Maui Sunset Catering

Anniversary Gift Giving

While we humans have been known to celebrate almost anything, one of our earliest known celebrations is the anniversary celebration. Anniversary celebrations began when weddings began, but the practice of anniversary gift-giving came later as the rules of social etiquette changed.

In 1922, Emily Post, the queen of proper etiquette, wrote that only eight anniversaries required traditional gifts. However, records from the mid-1800s show the anniversary gift list with the first fifteen years and every five years after that from the 20th to the 75th.

The contemporary or modern anniversary gift list was created to reflect a more affluent and changing society. The original list focused on items that could help a couple put their house together as they started out in life. Today, people start out with more, thus the emergence of the new list.

The average age of marriage is in the late 20′s and with changing households (divorce, re-marriage, etc), the need for general house items has decreased. The modern list reflects these changes and includes more luxury items, such as the diamond appearing earlier on the list and three different times throughout the list.

In addition to the traditional and modern anniversary lists, there are several other lists in circulation. One such list starts with more frequent, but less expensive gifts in the early years of marriage and higher valued gifts in the later years of marriage. In addition to the varied gift lists, many retailers, who saw profit in encouraging anniversary gift-giving, created their own gift lists.

While anniversary gift-giving has become a somewhat mandatory practice, it doesn’t mean that you have to follow the gift lists. While these lists are helpful for sparking ideas, it’s more important to give a gift that expresses your love for your partner and comes from the heart. A great sunset dinner beachside with your own private chef is one way to express your love.

Whatever you do, remember that anniversaries are a reason to celebrate and rekindle those feelings that made you decide to get married in the first place.

If you forget your anniversary, don’t sweat it. While the hustle and bustle of every day life may have caused you to forget a gift, it doesn’t mean that you’ve forgotten why you got married. Instead, give the gift of three little words that mean the most in a marriage, “I Love You”. Make sure to mark it on your calendar for next year though, and book a romantic dinner for two Beach side in Maui with your own tableside chef for sunset. You special someone will forget you forgot the anniversary after this romantic sunset dinner for two.

Anniversary Gift List