Traditional Anniversary Gifts

A girlfriend was recently struggling with what to get her husband for their third anniversary and she asked me what the traditional gift was.  I admit, I had absolutely no idea.

The tradition of giving gifts on a wedding anniversary dates back to the middle ages.  There's a lot of history on the subject if you're interested (for resources click here) but the gist is it started with the medieval Germans in Central Europe celebrating major milestone anniversaries, the 25th and the 50th.

"According to Hallmark research, the custom of associating silver with the 25th wedding anniversary and gold with the 50th wedding anniversary appear 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."  Source: Hallmark.com

In the 1920s Emily Post wrote about the eight anniversaries everyone should know and associated symbolic gifts to each. (1st, 5th, 10th, 20th, 25th, 50th, and 75th).   

Here is a list of the reported traditional anniversary gifts.

First  -  Paper

Second  -  Cotton

Third  -  Leather

Fourth  -  Fruit and Flowers (Emily Post also suggests Linen)

Fifth  -  Wood

Sixth  -  Candy or Iron

Seventh  -  Copper or Wool

Eighth  -  Bronze

Ninth  -  Pottery

Tenth  -  Tin or Aluminum

Eleventh  -  Steel

Twelfth  -  Silk

Thirteenth  -  Lace

Fourteenth  -  Ivory

Fifteenth  -  Crystal

Twentieth  -  China

Twenty-fifth  -  Silver

Thirtieth  -  Pearl

Thirty-fifth  -  Coral

Fortieth  -  Ruby

Forty-fifth -- Sapphire

Fiftieth  -  Gold

Fifty-fifth  -  Emerald

Sixtieth  -  Yellow Diamond

Seventy-fifth  - Diamond

There are no traditional gifts for anniversaries not listed, though suggestions for modern gifts can be found online for years 1 - 100.