Wedding Anniversary Gift List – Traditional and Modern

There are the traditional and modern materials related to each wedding anniversary, usually progressing from the weakest to the strongest as the years go by, to symbolise the strengthening of the relationship. You can see the full lists below. If you want to find a full explantion of why each material has been chosen for each year and their meanings you can do by visiting our articles page.

Before the 1930’s not all wedding Anniversaries had a material representing the year. Only the first anniversary and milestone anniversaries such as 5th 10th, 20th, 25th, 50th and 75th had a gift suggestion. Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home by Emily Post, published in 1922, contained suggestions for these milestones. Over the years more materials have been added and the list updated and modernised.

The UK list featured below comes is what is now today considered the list to go by. The traditional and modern U.S. versions below were compiled by librarians at the Chicago Public Library in 2000, and are based on the American National Retail Jeweler Association’s list published in 1937.

A lot of research has gone into creating these lists to ensure they are correct and you buy the right traditional or modern gift for your wedding anniversary, some websites have slightly different variations of the lists.

our recommended Wedding Anniversary Gifts

recommended Wedding Anniversary Gifts

Buying a traditional gift for your wedding anniversary is very important, each anniversary material has its own unique meaning which represents the stage you are in your marriage, the meaning may related to you personally and provide a really great thoughtful touch to the very important task of buying gifts for your wedding anniversary.