Wedding Anniversary Gift

Purchasing a wedding anniversary gift is not always the easiest. Although there are traditional guideline lists of what type of gift to buy for what year of marriage, a great amount of confusions still exists.

For example, wood is the traditional material given for the fifth year of marriage. This means a modern gift, not a log of wood from the forest. It is overwhelming, to say the least, trying to buy just the right gift. To top it all off, many times the "traditional" gift is totally different from the "modern" gift, such as for the second anniversary where cotton is the traditional but china the modern gift.

Most people are unaware that wedding anniversary gift lists for the traditional presents did not exist in today's form till the late 1930's. It was in that time that the American National Retail Jeweler Association created and published the list as we see it.

Generally speaking, the list is referred to as the "official" list.

As is to be expected, there is some controversy to that belief, considering that some years have dated gift suggestions. History shows that the gift of silver on the 25th anniversary and the gift of gold on the 50th has been a practiced tradition since the medieval era of Europe.

Remember, there are no rules etched in stone saying that on X anniversary you can only purchase Y item. Note that it's not necessary to buy exactly what the guide suggests.

If you and your partner are celebrating your 12th anniversary, for example, you don't need to fly to China and collect silk worm cocoons. A nice linen table cloth or linen button up shirt would be fine. And, to top off the evening, why not purchase some silk sheets? After all, it's a traditional gift, and they would be a perfect end to a wonderfully celebrated day.

No matter if you give a wedding anniversary gift that is traditional or one that is modern, it is still all about the thought behind the giving that counts.