50th anniversary gifts: 30 golden ideas for your parents or your spouse
Thirty ways to mark fifty years, whether the gift is from the family or from one of the two of them.
30 ideas ·
Fifty years together is rare, and everyone around a golden anniversary couple knows it. There's a whole family, a lifetime of stories and usually a party. The gift has a lot to live up to, and the good news is that the best ones aren't about price at all.
The traditional 50th anniversary gift is gold, and the modern one is gold too. The flowers are yellow roses and violets. These 30 ideas cover gold gifts, gifts from the whole family for your parents or grandparents, ideas for your husband or wife, celebrations, and small things that still mean a lot.
Writing the card? Our guide to what to write in an anniversary card has messages for the big milestones.
Make it a book: Years of Reasons holds fifty reasons, one per page, written from your memories and illustrated to look like your people. Start yours
Gold anniversary gifts
Gold is the gift the whole tradition builds up to. These keep it personal.
- A book of reasons with "our 50th year" on the cover: fifty reasons, one for every year, with the two of you illustrated on the front.
- Gold-rimmed champagne glasses engraved with your wedding date, for the toast.
- A gold locket holding two small photos, one from your wedding day and one from this year.
- Gold cufflinks or a gold pendant engraved with the date you married.
- A yellow rose bush for the yard, to bloom every anniversary from now on.
- A gold-framed print of the church, hall or courthouse where you married.
- A gold-leaf keepsake box for the letters and photos of fifty years.
From the whole family, for your parents
Many golden anniversary gifts come from the children and grandchildren, and they work best when everyone adds something. Reasons We Adore You is a book made for this: reasons from the whole family, with the two of them illustrated on the cover.
- A book of reasons from the whole family, children and grandchildren included: why we're all glad they met.
- Letters from the wedding guests who are still here, collected in secret.
- Their wedding photos, restored and reprinted, with the names and the date written on the back.
- A family photo with every child and grandchild in it, taken for the day.
- Their wedding cake recreated from the original photo, or from the baker's recipe if it survived.
- A video of family and friends each sharing one memory of the two of them.
- A family tree that starts with the two of them fifty years ago and ends with the youngest grandchild.
For your husband or wife
After fifty years, the best gifts are the ones only the two of you understand.
- A letter for each decade: five envelopes, one for every ten years you've shared.
- Your wedding vows read again over dinner, with a new verse for the years since.
- A dance to your wedding song, in the kitchen or at the party.
- A trip back to where you honeymooned, fifty years on.
- An eternity ring with the year you married engraved inside.
Celebrations for a golden anniversary
- A party with the people who were at your wedding.
- A vow renewal in the place you married.
- A family weekend away, with everyone under one roof.
- A dinner recreating your wedding menu.
- A photo shoot for the two of you, and one with the whole family.
- A boat trip, a train journey or a balloon ride somewhere they've always wanted to go.
Small gifts that still mean a lot
- A card signed by every grandchild, the youngest with a handprint.
- Yellow roses and violets, the 50th anniversary flowers, delivered in the morning.
- A newspaper from their wedding day, framed.
- A playlist of fifty songs, one from every year they've been married.
- A star map of the sky on the night they married.
What the 50th anniversary stands for
Gold is the most precious material on the traditional list, and the 50th is the anniversary it's saved for: strong, warm and worth more with time. It's often the first anniversary a whole family celebrates together, which is why so many golden anniversary gifts come from the children and grandchildren rather than the couple.
None of it needs to be literal. A gold frame is lovely, but the photos and stories inside it are what they'll keep.
Whatever you choose, give it with words. Fifty years is a lifetime of stories, and a note that tells even one of them will outlast almost anything you can buy. If you're the husband or wife, Years of Reasons puts fifty reasons in a book with "our 50th year" on the cover, one for every year, with the two of you illustrated in the style you choose.
If the gift is from the family, Reasons We Adore You gathers reasons from children and grandchildren. Marking a different year? Every anniversary from paper to diamond is in our anniversary gifts by year.
Questions people ask
What is the traditional 50th anniversary gift?+
Gold, which is why the 50th is called the golden anniversary. The modern gift is gold too, and the flowers are yellow roses and violets.
What do you give your parents for their 50th anniversary?+
Something from the whole family: a book of reasons from children and grandchildren, like Reasons We Adore You, their wedding photos restored and reprinted, or a party with the people who were at their wedding.
What should I get my husband or wife for our 50th anniversary?+
Something that holds fifty years: a book of fifty reasons with "our 50th year" on the cover, a letter for each decade, or a trip back to where you honeymooned.
What is a good gold anniversary gift?+
Gold works best when it's personal: a locket with a wedding photo and one from this year, gold-rimmed glasses engraved with the date, or a gold-framed print of the place you married.
