How Much to Spend on a Wedding Anniversary Gift

1. Your budget and what you can afford

If you want to buy a special gift but have too many monthly bills that leave very little room for any extra expenditure for an expensive gift. But you do still have a couple of months before your big special day. Then all it will take is a little planning by adding a gift saving plan into your budget. 

It is important to have a budget for your monthly bills and important to have a savings plan for all those unexpected things and to force yourself to stick to it. So it is a good idea to add an item called gift giving to your budget. This will not only help you save for anniversaries but for gifts for all occasions.

There are many free and printable budget planning templates online and many different software or apps that could be used for this purpose

But if you are in a bind and only have a couple of months to save for an anniversary gift an idea is to take a look at your budget to see what you can save towards it. And if you see that you still will not have enough then look at other expenditures to see where you cut down on and add that to your gift savings.

2. How long you have been married

Many couples buy wedding anniversary gifts according to how long they have been married. This is not only the traditional type of gifts for how long they have been married but also lean towards the belief of the longer the marriage the bigger the gift should be.

Giving bigger and more expensive gifts should not be seen in that way, yes, by all means, go with that expensive gift, if you can afford it and would like to spoil your husband or wife but it should not be something set in stone that you have to stick to it.

You should be looking and thinking about each other and what is most important to both of you and your marriage. Whatever you decide to spend, make sure that the gift you chose comes from your heart and has some meaning to it.

3. The type of gift

When it comes to you deciding on the type of gift to get for your wedding anniversary. There are basically three options that you could choose from and they are:

• Traditional gift according to the number of years that you have been married
• A special gift that your spouse has had their eye on and would love
• Something that you both can enjoy doing together

Traditional gifts

1st Anniversary – Paper

The traditional gift for your first marriage is paper. Paper is a common item and can be a pretty boring gift. But with a little creativity, it can be made into something special.

Some ideas are:

• A framed special handwritten love letter or your vows
• An experience gift voucher
• Gift cards open up to a large variety of gifts from spa treatments to romantic getaways
• A notebook filled with reasons why you love your husband or wife

2nd Anniversary – Cotton

The traditional gift for the second wedding anniversary is all things cotton 

Some ideas are:

• Cotton bathrobes for him and her
• A romantic spa day
• A cotton themed gift basket or care package
• Cotton couples t-shirts with a fun saying or picture

3rd Anniversary – Leather

The traditional gift for a 3rd anniversary is leather

Some ideas are:

• A leather briefcase or leather handbag
• Leather journals or leather-covered notebooks
• Leather wallet or purse
• Leather key rings
• Leather bookmarks with a special personalized message

4th Anniversary – Fruit and Flowers 

To be married for 4 years is a celebration and the traditional gifts are fruit and flowers

Some ideas are:

• A beautiful bouquet of flowers
• A delicious fruit basket
• Wine tasting
• A creative arrangement of dried flowers in a beautiful picture frame

5th Anniversary – Wood

 A 5th-anniversary traditional gift is wood. With this one there are so many options to choose from as a gift of anything made from wood adds a grounded element to your home and marriage. Wood comes from trees which symbolizes strength and growth.

Some ideas are:

• A wooden cutting board 
• A wood watch
• A wooden memory box or jewelry box
• A wooden plague with a romantic message
• A wooden picture frame with some amazing photos of your married life for the past 5 years 

6th Anniversary – Candy

The traditional gift for the 6th wedding anniversary is candy. Candy is sweet and represents all those sweet moments that you have had in your marriage. 

Some ideas are:

• A box of chocolates
• A candy gift basket or hamper
• Bake a sweet cake or cookies
• Sweet love notes to your wife or husband
• A painted sign with a sweet saying about how sweet your love is for them

7th Anniversary – Copper

Copper is the traditional gift for a 7th wedding anniversary. It represents and symbolizes the warmth and stability of a marriage.

Some ideas are:

• Personalized copper mugs
• Copper photo holders
• Copper jewelry
• Copper key chains

8th Anniversary – Bronze

The traditional gift for the 8th anniversary is anything that is bronze. Bronze symbolizes the strength and durability of a marriage. 

Some ideas are:

• Bronze ornaments or sculptures, like cute bookends or lovers hands, entwined
• Bronze colored personalized mugs
• Bronze rings for each other
• Bronze colored photo book cover
• Bronze hearts on a homemade bag or pouch

9th Anniversary – Pottery

According to tradition pottery is the 9th wedding anniversary gift. Pottery represents nature and simplicity. It is something that has been molded into something beautiful and can be a gift that is handmade.

Some ideas are:

• A clay sculpture
• miniature potted plant
• Handmade ceramic mug
• A personalized pottery clay dish

10th Anniversary – Tin

With 10 years of marriage, you have reached the double digits and a decade of being married. The traditional gift is something that is tin. Tin symbolizes the ability to last through time as it does not wear away or rust.

Some ideas are:

• A tin keepsake box
• A decorated tin can be filled with flowers or treats
• A tin engraved wallet card with a special anniversary message
• Heart-shaped tin lanterns

20th Anniversary – China

With being married for being 20 years, 2 decades, that is quite an achievement. At this stage of your marriage, many couples increase the value of their wedding anniversary gifts because over the years you have given and received so much from each other that your feeling is to bigger and better. The traditional gift for 20 years is to give china.

Some ideas are:

• A beautiful set of China
• China mugs in the shape of a heart
• Enjoy some Chinese food homemade or at a restaurant
• You could go on a vacation to China
• Buy cute items made in China that highlights a special memory

25th Anniversary – Silver

Celebrating a 25th wedding anniversary is a huge deal and the traditional gift is silver. There is a huge selection of gifts that you can buy in silver.

Some ideas are:

• Silver jewelry from earrings to his and her ring bands
• Silver picture frames with a collage of your 25 years together
• Gifts of your choice in the color silver
• Silver sculptures
• Stamped silver key chains

30th Anniversary – Pearl

The traditional gift for 30 years, three decades is pearl. They are beautiful and hidden deep down in the ocean. For some gift ideas, you can take some inspiration from the sea

Some ideas are:

• Jewelry that has pearls or are the colors of pearls
• A romantic seafood dinner
• Mother of Pearl Champagne Bucket
• Personalized Pearl Anniversary photo frame

35th Anniversary – Coral

A traditional celebration of thirty-five years of marriage needs to be a coral one. Coral is known for its beauty, its many amazing colors.

Some ideas are:

• Coral necklace
• A coral stone photo frame
• Coral stone clock
• An underwater experience 

40th Anniversary – Ruby

The traditional gift for the fortieth anniversary is the ruby. This is something special, as ruby is the stone of love and passion.

Some ideas are:

• Rings or bracelets with rubies in them
• Luxury red wine gift basket
• Bake a red velvet cake or cupcakes

45th Anniversary – Sapphire

Sapphire is the traditional gift for a 45th wedding anniversary.

Some ideas are:

• Sapphire jewelry
• A gift of your choice in a sapphire blue

50th Anniversary – Gold

Married for 50 years is a major milestone in a marriage that is why the traditional gift is gold. This one speaks for itself because you can give a gift of almost anything that is either made from gold metal or the color gold.

Some ideas are:

• Gold jewelry
• Gold sculptures
• Gold then and now picture frame
• A personalized 50th Anniversary gold brass plate
• Vases wrapped with gold trimmings
• Arrange a golden party to celebrate

Something that they would want

If it is your first year of marriage and you are trying to figure out how much to spend on your first wedding anniversary gift. And you know that you are not the type of couple that is very big on sticking to the traditional type gifts for each other. But you do prefer to buy each other gifts according to your likes, wants, and desires.

Then it is best to go with something that you know your husband or wife has had their eye on for a while. It is also a good idea to do a price comparison of the specific item that you have in mind. This will help give you an idea of how much money you need to save or add to your budget.

The above advice will all work the same for if you want to know how much to spend on 5 year anniversary or how much to spend on 10 year anniversary gift.

Something that you both can enjoy together

You are a married couple and celebrating a wedding anniversary by doing or experiencing fun things together that you both can enjoy is a great idea. Some examples are: 

• Plan a romantic getaway together
• Do something new together like if you are an adventurous couple, go bungee jumping, skydiving, skiing, parachuting or scuba diving 
• Look for some romantic anniversary night ideas

Although many couples feel that the answer to how much to spend on a wedding anniversary gift is the longer you have been married the more you need to spend. This is not entirely true because it is your choice and you should always spend what you can afford. The amount that you spend on a gift will not matter if you buy your loved one something that they actually want which will make them very happy.