Best Anniversary Presents for Your Parents for Every Milestone

Anniversary gifts celebrate the small, consistent sacrifices, promises, and commitments that a married couple goes through every day to make up each year.

And for your parents, that’s a commitment not just to each other, but to the blossoming family they’ve raised and tended as lovingly as any garden. Share in toasting the important milestones of your parents’ marriage by putting as much thought and care into your anniversary presents for them as they did in nurturing you, your siblings, and each other!

Gift-Giving Tips for Your Parents

Sustaining a marriage and family for decades is a lifelong challenge, but buying presents for your parents’ anniversary doesn’t have to be! Here are tips for choosing anniversary presents for your parents for every milestone.

25th Anniversary: Gifts for the Silver Anniversary

25 years of marriage is a big milestone that should be commemorated. Not every couple who gets married lasts this long anymore!

This momentous occasion is an excuse to give them all the fancy presents emblazoned with the words “Silver Anniversary”. Hold off on the run-of-the-mill gifts for now; you’ll have another 25 years to pick those before the Golden Anniversary!

30th Anniversary: Gifts that encourage hobbies and travel

Three decades spent growing old together, and your parents are still at an age where they’re young enough to chase their interests!

As they start planning for retirement, give presents that encourage them to pursue their hobbies or to travel together. For so long, their marriage revolved around raising their children and making a living. It’s a time to give back and remind them to go back to the things they love – their passions, and each other.

40th Anniversary: Gifts to share with family

By now your parents are likely settling into retirement. They’re focused on enjoying all the time they didn’t have before with their family and grandchildren.

Give presents that they can enjoy with their adult children, they can share with their grandkids, and will celebrate the little dynasty they’ve founded on their love.

50th Anniversary: Gifts that double as heirlooms

If 25 years was a special milestone, 50 years is downright rare and marks half a century of love and commitment. Not everyone lives that long – or lives that long together!

For your parents’ 50th anniversary, give commemorative presents that can potentially be family heirlooms. Look for gifts with quality craftsmanship that lasts the decades, just as their marriage did. These will be treasured for their beauty as well as functionality and can be handed down to future generations as an inspiring reminder of your parents’ enduring love.

Your Guide to Gifts for Anniversary Presents for Your Parents

We’ve pulled together a collection of appropriate anniversary gifts for your parents, three for each milestone. Check them out below!

For parents married for 25 years

For a visual reminder of how far they’ve come

1 – 25th Anniversary Silver-Plated Photo Frame

Available from Amazon for $20.99

 

Not all momentous anniversary presents have to be mind-blowing or expensive. After all, it’s the memories inside the years that count!

Let’s kick off the list with this 25th Silver Wedding Anniversary double photo frame. On the left side, a smaller oval opening houses your original wedding photo.

The space is labeled “Our Wedding Day”. On the right side, a larger oval opening displays a photo of your parents in the present day. This space is labeled “Our Silver Anniversary”.

The rest of the frame is decorated with embossed traditional wedding symbols like doves, bells, and ribbons. The whole frame is finished in matte silver, while the embossed symbols and the frame rims are accented in shiny silver. You have the option to stand the frame on a table or hang it on the wall.

This 25th Silver Anniversary photo frame is a wonderful visual reminder of how far your parents have come! Many people would have told them their wedding was the happiest day of their lives, but with this present, they can see there’s room for so much more joy two and a half decades later.

Features

• Wedding day photo size (left): 3 x 4 inches
• 25th-anniversary photo size (right): 4 x 6 inches
• Weight: 1.19 pounds
• Dimensions: 9 x 9.1 inches

Pros

• Frame is weighty enough to stand well on its own
• Also comes with hanging apparatus on the back

Cons

• The frame can accommodate two 4 x 6-inch photos, but the left one may require resizing so the subjects are in the 3 x 4-inch opening

For celebrating 25 years of providing and caring for each other

2 – 25th Anniversary Porcelain Plate

Available from Amazon for $22.99

 

When your parents got married, they cut the first slice of their wedding cake together and fed it to each other, a symbolic gesture of how they would provide and care for each other during their marriage.

25 years later, their kids might want to gift them with this 25th Anniversary porcelain plate. It’s a beautiful, round plate made of food-safe porcelain with a scalloped silver rim. A silver ribbon with the repeating message “25 Years Together” is threaded through the design of the rim.

The plate can be displayed as a memento of the occasion. Otherwise, you can remove the ribbon, and use the plate to serve dessert on this special day, reminiscent of that first slice of cake 25 years ago.

Features

• Material: Food-safe porcelain. Not microwaveable.
• Care instructions: Hand wash only.
•  Dimensions:5 inches in diameter
•  Weight: 2 pounds

Pros

• A useful gift for years to come

Cons

• After removing the ribbon, there’s nothing tying the plate to the occasion (pun not intended!)
• No display apparatus included

For presents that are more than just a garden ornament

3 – 25th Anniversary Commemorative Sundial by The Metal Foundry

Available from Amazon for $59.95

If you’re looking for something more unusual than plates and picture frames, consider these sundials by The Metal Foundry!

These sundials are handcrafted by artisans in the United Kingdom. They’re made from high-quality cast aluminum and are fully lacquered to withstand outdoor use as well as indoor display.

The sundial for the 25th Anniversary features a blue background, raised details of wedding bells in silver, and the phrases “Happy Anniversary”, “25 Wonderful Years Together 1993-2018”, and “Silver Wedding Anniversary”.

Once facing the right way, this sundial tells time as well as directions. Compass points are marked around the base of the gnomon. The sundial can be placed on a table, stand, or pedestal, as well as mounted on a wall or hung.

Features

• Material: High quality cast aluminum, fully lacquered
• Handmade in the UK
• 28-day return policy
• Dimensions: 6 1/4 inches in diameter, 3 inches high with gnomon
• Weight: 12.3 ounces

Pros

• Perfect for indoor and outdoor display

Cons

• May be a little small; larger sundials can be commissioned from The Metal Foundry

For parents married for 30 years

1 – Bondka 2-Pack Expandable Carry-On Luggage Set

Available from Amazon for $99.99

 

If your parents have filled their retirement calendars with travel plans together, gift them this pair of Bondka matching lightweight luggage bags.

These make perfect carry-on luggage, as they expand to fit everything your parents might stuff in them while still being light and compact enough to be stored in the overhead compartments. Both bags feature buckle straps and several pockets to sort their stuff inside and outside. The bags and pockets are secured with metal zippers for safety.

These Bondka luggage bags are fitted with skateboard wheels for smooth rolling through airports and city streets. A push-button extendable handle allows you to steer the bag, and a side handle allows for lifting. All handles are padded for comfortable carrying.

The luggage bags feature a dark and light gray exterior, and blue zippers provide an eye-catching accent. Give these tasteful and functional matching bags as 30th anniversary presents to your parents. They can see the world together, and marvel at the fact that despite how big it is, they still found each other.

Features

• Push-button extendable handle up to 21 inches
• Fabric padded handlebar and carry handles
• Smooth, quiet skateboard wheels
• Exterior pockets
• Internal mesh organizer pockets
• Zip-open divider
• Buckle straps for items in the main compartment
• ID card window holder
• Stability bar at the bottom to prevent tilting
• Dimensions: 22 x 15.75 x 6 inches, expands to 9 inches deep when packed full
• Weight: 8 pounds

Pros

• Compact and easily maneuverable

Cons

• Not suitable for longer trips requiring a lot of luggage

For parents who love to put food on the table

2 – Personalized Cutting Board

Available from Uncommon Goods starting at $159.00

Husband and wife duo Kim Strassner and Mike Pararas certainly know a thing or two about making occasions special.

They own Words with Boards, a studio in Baltimore, Maryland, which is well-known for their personalized cutting boards, as well as other hand-cut items. For parents who love to cook, their cutting boards would make a brilliant 30th-anniversary gift!

Each cutting board is made of richly-grained maple wood, treated with mineral oil. Your family name or your parents’ names are hand-cut along the top of the cutting board.

Aside from the thrill of using something so personal during food prep, you can also up the presentation value of any meal by serving hors d’oeuvres or dishes on it!

When not in use, the cutting board can be displayed as an accent item in the kitchen. A Words with Boards cutting board is sure to add something special to every meal prepared with it and serves as a testament to your parents’ love to anyone who enters their kitchen.

Words with Boards have also partnered with One Tree Planted, a non-profit organization focused on reforestation. The company donates $1 for every wooden product sold, which equates to one new tree planted.

Features

• Material: Hand-cut maple wood and mineral oil.
• Handmade in the USA
•  Care instructions: Wash with mild soap and water. Condition with food-safe mineral oil.
•  Dimensions: 16 x 12.5 x 1.125 inches

Pros

• Tasteful, personal, useful, and will last for generations to come

Cons

• Can be pricey for a cutting board

For nightcaps

3 – Yours, Mine, and Ours Engraved Decanter Set from Uncommon Goods

Available from Uncommon Goods for $66.00

This Yours, Mine, and Ours decanter set from Uncommon Goods makes a beautiful wedding anniversary gift for parents who like to wind down in the evenings together with a nightcap (in moderation, of course!).

This set is made of crystal glass engraved with Art Deco geometric designs. The rocks glasses are engraved with “Yours” and “Mine”, while the decanter is engraved with “Ours” in a The Great Gatsby-esque font.

Reminiscent of the classic family movie Yours, Mine, and Ours, this decanter set is symbolic of how marriage joins two separate persons and lives, and together they build one life that belongs in equal measure to both of them. (Of course, 40 years in, that’s a lesson your parents already know well!)

Features:

• crystal, glass, and silicone

Decanter:

• Engraved with “Ours”
• Made in Italy
• Dimensions: 5 x 5.5 inches
• Volume: 23 fluid ounces

Glasses:

• Engraved with “Yours” and “Mine”
• Made in the USA
• Dimensions:5 x 3.25 inches
• Volume: 5 fluid ounces

Pros

• Light but sturdy, easy to store and transport

Cons

• Only two glasses – you’ll have to provide others if the adult children want to share in the drinks!

For parents married for 40 years

For parents who love to show off their kids and grandkids

1 – Pix-Star 10.4-inch Wi-Fi Digital Photo Frame

Available from Amazon for $159.99

You’ve likely got parents who are the sort to bring around stacks of photographs of their family and grandchildren or are running out of table space to display framed photographs. This digital photo frame would be a massive upgrade.

The usual problem with digital photo frames is that they require updating manually using an SD card or USB stick. While the Pix-Star digital photo frame still allows for those options, you’ll also able to update its content remotely via a dedicated Pix-Star email address for the device.

Simply send your pictures as attachments to the email address and the photo frame in your parents’ house will update automatically as long as the photo frame is connected to Wi-Fi. The digital photo frame supports JPEG, JPG, BMP, PNG, and GIF formats, and holds up to 4 gigabytes worth of photos (that’s about 20,000 pictures!).

Set it up once and then it requires no software, no tricky buttons to push – perfect for technologically-challenged parents who can’t be bothered to learn how to use iPhones or Facebook!

The Pix-Star digital photo frame rotates and resizes photos to fit the 800 x 600 resolution to display at 96 dpi on a 10.4-inch LED LCD screen. The photos can be organized in albums or displayed randomly using the “Play All” option.

For added flair, you can hook the frame up to a web radio station or download music onto the device, then plug it into a speaker so the photos play over music. The frame comes with a remote control so your parents never have to touch the screen. It also comes with an auto-power off feature, so your parents can schedule when to turn their frame on and off to conserve power.

Of course, it’s not just a present for the non-tech-savvy! If your parents are wily enough to keep up with modern technologies, the Pix-Star digital photo frame also functions as a simple tablet: it allows for games like Sudoku, 2048, and Minesweeper; getting the  weather forecast; and setting calendar reminders.

Features:

Includes:

• Pix-Star Digital Photo Frame
• Remote Control
• AC Power Cord (worldwide compatible, input voltage from 100V up to 240 V)
• Quick Start Guide
• User Manual
• Display size (diagonal): 4 inches – 26 cm
• Display type/backlight: LCD/LED
• Display brightness/contrast: 300 cd/m2 (500:1)
• Dimensions (mm): 268x196x27
• Display area (mm): 211×158
• Display resolution (pixels): 800×600
• Aspect ratio: 4:3
• Image file format: JPEG, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF (including animated GIF)
• Memory: 4 GB
• Card support: SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC
• USB port
• Dimensions:6 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches
• Weight:78 pounds

Pros

• Everything can be controlled remotely, no need for your parents to fiddle with the device as you can control the images from your computer even if you’re miles away

Cons

• May have a tricky user interface for parents who aren’t tech-savvy

For an anniversary gift that keeps on giving

2 – GrandBox Subscription Gift Box

Available from GrandBox starting at $33.00

Here’s a perfect present for parents who live far away from you, for their anniversary and more! GrandBox is a subscription box service specifically created to connect families, no matter the distance.

GrandBox bills itself as the first original monthly subscription box for grandparents. Each box contains five or more themed items (full items, no samples).

For a personalized touch, you can also email up to five pictures to GrandBox (they’ll send you reminder emails so you won’t forget!) and they’ll print 4 x 6-inch photographs out and include them in each box, along with a personalized note.

You can order the first box for your parents’ anniversary, and subsequent boxes ship mid-month, every month. GrandBox also have special boxes that ship on holidays – Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Grandparent’s Day.

Features

Includes:

• At least 5 items reflecting a monthly theme
• 5 4 x 6-inch photos (provided by the sender)

Available plans (shipping fee within the US included):

• Month to Month: Charged every month. $33.00
• 3 Month Prepay: Charged every 3 months. $94.50
• 6 Month Prepay: Charged every 6 months. $180.00

Pros

• You’re basically set for present-giving for all future occasions as long as you keep the subscription going!

Cons

• As is the case with subscription boxes, you don’t get to choose the contents of each box

For keeping the family warm

3 – Loving Family Tree Plush Blanket

Available from Amazon for $59.99

When your parents are getting cold, or when it’s time to tuck in the little ones when they visit Grandma and Grandpa, this plush blanket customized with your literal family tree will make a thoughtful 40th-anniversary present.

This soft plush polyester blanket displays up to five branches of your family tree. Each branch of the family is represented by clusters of birds in tasteful colors. The families are made up of two-parent birds or one, with up to four bird children. A personalized two-line message can appear under each cluster of birds.

At the bottom of the tree – fittingly, the root – you can add your family name, the year your family was established (the year of your parents’ marriage!) and a one-line message up to 30 characters. Give your parents this Loving Family Tree Plush Blanket so they can quite literally wrap themselves in the warmth of family.

Features:

• Material: Soft polyester plush
• Trees can be personalized with up to 5 families
• Families can be composed of a single bird with up to 4 kids, or a couple with up to 4 kids.
• Each family can be personalized with a two-line message: the first line can be up to 25 characters, second line can be up to 50 characters.
• Families of birds available in peach, yellow, teal, green, and orange.
• Bottom of the tree can be personalized with any one-line message up to 30 characters, the family name up to 15 characters, and the year established.
• Care instructions: Machine washable.
• Dimensions: 50 x 60 inches

Pros

• Family-friendly present – perfect for your parents, you, or your kids during visits
• Also good to just display on the wall

Cons

• After the blanket’s been made, you’ll have to have an entirely new blanket made if there are new additions to the family

For parents married for 50 years

For a gift as old as their marriage

1 – Wine bottled the year they were married

Start your search on Wine-Searcher

For parents who know their spirits, a distinct and unforgettable present would be a wine that was bottled during the year they were married.

The quick and graceful way to get to such a gift is through Wine-Searcher, which prides itself on being “the most successful and seriously useful price comparison website” on wines.

Their extensive search engine and database list wines from around the world and allows you to compare prices from different merchants. For our purposes, you can pop in the year of your parents’ marriage in the Wine-Searcher’s search engine, and it will provide you with a list of wines in their database that were bottled in that year.

From there, it’s just a matter of choosing a wine and finding a merchant to ship it to you before your parents’ special day. After all, the perfect present to toast a relationship that’s aged like fine wine is…actually fine wine.

Features

• N/A

Pros

• Wine-Searcher is a quick and easy way to locate and purchase a specific wine – much easier than searching for it blindly in stores

Cons

• Wines of this quality can be quite pricey

For 50 years of keeping their chill

2 – Years of Bliss Wooden Beverage Cooler

Available from Personal Creations for $279.99

Getting to 50 years of marriage is most certainly something to celebrate. Celebrating means parties, and parties mean drinks!

The Years of Bliss beverage cooler is built from fir wood, and the lid can be engraved with either the year of your parents’ marriage or the number of years your parents have been married, as well as your parents’ names.

The cooler’s interior is made of galvanized metal to keep your drinks chilled. It holds up to 60 pounds of drinks and ice and has a drain for easy clean-up after the party. A bottle opener is mounted to the side for extra convenience.

Have this carefully-crafted and immensely useful gift delivered just in time for your parents’ 50th-anniversary shindig, and let your present be an indispensable part of family parties from here on out!

Features

• Material: Fir wood exterior, galvanized metal interior
• Mounted bottle opener on the side
• Drain located inside the cooler for easy emptying

For “Year” version:

• Personalize with choice of a year; the word “Year” will always appear
• Can be personalized with any two-line message
• First line up to 22 characters
• Second line up to 18 characters

For “Years” version:

• Personalize with a number of years; the word “Years” will always appear
• Can be personalized with any two-line message
• First line up to 22 characters
• Second line up to 18 characters
• Dimensions:5 x 30 x 13.75 inches

Pros

• Beautiful and enduring craftsmanship

Cons

• Bulky to store

For tracking time spent together

3 – Oversized Annmarie Wall Clock

Available from Wayfair for $176.99

If you’re going for grand gestures for your parents’ golden anniversary, you’d be hard-pressed to get any grander than this oversized Annmarie wall clock!

Every clock of its kind features a thick bezel frame hand-laid with over 1500 jewel-toned glass mosaic tiles, each one cut into a scalene triangle one centimeter long.

It features a classic white face numbered with Roman numerals. Domed glass forms the front of the clock, and the whole affair is assembled on a cast iron base that’s built to last.

This beauty spans almost two feet in diameter. Between its sheer size and exquisite details, the Annmarie wall clock is sure to add a dash of Spanish colonial grandeur to your parents’ home and anywhere it will get handed down to.

(And of course, it also tells time.)

Features

• Material: Cast-iron base, glass face, hand-laid glass mosaic tiles
• Analog clock
• Mechanical operating mechanism
• Made in India
• Indoor use only
• Batteries required: 1 AA
• Dimensions: 23 x 23 x 1
• Weight: 10 pounds

Pros

• Reliable, and the battery lasts for a long while before it needs replacing

Cons

• Heavy, requires assembly

Better together

Enduring love is rare and deserves to be celebrated with thoughtfulness, sincerity, and style. Many couples can’t even make it through five years of marriage, let alone 25, 30, 40, or 50 – what your parents have is inspiring and merits recognition every day.

And if it weren’t for your parents’ love and commitment to each other, you wouldn’t be here today! So show them your appreciation for each day that they chose to stay in love and fight for their family. And some serious RESPECT.