What anniversary are you celebrating?
We've compiled romantic anniversary ideas and gift ideas for each anniversary year. We even include ideas specific to your anniversary year such as flowers, gemstones, and ideas from the equivalent British anniversary gift list. You'll also plenty of romantic ideas for spending that special day together.
While we humans have been known to celebrate almost anything, one of our earliest known celebrations is the anniversary celebration. Anniversary celebrations began when weddings began, but the practice of anniversary gift-giving came later as the rules of social etiquette changed.
In 1922, Emily Post, the queen of proper etiquette, wrote that only eight anniversaries required traditional gifts. However, records from the mid-1800s show the anniversary gift list with the first fifteen years and every five years after that from the 20th to the 60th, and the 75th. Today, the most commonly followed gift list is the traditional anniversary gift list, approved by Mrs. Emily Post.
The contemporary or modern anniversary gift list was created to reflect a more affluent and changing society. The original list focused on items that could help a couple put their house together as they started out in life. Today, people start out with more, thus the emergence of the new list. The average age of marriage is in the late 20's and with changing households (divorce, re-marriage, etc), the need for general house items has decreased. The modern list reflects these changes and includes more luxury items, such as the diamond appearing earlier on the list and three different times throughout the list.
In addition to the traditional and modern anniversary lists, there are several other lists in circulation. One such list starts with more frequent, but less expensive gifts in the early years of marriage and higher valued gifts in the later years of marriage. In addition to the varied gift lists, many retailers, who saw profit in encouraging anniversary gift-giving, created their own gift lists. The most popular would be the list of anniversary gemstones, endorsed by Jewelers of America. There is even a list of flowers to give for each specific anniversary!
Anniversary Gift Giving
While anniversary gift-giving has become a somewhat mandatory practice, it doesn't mean that you have to follow the gift lists. While these lists are helpful for sparking ideas, it's more important to give a gift that expresses your love for your partner and comes from the heart.
If you're crafty, you could try creating your own homemade anniversary gifts that's personal, unique, and from the heart.
Whatever you do, remember that anniversaries are a reason to celebrate and rekindle those feelings that made your decide to get married in the first place.
If you forget your anniversary, don't sweat it. While the hustle and bustle of every day life may have caused you to forget a gift, it doesn't mean that you've forgotten why you got married. Instead, give the gift of three little words that mean the most in a marriage, "I Love You". Make sure to mark it on your calendar for next year though!
More Anniversary Ideas
Romantic Anniversary Ideas - Say goodbye to the pressure of romantic anniversary ideas. We've done the work for you! Anniversary Trivia - Unusual and fun facts about anniversaries from around the world.
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Comments to date: 34. This is page 1 of 4.
Paul Location unknown
Posted at 8:22am on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
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Steve Canada
Posted at 8:57am on Thursday, August 5th, 2010
The most romantic anniversary gift I have ever given to my wife was last year our 25th wedding anniversary she was so happy with it that I am already worrying how I will top it this year. A personalized gift made for me
called "pages from the heart" which arrived by post beautifully wrapped and tagged the day before our anniversary. Handmade gifts made from old hard back books that she paints and decorates with pictures, poetry, paper flowers and other lacy feminine bits and pieces. Don't think I've made it
sound so nice but my wife was overwhelmed and thought it was really beautiful and very romantic and sentimental and something I know she will love always.
These gifts are made to order by a lady who lives in Canada near Niagara falls (was on a little insert with gift), can't remember the web address exactly but you
can get to her site via
wandasworx.com.
She has lots of designs so your bound to find one to suit. The one I got for my wife was gift book 0001 but with different words than she shows on the website. I had our anniversary gift book made up with the words to a song that I used to sing to my wife all the
time when we were dating. These are super sentimental gifts that any wife would love to have. I'm going to have one made for my mom's birthday.
daisy kans California
Posted at 11:08am on Monday, July 19th, 2010
I know of a really cute site that sells gifts for first moment celebrations like your first anniversary.I don't know if you are interested in this idea or not - but they are Christmas ornaments!
They are really affordable, they have been in business forever and they also customize every order! You can put whatever you want on the ornament.
Frank Chicago, IL
Posted at 10:09am on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
I got my wife a slimvibes machine, she loves it. www.slimvibes.com
John Basnett Southern Illinois
Posted at 7:11am on Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
I found a wonderful site called www.mydreamlines.com. The artist is from France and she sketched my wife's wedding dress from the photo and it's beautiful. I framed it and gave it to my wife on our first anniversary and she was quite thrilled.
sonu Toronto
Posted at 9:24pm on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
i think.. a nice Cashmere Silk wrap/shawl is a great Anniversary Gift idea. see for yourself at www.cashere-haven.com.
Jonathan Norwich
Posted at 3:32am on Saturday, May 1st, 2010
I've started to buy all of my gifts birthday/anniversary etc from Gift Picker
Jonathan Norwich
Posted at 3:30am on Saturday, May 1st, 2010
I've started to buy all of my gifts birthday/anniversary etc from http://www.gift-picker.com/
Chris Thompson Boca Raton, FL
Posted at 10:44am on Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Hey there –
I wanted to introduce you to a merchant I represent that I think might be a good fit for you. In particular, I think perhaps you might be interested in taking a look at:
Just Paper Roses (Commission 15%, 60 day Cookie)
We create our own unique "roses" based on the traditional materials for Wedding Anniversaries by year: paper, cotton, leather, etc. Since 1999 we've had more than 30,000 customers with many "she cried" testimonials from Husbands and many "he laughed" testimonials from Wives (check out our "Happy 1st 'paper' Anniversary" toilet paper - we sell over 100 rolls per month!) Our target prospective customer can be within your own laser focus. It's EASY for you to proactively create sales - do YOU know anyone who is married? Are you in the wedding industry or know anyone who is a wedding industry professional (they know WHO is married, WHEN is their Anniversary, and have their email address): 1) Husband approaching his 1st "paper" Wedding Anniversary. What man do you know who got married within the past 12 months? 2) Wife approaching her 1st "paper" Anniversary. 3) Husband approaching ANY Anniversary years 1 thru 19 4) Wife approaching ANY Anniversary years 1 thru 19. For our "lovingly clueless" Husbands, YOU will be saving the day for them - they'll thank you and we'll pay you a commission.
Signup link: http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=26448
We have banners, coupons and promotions to help increase your sales and I personally manage all of the affiliate communications so you can expect an excellent level of management and responsiveness.
If you have time, I would gladly discuss each of this program with you either by phone or email.
Regards,
Chris Thompson, Senior Affiliate Manager, Greg Hoffman Consulting
http://www.greghoffmanconsulting.com/ghc-affiliate-program-links/
Kim Portland
Posted at 10:33pm on Monday, April 19th, 2010
"If you forget your anniversary, don't sweat it"? WRONG!!! DO sweat it. Jeeez....what kind of advice are you giving these people?? Don;t forget anniversaries!
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