Traditional & Modern Anniversary Gifts

Did you know that there is a special gift traditionally associated with each anniversary? The list of gifts serves as a guide for couples to mark the special occasion with a memento. Etiquette says that others are under no obligation to give an anniversary gift, even if attending a party in celebration of the anniversary, but if they do, it should traditionally match up with the list. Because some of these gift suggestions are a tad dated (for example, I think it’s safe to assume I won’t be wishing for ivory from elephant tusks anytime in the future), a modern list of gift suggestions has appeared. While these lists differ for the earlier anniversaries, the two guides share many of the same precious metal and precious stone gift ideas for the bigger milestone anniversaries.

Favoring more traditional ways ourselves, Nathan and I have thus far followed the traditional list for each of our three wedding anniversaries – but with a twist. For our paper anniversary, we were still working diligently to pay off my student loans, so we decided paper movie tickets to see Jurassic World would be a special treat (I saved the stubs). For our cotton anniversary, Nathan sent me a bouquet of cotton branches, which I love to continue to pull out for fall decorating. And for the leather anniversary, Nathan bought me a lovely little leather pen case which I have reassigned as storage for my manicure tools – très chic!