, send whatever they will actually enjoy. This is usually the best of both.
Ignore it. Entirely legitimate, particularly for the years between the milestones. Nobody is checking on the seventh.
What to send, using the list loosely
All in stock at the time of writing.
- 5th, wood. The Gourmet Cheeseboard Hamper or the Chateau Tanunda Shiraz & Gourmet Wooden Crate. A wooden board or crate is about as neat a fit as this list ever gives you.
- 15th, crystal. The Luxury Gift Hamper For Her includes stemless glasses, which is the glassware nod without buying a set nobody asked for.
- 25th, silver. The Luxury Moet Hamper. A silver anniversary wants something that reads as an occasion, and champagne does that without needing to be silver.
- 40th and up. The Veuve Clicquot Champagne Celebration Hamper. At this end the gift is a toast, not an object.
- Any year, when you want it to be right rather than clever. The Connoisseur's Wine Collection Hamper, with a red and a white so neither of them compromises.
- The in-between years. The Red & White Wine Gift Box or the Home Celebration Hamper.
More in anniversary hampers.
Frequently asked questions
Your own anniversary, or someone else's
It changes what you should send, and people often forget that.
Your own. The material list is a bit of fun and nothing more. Send what they like. You know.
A friend or family member's. The list is genuinely useful here, because it gives you a starting point when you have none. A gift for a couple should be something they consume together rather than an object one of them has to find a home for.
Parents or grandparents. The milestone years matter most: 25th, 40th, 50th. These deserve the step up in spend, and they are the occasions where a bottle with a recognisable name does real work.
A work anniversary. Different thing entirely, and the material list does not apply. See how to make a work anniversary unforgettable.
Frequently asked questions
Traditional or modern list? Traditional, unless you know they prefer otherwise. It is the one people recognise and the one that reads as thoughtful rather than convenient.
What about the years with no material? Plenty of years have no widely agreed material, particularly past the tenth outside the milestones. That is your cue to stop looking it up.
Is a gift for the couple or for each of them? One gift, to both, is the norm and the easier choice. Two separate gifts is a lovely gesture and twice the work.
What if it is a difficult anniversary? A first anniversary after a hard year, or one being marked alone, calls for something warm rather than celebratory. Skip the champagne and send comfort.