For this occasion
The year-by-year list is older than the gift industry that now sells against it, and the traditional and modern versions disagree far more often than either admits. The run through the early years, with both versions given and the disagreements pointed out, not smoothed over.
The British list gives a material for every year up to the fifteenth: paper, cotton, leather, flowers or fruit and wood for the first five, as Debrett's has it. After the fifteenth it moves in fives, so most later years have no traditional material at all.
Year by year
| Year | Traditional material | Gifts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paper (modern list: Clocks) | Gift ideas |
| 2 | Cotton (modern list: China) | Gift ideas |
| 3 | Leather | Gift ideas |
| 4 | Flowers or fruit | Gift ideas |
| 5 | Wood | Gift ideas |
| 6 | Sugar | |
| 7 | Wool or copper | |
| 8 | Bronze or pottery | |
| 9 | Willow or pottery | |
| 10 | Tin (modern list: Diamond jewellery) | Gift ideas |
| 11 | Steel | |
| 12 | Silk or linen | |
| 13 | Lace | |
| 14 | Ivory | |
| 15 | Crystal | Gift ideas |
Traditional or modern?
Go by the British list unless the couple already follow the other one. For the first two years the modern list says clocks instead of paper, and china instead of cotton. For years three to five we haven't verified a modern value, so we don't give one.
The modern list is credited to an American jewellers' trade body in 1937, which is worth knowing when its answers lean towards things a jeweller sells. Neither list is a rule. The material is a prompt for an idea, not a test the present has to pass, and a card that names the year says it on its own.
The short answers
The UK anniversary list, year by year
Year one is paper and year fifty is gold.
Anniversary gifts by year
A gift idea for every milestone year, in one pictured table: the traditional UK material and a present that fits it.
What the symbols mean
The UK traditional list pairs a material with each anniversary year (paper, wood, tin, silver, gold and more) building from fragile to enduring as the years pass.
What the 5th anniversary is
The 5 year wedding anniversary is the wood anniversary.
What to write in an anniversary card
What you write in an anniversary card should be warm and personal: reference the years together, then say one true thing about the marriage, not a generic line.
The reading, in order
- The UK anniversary list, year by year
- Which anniversary is it? (free tool)
- Anniversary gifts by year
- What the symbols mean
- First Christmas married
- Christmas gifts for couples
- The 1st: paper
- The 2nd: cotton
- The 3rd: leather
- The 4th: flowers, fruit or linen
- The 5th: wood
- What the 5th anniversary is
- What to write in an anniversary card
And after that
The stage that follows this one is the milestones: Tin, silver, pearl, ruby, gold. The years that get a party, and what earns a place on the wall.