How to Know the Wedding Anniversary Gems

One of the more traditional ways to celebrate a wedding anniversary is to give a gift with the gemstone that represents the number of years you've been married. Both traditional and alternate anniversary gem options exist for each anniversary. Some gems, like diamond, repeat on anniversary gem lists, but these gems are usually for more widely celebrated anniversary milestones like the ten or even sixty year anniversaries.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Count the number of years since the wedding date. The anniversary gems start at the first year mark. For example, if you were married on September 18, 2004 the list starts the following year on your first anniversary.
2. Review the anniversary gem chart. You can find the chart on the American Gem Society website. There are both traditional and alternate lists of anniversary gems. The alternate list gives some great alternatives if you know your spouse doesn't like the traditional gem for a given year. For example, if you're celebrating your seventh wedding anniversary you could either give the traditional onyx or the alternate choice, a yellow sapphire.
3. Celebrate anniversaries marking decades with rare, precious gemstones. Celebrate your tenth with diamonds or blue sapphires. Emeralds or yellow diamonds make a lasting statement as a twentieth anniversary gift. Many people call fiftieth anniversaries the "golden anniversary" and gold is what you should give, either gold metal or a golden topaz would be the gift of choice.
4. Get creative when looking over the anniversary gem list and thinking of corresponding gifts. Gems come in all shapes and sizes and can be set in many different ways so individual tastes should influence your decision. Jeweled hair combs, hair sticks, inlaid boxes or picture frames are all possible gifts that aren't as predictable as earrings or a necklace.
5. Keep the anniversary gem list handy. You can save the link or print it out, reduce the size using a word processing program, laminate it and keep it in your wallet for quick reference.

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