Anniversary Gift List

Next Sunday happens to be your friend John's 5^th wedding anniversary. John and his wife Bips plan to celebrate their five years of togetherness by having an anniversary bash at the Ritz. Both you and your better half have been invited to the party. Surely you can't show up at the party empty handed! But then, you also can't take along any stupid, shoddy gift just for the sake of formality. After all, John's your good friend. So now you find yourself having two headaches - first, to think of a gift and second, to think of one that is special and suitable! Well, you need not worry my friend. Here is a sample anniversary gift list to give you some nice gift ideas.

Wedding Anniversary Gift List
Usually, there are two types of gift lists - a traditional anniversary gifts list and a contemporary anniversary gifts list. Here are some traditional wedding anniversary gifts.

Traditional Anniversary Gifts List
Over the years, there has been a tradition of gifting certain specific types of gifts on certain anniversaries. For example, year one has been associated with paper, year two with cotton, three with leather, four with either fruits or flowers, five with wood, six with iron (sometimes sugar candy), seven with wool as well as copper, eight with the metal bronze, nine with a piece of pottery and ten with tin as well as aluminum. For those of you who like being traditional in their approach, may well be interested in the remainder of this list. Well here's the rest of it - eleven is associated with steel, twelve with silk (sometimes linen), thirteen with lace, fourteen with ivory, and fifteen with crystal. Thereafter, the remainder of the list consists of five year intervals rather than successive years. For example, the twentieth anniversary is associated with china, twenty-fifth with silver, thirtieth with pearl, thirty-fifth with coral, fortieth with ruby, forty-fifth with sapphire, fiftieth with gold and fifty-fifth with emerald. The sixtieth wedding anniversary and all successive anniversaries are associated with a diamond.

Now that you know what material is associated with what year, you need to pick a suitable gift accordingly. It can be a tricky yet thoroughly enjoyable task. For example, for a first wedding anniversary you could think of anything made out of paper - anniversary cards, movie tickets, gift vouchers or even vacation tickets! Ideas for second year gifts could include cotton fabrics, bedsheets, table cloths, etc. When thinking of leather, you could come up with leather wallets, purses, handbags, shoes, etc. In the same way, you can think of exquisite flower bouquets, wooden artifacts, woolen sweaters, Indian pottery, etc., as being examples of traditional anniversary gifts for successive anniversaries. When it comes to precious stones, jewelry is the most natural option for gifting.

Contemporary Anniversary Gifts List
Those of you who would be comfortable presenting contemporary anniversary gifts could opt for modern gadgets, appliances, electronic goods, showpieces, furniture, silverware, bedroom or bathroom luxuries, travel vouchers, designer gold jewelry, etc. If you would like to have a year-wise list of contemporary anniversary gifts, here it is. The first year is associated with clocks (wristwatches could be an option), the second with china, third with crystal, fourth with home appliances, fifth with silverware, etc. In keeping with the times, you could opt for platinum instead of gold or diamond jewelry. Alternatively, you could think of giving that small personal touch to your gifts by making a framed photo collage of the anniversary couple, or using origami to come up with some nice paper craft.

This was a general overview of what an anniversary gift list is. To make your gift extra special, you could think of combining the traditions of yesteryear with those of contemporary times. One could call it as making the best of both worlds, right?