Anniversary Gifts by Year

The traditional anniversary themes give you a starting point, not a rule. Use them as a prompt, then make the gift about the two of you.

The early years

• First: paper. A letter written to be opened in ten years. A framed map of where you met. A book of handwritten date ideas.
• Second: cotton. A quilt square or embroidered cushion with your date stitched in.
• Third: leather. A journal for travel plans, or a leather-bound album.
• Fourth: fruit and flowers. A plant that will grow with you, or a pressed-flower frame.
• Fifth: wood. A carved keepsake box to hold the first five years of mementos.

Building years

• Sixth: iron. A cast-iron pan for the meals you cook together.
• Seventh: wool or copper. A warm blanket for shared evenings.
• Tenth: tin or aluminum. A tin of notes, one for each year so far.
• Fifteenth: crystal. A glass display dome for your most treasured object.

Milestones

• Twenty-fifth: silver. A silver-trimmed frame for a then-and-now photo pair.
• Fortieth: ruby. A deep red shadow box holding forty small mementos.
• Fiftieth: gold. A memory case gathered with help from family, with a note from each person.

Making it personal

Pick one shared memory. Find the theme material in it. Paper becomes the ticket from your first concert. Wood becomes a frame for it. The theme does the planning, the memory does the meaning.

Not sure which list to follow? Read traditional versus modern gifts. Want to keep it all together? See how to build a memory case.