Anniversary Gifts

Anniversary Gifts An Introduction

Anniversaries, women love them and men forget them. That may seem like that is all there is to know about anniversaries and anniversary gifts, but in fact, anniversaries not only have a deep history, they are full of various traditions that can be difficult for an individual to wrap their heads around.
Probably the best place to start is by looking where the concept of celebrating wedding anniversaries came from.

The History of Anniversary Gifts

As with any tradition, the origins of the wedding anniversary come from a wide variety of sources, all coming together over time to become the tradition we now know and love.

Primarily, the practice of giving away gifts on wedding anniversaries came about in Europe, specifically in medieval Germany, where it was customary for friends of the family to give the wife a wreath of silver when she had been with her husband for a period of 25 years. According to scholars, the wreath, specifically the silver, symbolized the harmony that was assumed to be necessary to be together for a quarter-century. On the 50th wedding anniversary, the wife was given a wreath of gold, which is where the terms silver and golden wedding anniversaries come from.

Since that point, traditions have been built on the various years a couple has been together; with types of gifts corresponding with the number of years a couple has been together.
Over time, these have changed with there now being traditional anniversary gifts and modern anniversary gifts. For example, the tenth wedding anniversary gift used to be tin or aluminum. Obviously since buying a tin is not a great gift for your wife, this has changed to diamond jewelry for the modern gift.

Prior to 1937, only the first and major (10th, 25th, 50th, etc.) anniversaries were associated with gifts. This all changed when the American National Retail Jewelry Associate created a list of gifts for each year of marriage to the 15th, and then every five years after that to the 60th.

Traditional Anniversary Gifts

So what are the traditional wedding anniversary gifts between husband and wife? There is no need to go through them all, but here is a quick sampling. The first year is paper, while the second, third and fourth years are cotton, leather and fruit or flowers, respectively.
The fifth year is wood and the sixth is candy or iron. The tenth year, as has already been mentioned, is tin, while the 11th is steel. Crystal is the traditional gift of choice for the 15th year, while China works for the 20th.

The quarter-century marker, fitting in with the German tradition, is silver, while the 30th and 35th are coral and ruby. The 45th is sapphire and the 50th goes with the German tradition as well, with gold. The sixtieth wedding anniversary is diamond, something every woman loves.

Modern Anniversary Gifts

The modern version of the anniversary gift list takes our current considerations into account. For example, the 14th traditional wedding anniversary gift is ivory, something that would be highly inappropriate and unacceptable in our modern world because of the near extinction of the elephant. Now, the 14th wedding anniversary gift is gold jewelry.

Here are some more modern anniversary gifts for a loved one.
The first anniversary has changed to clocks, while the second to fifth year gifts have changed as well. The second year is now china, while the third, fourth and fifth are glass, appliances and silverware, respectively.

The tenth year is now leather, while the 11th is jewelry. Watches replace crystal on the 15th year, and platinum replaces china for the 20th wedding anniversary.
The 25th year stays the same, due to the German tradition, but the 30th and 35th wedding anniversary years are now diamond and jade.

Sapphire is still the gift for the 45th wedding anniversary, as is gold for the 50th.
The 60th wedding anniversary gift is no longer just diamonds, but a diamond jubilee.

It may seem like a lot of information for a relatively simple concept. There is no reason why you have to follow the traditional or modern versions of the gifts. It is always best to get presents that reflect the taste of your spouse and it should make him or her happy, regardless of what the traditional or modern present for that year is. Go with the heart when you buy an anniversary gift and you cannot go wrong.

Is it your first anniversary? Visit the First Anniversary Gifts page