In this day and age when getting a divorce is just as common as getting married, celebrating a wedding anniversary has become more important. The longer a couple has been married, the more special each anniversary becomes.

The way people celebrate a wedding anniversary varies depending on which country they live in and their own traditions surrounding the occasion. In the western world, the first, the fifth, the 10th, the 15th, the 20th, the 25th, the 50th and each anniversary following that are often celebrated lavishly.

Traditional and Modern Wedding Anniversary Gifts
Couples celebrating a wedding anniversary are customarily given specific gifts corresponding to the number of years they have been married. According to historians, this custom is a carry-over from the Middle Ages, wherein people believed that tokens given after a certain number of years of a couple’s marriage are supposed to bring more luck to the couple. Aside from being tokens of good luck, each gift also represents the irreplaceable investment that the couple has made on each other while they are married.

Here is the list of traditional and modern anniversary gifts as compiled and popularized by the Chicago Public Library: