Anniversary gifts are more of a token now days than it actually having the traditional meaning behind it. People used to know off by heart what they would need to get for their spouse on their 5^th wedding anniversary but now we have no idea (well I don’t). We run around to hundreds of shops (this might not be an exaggeration) only to end up buying them a toaster. Here is a bit of the history behind anniversary gift giving.

About.com states that “to help in celebrating these occasions are special gifts, one assigned to each anniversary and each with its own material and symbolic value. The order of gifts reflects the investment that the couple gives of themselves to each other”. This how it used to be – Anniversary gifts used to symbolise a lot more than, “Yay, we made it through another year!”

According to Hallmark.com the 25^th anniversary tradition appears to have “originated in the Germanic region of Middle Europe. The silver anniversary included a husband giving his wife a silver garland when they had been married 25 years”. Tell me where one can find a silver garland now days? Not even Woolies will have that in stock.

When it comes to 75^th anniversary gifts, about.com had this to say, “The 75th anniversary is the original diamond anniversary and the 60th was added when Queen Victoria (English Empire Monarch) celebrated her Diamond Jubilee on her 60th anniversary of accession to the throne in 1897.” I wonder how people can afford diamonds, especially when you are in retirement. Maybe I should start saving up now for a nice diamond cufflink for my husband.

Traditionally for your 1^st wedding anniversary you would give paper and for your 2nd it would be cotton. Your 3^rd anniversary gift would consist of wood and the 4^th would be either fruit or flowers and maybe if you are lucky you could get both. 6th anniversary gifts would be candy or iron and in the 7^th year of marriage you can expect to get some wool or copper. In your 8^th year you can give or receive some bronze or some pottery and in the 9^th year you might get pottery again or maybe some willow. Finally you have reached your 10^th wedding anniversary and you are so excited because now you get some tin or some aluminum.

For some people the first 10 years of marriage may be tough enough and then they also have to put up with these bazaar gifts…I am glad that they world has evolved in term of anniversary gifts. Thanks to great online shops such as Celestial Gift Experiences you can rather get your spouse a hot stone massage or a quad biking experience or maybe a hot air balloon ride and a chocolate tasting experience…the days of symbolic anniversary gifts may be disappearing or taking on a new shape but the love in a marriage and the commitments are still the same.

Written and prepared for by Klara Loots