Personalised anniversary gifts by year: from paper to gold

Updated
Golden 50th anniversary print with the names Margaret and Peter, the date 12 August 1976 and the line Fifty years and still laughing, beneath a gold ring

The traditional anniversary list gives each year a material: paper for the first, cotton for the second, silver for the twenty-fifth, gold for the fiftieth. It is a useful nudge when you have no idea what to buy, and a trap when you take it literally. Nobody wants a biscuit tin for their tenth.

In short:

The list is a starting point, so here is how to use it with personalised gifts, which have the advantage that they carry the names, the date and the place. Year by year, with the honest gaps left in.

The list, briefly

The years on the traditional list: first paper, second cotton, third leather, fourth fruit and flowers or linen, fifth wood, tenth tin, fifteenth crystal, twentieth china, twenty-fifth silver, thirtieth pearl, fortieth ruby, fiftieth gold, sixtieth diamond. Lists vary between countries and between families, and nobody will check. If a couple has a tradition of their own, follow that instead.

First anniversary: paper

The one year where the list is genuinely helpful, because paper is the easiest material to personalise well. Our Personalised Anniversary Print with Names and Date is exactly that: the anniversary name set large with a small matching motif, both names and the wedding date beneath in serif, and a line of your own if you want one. It is printed on 220gsm smooth matte fine art paper in 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm) or 8 x 12 in (20.3 x 30.5 cm), supplied unframed, so you can frame it yourself and it is still paper. It covers ten anniversaries, from 1st Paper to 60th Diamond.

If you do frame it, note that it is slightly larger than 30 x 40 cm (or 20 x 30 cm), so choose a 12 x 16 in (or 8 x 12 in) frame.

If the couple would rather remember the day than the year, the Personalised Wedding Print with Names, Venue and Date sets the names, the venue and the date in serif with a small pair of rings, beneath a line you choose: Where we said I do, The day we said yes or Our forever began here. It suits a couple's first anniversary, or friends can give it as a wedding gift and put the date on the card. Same paper, same sizes.

The years without an obvious gift

Leather, and fruit and flowers or linen: these are the years with no obvious personalised gift, and it is fine to leave the list behind. The anniversary print above covers 5th Wood and 10th Tin if you want to stay on it. The better idea is a gift about a place. The Personalised Coordinates Print, Where It All Began takes the name of a place and its coordinates, adds the names and a date if you want them, and sets them beneath a line you choose: Where it all began, Where we met, Where we said yes or Home. It is forest green on cream with a fine compass motif, in the same two sizes as the anniversary print.

The place can be the pub, the bus stop, the first flat, the beach. To find the coordinates, search the place in Google Maps, press and hold (or right-click) the pin and copy the numbers. They are printed as you type them, with any letters in capitals, so check them before you pay. It is in our Personalised Wall Art collection with the other prints.

Tenth anniversary and the photo you keep going back to

Ten years in, there may be one photograph that has survived every phone change. The Personalised Photo Print with Caption prints it on 220gsm smooth matte fine art paper with a printed cream border and a thin keyline, and the caption in serif beneath: the date, the place, or a line only the two of them understand. It comes in 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm) or 8 x 12 in (20.3 x 30.5 cm), supplied unframed and unmounted, so choose a 12 x 16 in (or 8 x 12 in) frame if you frame it. Send the original file rather than a screenshot for the sharpest print.

If you would rather keep to the list, the tenth is tin, and aluminium counts. The Personalised 10th Anniversary Aluminium Ornament with Names prints Ten Years and a pair of rings above Mr & Mrs, Mr & Mr or Mrs & Mrs, with both names and, if you like, the years, on a square aluminium ornament for the tree.

Silver, pearl, ruby and gold

The later anniversaries make a good gift from grown-up children to their parents. Choose 25th Silver, 30th Pearl, 40th Ruby or 50th Golden from the list on the anniversary print above, add the two names and the date they married, and add a line from the family. It is a quiet thing that sits beside the wedding photograph rather than competing with it.

For a golden wedding, the Personalised Golden Wedding Anniversary Print with Names sets Golden large in forest green serif beneath a gold band, with 50th Anniversary in small capitals above, both names beneath, the date they married, and a line of your own if you want one, such as Fifty years and still laughing. It comes printed with a cream background on fine-art paper in the same two sizes, supplied unframed, and it can stand on the table at the party before it goes on the wall.

For something with more presence, the Personalised Family Photo Stretched Canvas prints the wedding photograph, or this year's family photograph, on satin-finish canvas with a caption on a cream band along the base. It is a stretched canvas with no outer frame, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm). It arrives with hanging fixings on the back, ready to hang. It needs a sharp, high-resolution photo, at least 1,920 pixels on the shorter side, which for a wedding photograph from 1976 may mean a good scan.

The first Christmas after the wedding

Not on the list, but worth knowing about. The Personalised Our First Christmas as Mr & Mrs Ornament offers Mr & Mrs, Mr & Mr, Mrs & Mrs or Engaged, with both names and the year, on a round ceramic ornament 7.5 cm across with a small pair of rings. The same design is printed on both sides, and it comes with a red ribbon for hanging. It suits the couple who already have the toaster. The last order dates for Christmas are on our Christmas order deadlines page.

Before you order

  • Names as they like them. Some couples want full names on a print, others the everyday ones.
  • The date in the format they say it. We print exactly what you enter, and we do not send proofs: orders go to our printer within about 10 minutes of payment, so check everything before you pay.
  • Check the venue spelling on the wedding print against the invitation, not memory.
  • Allow time for delivery. Everything is printed to order in the UK and sent by a tracked service (usually Royal Mail or Evri, chosen by the print partner), and delivery times are on our Delivery page.

Damaged or misprinted? Your right to a free reprint or refund, made easy: send us a photo within 30 days of delivery. Full details are on our Returns page. More for two people is in our Gifts for Couples collection, and there are gifts for the wedding and the wedding party in Wedding Gifts.

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