Wedding Anniversary Calculator
Enter your wedding date and this anniversary calculator tells you how many years you have been married, which anniversary you celebrated most recently, and exactly when the next one falls — including the day of the week, a countdown in days, and the traditional and modern gifts for that year. Milestone anniversaries such as the Silver Jubilee at 25 and the Golden Anniversary at 50 are called out by name.
The day you were married (or the date the anniversary counts from).
Anniversary Gifts by Year: Traditional and Modern
Every year through the 25th has a traditional gift and a modern alternative. After year 25, gifts are assigned to the five-year milestones. Both columns below follow the standard United States lists.
| Year | Name | Traditional | Modern |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | — | Paper | Clocks |
| 2 | — | Cotton | China |
| 3 | — | Leather | Crystal / glass |
| 4 | — | Fruit / flowers | Appliances |
| 5 | — | Wood | Silverware |
| 6 | — | Candy / iron | Wood |
| 7 | — | Wool / copper | Desk sets |
| 8 | — | Bronze / pottery | Linens / lace |
| 9 | — | Pottery / willow | Leather |
| 10 | — | Tin / aluminum | Diamond jewelry |
| 11 | — | Steel | Fashion jewelry |
| 12 | — | Silk / linen | Pearls |
| 13 | — | Lace | Textiles / furs |
| 14 | — | Ivory (alternatives common today) | Gold jewelry |
| 15 | — | Crystal | Watches |
| 16 | — | Wax | Silver holloware |
| 17 | — | Furniture | Furniture |
| 18 | — | Porcelain | Porcelain |
| 19 | — | Bronze | Bronze |
| 20 | — | China | Platinum |
| 25 | Silver Jubilee | Silver | Silver |
| 30 | — | Pearl | Diamond |
| 35 | — | Coral | Jade |
| 40 | — | Ruby | Ruby |
| 45 | — | Sapphire | Sapphire |
| 50 | Golden Anniversary | Gold | Gold |
| 55 | — | Emerald | Emerald |
| 60 | Diamond Anniversary | Diamond | Diamond |
| 65 | — | Blue sapphire | Blue sapphire |
| 70 | — | Platinum | Platinum |
| 75 | — | Diamond | Diamond |
Where the Traditional List Comes From
The oldest anniversary customs come from medieval Germany, where a wife was crowned with a silver wreath on the couple's 25th anniversary and a gold one on the 50th. Those two milestones — silver and gold — anchored the tradition for centuries, and the years in between only gradually picked up symbols of their own. By the time Emily Post published her famous etiquette book in 1922, she could list gifts for just a handful of years: the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 50th, and 75th.
The full year-by-year traditional list was standardized in 1937 by the American National Retail Jewelers Association, which filled in every year through 25 and the five-year milestones beyond. The modern list was added later in the 20th century, offering contemporary alternatives — clocks instead of paper, diamond jewelry instead of tin — for couples who prefer them.
Milestone Anniversaries
A few anniversaries are famous enough to have names of their own. The 25th is the silver anniversary — the Silver Jubilee — and the 50th is the golden anniversary, the two milestones at the root of the whole tradition. The 40th is the ruby anniversary and the 60th is the diamond anniversary, a name with royal echoes: Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 marked 60 years on the throne, and the same jubilee names (silver, golden, diamond) are still used for royal reigns today. Beyond 60, couples celebrate blue sapphire at 65, platinum at 70, and diamond again at 75 — milestones rare enough that reaching one is an achievement worth a real celebration.
Planning ahead for a milestone? Use our date calculator to add years or days to any date, or the age difference calculator to find the exact gap between two dates.
Frequently Asked Questions
The early years follow the classic US list: paper for the 1st, cotton for the 2nd, leather for the 3rd, fruit or flowers for the 4th, wood for the 5th, candy or iron for the 6th, wool or copper for the 7th, bronze or pottery for the 8th, pottery or willow for the 9th, and tin or aluminum for the 10th. The full table on this page covers every year through 25, plus the five-year milestones after that.
The most famous are the 25th (the Silver Jubilee), the 40th (ruby), the 50th (the Golden Anniversary), and the 60th (the Diamond Anniversary). Other milestones take their names from their gemstones: pearl at 30, coral at 35, sapphire at 45, emerald at 55, blue sapphire at 65, and platinum at 70.
Subtract the wedding year from the current year, then subtract one more if the anniversary date has not arrived yet this year. For example, a couple married on March 14, 2002 is on their 24th year of marriage until March 14, 2026, when they celebrate their 24th anniversary. The calculator above does this for you and counts down to the next one.
The traditional list is the older, symbolic one (paper, cotton, leather, wood), standardized in the United States in 1937. The modern list was drawn up later by retailers and suggests contemporary alternatives such as clocks for the 1st anniversary or diamond jewelry for the 10th. Either list is correct; many couples mix the two.