How to Choose Traditional Wedding Anniversary Gifts

In these days of high divorce rates, celebrating wedding anniversaries is more important than ever. Wedding anniversaries are milestones, marking the road that the married couple has traveled together. Friends and family, and the couple themselves of course, can acknowledge this special day with cards and gifts on the couple's wedding anniversary.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Consider traditional gifts
   
   Stumped for a wedding anniversary gift? Why not consider something from the list of traditional anniversary gifts. Many have never even heard of the list, but it has been floating around for a long time and can be a useful guide when choosing wedding anniversary gifts.

2. Understand how the traditional gift list works
   
   The list is pretty easy to navigate. Each anniversary has a material associated with it that the gift should be made from. For example, for the second anniversary the list recommends gifts made from leather. The gift giver might choose a belt, a leather jacket or perhaps a personal organizer cover, for example.

3. Check out the list
   
   Here is the list of traditional wedding anniversary gifts, along with a few gift suggestions for each category:
   
   1st Anniversary - paper: books, movie tickets, theater tickets, stationery
   2nd Anniversary - cotton: clothes, monogrammed towels
   3rd Anniversary - leather: belts, jackets, personal organizer covers, shoes, handbags
   4th Anniversary - fruit/flowers: basket of fruit, bouquet of flowers, flowering house plant
   5th Anniversary - wood: furniture, salad bowl set
   6th Anniversary - candy/iron: box of chocolates, cast iron garden bench
   7th Anniversary - wool/copper: wool scarf, copper cookware, wool sweater
   8th Anniversary - bronze/pottery: bronze sculpture, pottery vase
   9th Anniversary - pottery/willow: basket woven from willow, pottery planter
   10th Anniversary - tin/aluminum: tin filled with candy, aluminum wok
   11th Anniversary - steel: stainless steel utensils, socket wrench set
   12th Anniversary - silk/linen: silk scarf, linen tablecloth
   13th Anniversary - lace: lace doilies, lace nightgown
   14th Anniversary - ivory: ivory jewelry, ivory carvings
   15th Anniversary - crystal: crystal wine glasses, crystal vase
   20th Anniversary - china: dinner china, china serving pieces
   25th Anniversary - silver: picture frames, jewelry
   30th Anniversary - pearl: jewelry, guitar with mother of pearl accents
   35th Anniversary - coral: jewelry
   40th Anniversary - ruby: cufflings, ring
   45th Anniversary - sapphire: tie tack, earrings
   50th Anniversary - gold: money clip, watch,jewelry, gold colored gift card
   55th Anniversary - emerald: jewelry, green sweater
   60th Anniversary - diamond: diamond cufflings, diamond earrings
   75th Anniversary - diamond: diamond tennis bracelet, diamond ring