Has anybody ever actually used this list as a guide? I’m pretty sure that most couples have exchanged something gold, possibly even diamond, within the first year or two. Yet the list says the diamond anniversary isn’t until the 50th! Clearly this list wasn’t made by jewelry merchants.
So how about it ladies, how would you feel receiving a pair of mittens for your seventh wedding anniversary? How about an ash tray for your ninth? A box of paper clips for your 11th?
I say we need an updated list for the 21st century (which, by the way, will be here in less than six months). To start things off, I think we need to move leather right up to the top of the list. Most couples probably have more use for it early in the relationship than later. The 2nd anniversary should be something sharp, and the third should be something combustible. The fourth can be diamonds, a suitable reward for any couple that makes it past the sharp & exploding anniversaries.
For my first aniversary I got a lot of paper . . . in the form of checks. (I love my in-laws.) But I agree-- the list is very outdated. I don’t think anyone pays much attention to it now.
I’m just curious . . . there’s nothing for the 21-24th aniversaries. Are you supposed to give china four years in a row?
The price of the gift depends upon your creativity. Paper can be quite expensive when it’s in the form of an airline ticket, for example, and Cotton might be the name of the fluffy white puppy you give her on your second anniversary.
My parents had a blast with our first anniversary gift (paper). They sent us a huge box filled with paper stuff- toilet paper, paper plates, towels, hats, doilies, etc. The kicker was that in each thing (or attached somehow) was a one dollar bill.
After diligent (and fun) digging and searching, there was $100 total in the box- along with all the paper products we would need for at least three years…
A time-consuming present to construct, perhaps, but one of the best ever to receive!
However, this fun approach could become disasterous with some of the subsequent years’ choices.
You don’t have to go the cheap route
1st - Paper Money, books
2nd - Cotton nice sheets
3rd - Leather bsdm outfits, nice leather jackets, or leather furniture.
4th - Linen Tablecloths, napkins and possible sheets. Ever price real linen?
5th - Wood A nice bedroom set. Other real wood furniture to replace that pressed wood from walmart you made do with the first year.
6th - Iron shackles
7th - Wool Real wool blankets in some soft wool.
8th - Bronze Have a keepsake bronzed.
9th - Pottery New kitchen mixing bowls, canisters
10th - Tin A pierced tin pie safe.
11th - Steel an autobile, a new steel spring mattress and box springs set, king sized of course (we actually did this one)
12th - Silk silk sheets
13th - Lace bedroom attire, lace table cloths
Early on my wife informed me that they were all gold and diamonds. In fact, she started surprising me a couple of months in advance. I’d come home and she’d say, “Look what you bought me, you sweet man!” All our friends think I am very generous and have great taste in jewelry.
BTW, the year after my first was born and I tried, “What gift? You’re not MY mother.” I learned my lesson.
Seeing as how my wife and I have only passed one anniversary, I don’t have a whole lot of history to work with, but I can try. I went with the idea of trying to stick to the traditional list (starting with paper). My plan is to have it relate both to the list and be meaningful to our/her life in some special way.
So, in year one, I gave her a menu from Jerry’s Famous Deli in LA (along with a few other gifts to supplement that one.) The restaurant was the best memory from our honeymoon, it is a totally cool menu, she loved the thought I put into giving her something meaningful and different, and I got to regale her with my story of talking to the CEO of the company. All in all, a good start to the anniversary gifting. No pressure now.
I like using the list as the limitations spur creativity.
For our Cotton anniversary I dug through the OED and made several copies of the definition highlighting the ‘to cotton to’ section and included them in the cards I had stashed at the B&B. I tried to find a Cotton Wood or Cotton anything named one, but all I could get was a B&B called the White Horse.
I had a great cohort in the Bed and Breakfast owner who set up the B&B so that when we got there and she opened the door there was a trail of cotton balls that lead to our room and bed (with the cotton balls in the shape of a heart on the comforter). I had a bucket of champagne that had a thick layer of cotton balls on top of the ice by the bed as well.
Who’s da man?
BTW - I think I know what I’m gonna give her for the Wood anniversary…
