How to Buy a Fifth-Year Wedding Anniversary Gift

Celebrate five years of marriage with gifts of wood or clocks, the traditional anniversary gifts. Silverware represents the contemporary alternative.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Anniversary Greeting Cards
• Firewood
• Grandfather Clocks
• Mantle Clocks
• Picture Frames
• Women's Watches
• Silverware
• Gift Certificates To Local Restaurant
• Museum Tickets
• Spa Gift Certificates
• Symphony Tickets
• Theater Tickets
• Calendars
• Theater tickets

1. Decide between the traditional gift and the contemporary for the 5th anniversary of your marriage. When shopping for a couple, keep both partners in mind.

2. Ask around for insight into the couple's taste and style, if you don't know them well. Try to think creatively, not literally.

3. Interpret silverware as nourishment. How about serving pieces of soul nourishment à la a spa getaway, a weekend at a bed and breakfast, a gift certificate for dinner or enrollment in a class?

4. Consider a traditional fifth-year gift of wood: a picture frame, firewood, a cello or a salad bowl. Or how about planting a tree for your partner?

5. Interpret clocks - the other traditional gift - to mean watches, calendars, weekend getaways, babysitting, maid or chef services, or a grandfather or mantle clock.

6. Imagine something they wanted and didn't get for a wedding gift, if you prefer unconventional gifts. Consider something fun like tickets to a symphony.

Tips & Warnings

• If you do buy silverware, make sure it matches what they have, in spirit if not in pattern.

• Monogrammed cake servers make for a thoughtful present. Or how about silver chopsticks?