Anniversary Themes By Year

A wedding anniversary celebrates years spent together. It's a joyous expression of experiences you've shared and a day that commemorates the love that has strengthened your bond. A day so special requires a celebration that is equally special. Each anniversary year has been marked by a gift. For instance, first anniversary gift is a paper, second is cotton, third is leather and so forth. These gifts and materials get precious and expensive with every passing year, to symbolize the fact that a bond between a couple gets stronger and precious as years pass them by.

Wedding Anniversary Themes

1st Anniversary
Traditionally, the first anniversary is marked by paper gifts. It symbolizing the start of a journey of a couple in love, just as a writer begins his story with the words he loves. Additionally, carnations are exchanged on the first anniversary, which signify constancy. So, if you are having first anniversary party, make sure all your decorations are that of paper. Paper flowers, greeting cards and other origami items are excellent ways of decorating. Add lots of red carnations to the decorations to complete your first anniversary theme.

5th Anniversary
Wood is the theme associated with fifth anniversary. The strong and lasting nature of wood symbolizes the same traits of a marriage. Obviously, you cannot bring in a lot of woodwork just for a day into your house. As wood defines the theme for this anniversary, head out for a nature trail. You can either go camping or make reservations and take a weekend off for a vacation in the hills. Explore the woods and fall in love again, as you walk through the leafy pathways.

10th Anniversary
The traditional gift for this anniversary year is aluminum. Flexibility and malleability of this metal symbolizes the adjustments you've made for each other to be together. Turn this into a theme by getting him/her aluminum gifts such as a photo frame, a jewelry box, cuff-links or even engraved rings. You cannot possibly make aluminum decorations. Thus, giving gifts would pretty much convey the theme of this year.

25th Anniversary
The 25th anniversary is marked by silver. This year is a milestone for every couple, who makes it to this year. Use silver-colored decorations for this anniversary party, such as silver balloons, silverware to serve the guests and wrap the presents in silver paper. Use the flower of Iris, which stands for faith hope, wisdom and valor to complete your decorations. Needless to say, the gift you will be giving to your spouse should be made of silver. Silver rings, silver anniversary candles, silver picture frames with engraved messages and silver plated champagne flutes are some of the gifts for this anniversary year.

50th Anniversary
Wow! Congratulations if you've made it to this year. 50th anniversary celebrations are marked by gold. Planning a 50th anniversary for your grandparents has been done with deliberation, as this is a moment only few see. The decorations have to be in hues of shimmering gold and violet flower, which symbolize depth of a relationship. The ideal gifts for this anniversary are gold jewelry, golden pebbles, wedding anniversary album made out of gold, that holds pictures from their first anniversary till now.

Apart from the above milestone themes, every year has a specific theme to it. The following table shows the theme for the first 25 years, and if you make it past those, the landmark anniversary themes till 75 years.

Anniversary Year	Traditional Theme
Cotton	2nd
3rd	Leather
4th	Linen
6th	Iron
7th	Wool or Copper
8th	Bronze
9th	Pottery
11th	Steel
12th	Silk
13th	Lace
14th	Ivory
15th	Crystal
16th	Holloware
18th	Porcelain
19th	Bronze
20th	China
21st	Brass or Nickel
22nd	Copper
23rd	Silver Plate
24th	Opal
30th	Pearl
35th	Coral or Jade
40th	Ruby
45th	Sapphire
55th	Emerald
60th	Yellow Diamond
65th	Blue Sapphire
75th	Diamond in Gold Setting

The initial anniversaries are mostly celebrated by couples. However, as years pass and families grow, anniversary celebrations get bigger. If you are arranging for your parents or grandparents anniversary, send out invitations well in advance. An invitation must be humble and must not imply a compulsion of a gift. However, if they happen to get one, accept it. The traditional gifts may give you a limited choice to pick from. Think of personalizing them and you'll be lost amongst options it will show you.