Traditional Wedding Anniversary Gift Guide

A wedding anniversary provides couples with the opportunity to celebrate reaching another milestone in their marriage and remember the special day when they started their journey together. 

Over the years, the tradition of the gifts given has evolved, but the idea behind them is essentially the same. With each passing year, the strength of their bond and the love between them grows and fortifies their marriage. For example, we go from gold to diamond to platinum, each element gaining strength as the milestones grow.

Typically, the first 15 years of marriage have a gift associated with it, and then this tradition moves to every five to ten year milestone. Some anniversaries are named after their associated gift item, such as the ‘silver anniversary’ and ‘golden anniversary’. These can also support friends and family who would like a theme in order to throw a big celebration for their loved ones.

So where did it all begin? It’s thought that the tradition of the gifts given for an anniversary originated in medieval Germany, where the wife was presented with a silver wreath on their 25th wedding anniversary to celebrate the milestone and a golden wreath on the 50th.

These traditions evolved to start including other relevant gifted materials for other milestones reached within a marriage.  Milestone gifts can be dated back to 1937, where the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 50th, and 75th anniversaries had an associated gift. However, they have since grown to include even more dates and perhaps will continue to grow long into the future.

Some have already changed over the years. For example, diamond was long associated with the 75th anniversary in the UK, until Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrated her 60 years on the throne, and as such became the icon for the 60th wedding anniversary. 

Although these may vary slightly from culture to culture, there is a widely accepted list of gifts that are often given to the couple on their wedding anniversary. 

We’ve pulled together the most widely accepted list of traditional and contemporary wedding anniversary gifts around the globe below. Make sure you check out some of our suggested gift ideas at the end! 

Many of these iconic gifts can be covered with a beautiful piece of jewelry or ornament for around the home, but how do you choose a gift that is truly unique? 

There are some wonderfully unique options available to explore and these ideas keep growing as more and more creative minds take to the world of creating and selling their ideas. We’ve listed some of our favorite below:

This night sky paper gift is super thoughtful and lets you select a night of your choosing, from any memorable date and any location around the world. This can then be beautifully framed to remember what the night sky looked like on your memorable date. Perhaps a view of the stars from your wedding night? Or how about the day you met and your love story began? 

We are in love with the creativity of these wooden music boxes available from a variety of different sellers on Etsy. These intricately handcrafted music boxes can be personalized, in most cases, and you can include any song you like with any message engraved into the music box, depending on the options available with your chosen crafter. How about a little box to remember your first dance? Or one of your favorite songs shared together on the big day?

We wouldn’t be able to provide this gift guide without including our own handcrafted creations in the list. Our simple, yet unique, heart shaped pendants would make the perfect gift for your wife on your 25th wedding anniversary. We also offer our beautiful necklaces in gold, suitable for your 50th. 

Looking for something a little more masculine? How about this grand voyager compass from Dalvey, which is also available for engraving. 

Of course, there are some lovely items with rubies in them. How about a ruby necklace or some ruby cufflinks? If you’re not a fan of the stone though, how about a luxurious ruby port with decanter, for something a little different?

Just like the strength of some of the largest, most mighty and towering oak trees, this milestone is special. Oak celebrates 80 years of marriage and deserves something truly unique and handcrafted. You could either plant an oak tree together to remain and symbolize your love into eternity as it grows for younger generations of your family to enjoy. We also love the idea of a personalized oak bench to sit and enjoy each other's company in the garden.