Revisiting and Revising the Anniversary Gifts List

Recently I celebrated a wedding anniversary with my wife and it got me thinking about the lists of gifts associated with different anniversaries. The practice of associating specific items like silver with the twenty-fifth anniversary is quite old in Europe and certainly started before the modern era. A quick glance at the list shows you that some items are no longer practical: you can’t really give ivory anymore after all. For that matter, just try giving your wife tin at your tenth anniversary and see how that goes over.

On the web you can find a pretty good explanation of the history of these gift associations at About.com http://marriage.about.com/od/anniversariescelebrations/a/annivhistory.htm. The upshot is that Emily Post listed some of these and the current lists are attributed to compilers at the Chicago Public Library. The Modern list, as you might guess from a study of it, is the invention of the trade association of jewelers in the US back in the 1930s. It too is out of date and, of course, emphasizes jewelry.

So, I propose a new list for the twenty-first century. It assumes affluence tastes but so did the traditional list.

Traditional                 Modern                      Jim’s 21^st Century

1st Paper                    Clocks                         Smart phone

2nd Cotton                 China                           Gore-tex         

3rd Leather                Crystal                          Espresso maker

4th Fruit, flowers        Appliances                    Kayak

5th Wood                  Silverware                     Trip to Peru

6th Sugar                   Wood                           Antiques

7th Copper, wool       Desk Sets                     Sub-zero Fridge

8th Bronze, pottery    Linens or Lace               Calaphon set

9th Pottery, willow     Leather                          Leather furniture

10th Tin                     Diamond                       Sub-zero fridge

11th Steel                  Jewelry                          Feng Sui consultation

12th Silk, linen           Pearls                            Viking range

13th Lace                  Textiles or Furs              Catamaran

14th Ivory                  Gold Jewelry                 Home renovation

15th Crystal               Watches                        Plastic surgery

20th China                  Platinum                        College Tuition

25th Silver                  Silver                            College Tuition

30th Pearl                   Diamond                       College Tuition

35th Coral                  Jade                              Jade – Jade is cool

40th Ruby                   Ruby                             Viagra

45th Sapphire             Sapphire                        European cruise

50th Gold                   Gold                              Hip Replacement

60th Diamond             Diamond                        Headstone

                                               

I don’t mean to throw cold water on things with my headstone choice but let’s be practical. In the 21^st century most Americans marry in their mid to late twenties. So taking the median male age of slightly over 27 years – you are really not interested in a diamond at the 60^th anniversary party so much as a practical stone of a completely different sort.