15 years down the line, and there’s a huge amount to celebrate.
Beyond sharing 5475 days together (yep, we calculated it), this time encompasses countless happy memories, shared achievements and milestones reached. And anniversaries are your chance to celebrate all of the above.
15 years is no small achievement - so don’t let it go uncelebrated!
Thinking of a petrol station box of chocolates and a takeaway? Absolutely not! You may not be stuck in the honeymoon phase anymore, but that certainly doesn’t mean you’ve left the romance behind.
To help you celebrate your 15th wedding anniversary in the style and magnificence that it deserves, our experts have shared their top tips for choosing a thoughtful themed anniversary gift.
Keep reading to find out more about traditional anniversary themes (why they exist and what the theme is for this year), and our favourite ideas for on-theme gifts.
The history of 15 year wedding anniversaries - why crystal?
At first glance, you may be wondering whether this list of themes has been plucked out of a hat. It just seems like a random assortment of materials alongside a list of years, right?
Well actually, there’s a whole lot more to it than that.
In fact, you’ll have to go back 100 years, to the first publication of the book Etiquette. In 1922, Emily Post (who was an American writer) published this first official list of themes for each wedding anniversary theme.
She created this list based on the themes that were commonly being used across the Victorian period, as was a popular custom amongst couples.
Her list then set universally agreed themes, so that every major anniversary had a unique and clear-cut gift material.
Her original list (which was later expanded) only included themes for the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th wedding anniversaries.
Traditional gift ideas for your 15th wedding anniversary
Now, some of you may well be thinking, ‘Well, it’s hardly diamond, is it?’. And you’d be right. In fact, that’s exactly the point.
Although the 15th wedding anniversary isn’t celebrated with gifts of diamond, gold or ruby, there is a logic to this more affordable and understated material.
The idea was to start small, so that couples could work their way up from cheaper and more readily available gift themes in the early years, progressing towards more expensive materials when they’d been together longer.
So, don’t be tempted to stray from the theme to choose a costlier gem - you’d be totally missing the point! Embrace crystals and use this theme to come up with a really creative and special 15th wedding anniversary gift idea.
To help you on your search, we’ve shared some expert 15th wedding anniversary gift inspiration. Feel free to pinch any of these ideas, or to give them a twist and make them your own:
- Crystal wine glasses or crystal champagne glasses
- You could even get them engraved with a personalised message!
- Crystal jewellery. This could be:
- Earrings
- Necklace
- Bracelet
- Ring
- Brooch
- An engraved photo cube
- A decorative anniversary tree ornament
Where did modern wedding gift themes come from?
If you’ve been doing your research, an internet search for the 15th wedding anniversary theme may come back with a number of different results.
In addition to crystal, you may also have seen ‘watches’ pop up a few times.
Well, funnily enough, they’re both optional themes for this wedding anniversary…
This is because watches are the modern wedding anniversary theme for year #15.
The modern list of anniversary themes has become increasingly popular in recent years. It is designed around the same principles and ideas of the traditional list, but it has been updated to suit more modern materials and gift-giving practises.
So, if you’d like to stick with the tradition of giving themed gifts, but would prefer to take your present search down a more modern route, check out our top 5 tips for choosing a modern 15th wedding anniversary present:
- Keep an eye out for personalisation services. Some jewellers allow you to include a personalised engraving, which gives your gift a beautiful extra detail.
- Find a watch that fits your partner’s signature style.
- Look at the range of independent jewellers, or luxury antique shops. This is a brilliant way to find a stylish, one-of-a-kind present.
- Look for a watch that includes crystal details, too. This is a fun way to incorporate both the traditional and modern themes into your gift.
- It doesn’t have to be a wrist watch! If they don’t tend to wear watches, choose another decorative ornamental clock. After all, the theme is designed to be flexible, so make it your own.
After 15 years together, these themes will be a huge life-saver - your range of gift ideas are bound to be running thin by now!
These themes are a great way to help you find a thoughtful, sentimental gift, which commemorates all your achievements from the last 15 years. Plus, you’ll have a lot of fun going on a themed gift hunt!
