from clicnpic

The tradition of offering a specific gift on a specific anniversary is thought to have started back in the middle ages in Europe. In the beginning, the only anniversaries with special gifts were the 25th anniversary and the 50th anniversary, where silver and gold wreaths were given by the husband to the wife – silver on the 25th and gold on the 50th.

I bet not that many couples made it to their 50th anniversary in the middle ages as life expectancy wasn’t all that long. Making it to the 50th was probably cause for greater celebration than even today!

Eventually, gifts were associated with the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 50th and 75th anniversaries, and in 1937 the American National Retail Jeweler Association tied in a gift with the in-between years that previously didn’t have gifts, plus “modernized” some of the old traditional gifts.

Here is a list of the traditional/modern gifts for each anniversary:
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