Five years married is the wood anniversary. Debrett's British list gives wood for year five, and the traditional American list agrees. The modern list says silverware, and the flower for the year is the daisy.
So if someone asks what the fifth is, the answer is wood. The rest of this page is where that comes from, how the lists differ, and what makes a good wood gift.
Why wood is the fifth
Most of the anniversary list is younger than it feels. According to Debrett's, anniversaries were first celebrated in the Middle Ages, and back then only two years counted: the 25th, with a silver wreath, and the 50th, with a gold one.
Wood joined the list in the Victorian era. Debrett's dates the fifth-year wood gift to then, and says husbands often hand-carved a keepsake for their wives. It's a nice thing to know when you choose: the first wood gifts were made by hand, for one person.
Traditional, modern and the flower
Three answers turn up when you search, and they don't clash as much as they seem to. Each one comes from a different list.
- Traditional, the British list: wood. Year six on the same list is sugar, so wood belongs to the fifth.
- Modern list: silverware. The modern list came out of an American jewellers' association in 1937, which is why so many of its years are things a jeweller sells. Some modern charts move wood to the sixth year, which is why you'll see "wood anniversary" against both.
- Flower: the daisy. Handy if you want flowers on the table as well as a gift.
For a British couple, wood at five is the safe answer. Where the two lists came from is a longer story.
What to give for a 5th anniversary
Almost anything wooden counts, which makes this an easy year. A serving board, a box for the cards you've kept, a tree to plant together, or a frame for a photo from the last five years. If it can carry their names or the wedding date, all the better.
Our own answer is a photo printed straight onto wood. The picture goes onto a frameless 10 mm plywood panel with no white ink, so the grain shows through the pale parts of the photo. It's their wedding picture and the year's material in one piece, with no frame needed.
More ideas, with budgets, are on the 5th anniversary gift page. The next big year is the 10 year anniversary, and the rest of the years are on the UK anniversary list.
Sources, read 23 October 2026: Debrett's for the British list and its history; anniversaryideas.co.uk and We're Not On A Break for the modern list and the flower; Wikipedia's wedding anniversary article for the American list and the 1937 date.
