The 2nd Anniversary Gift Is Cotton
The traditional second anniversary gift is cotton. It is not on Emily Post’s 1922 list, which skipped straight from paper to wood; it arrived with the expanded year-by-year list generally credited to American jewelers in 1937.
US traditional: cotton · UK lists: paper or cotton
What Does the 2nd Anniversary Gift Mean?
Cotton follows paper as the next step up in durability: a fiber you wear, sleep in and wash, rather than one you file. The usual reading is comfort, a marriage settling into everyday use. In Britain the first two years are sometimes swapped, so a UK couple may hear cotton for the first and paper for the second. The 2nd is not in Emily Post’s Etiquette (1922), which listed only eight anniversaries. It comes from the expanded year-by-year list generally credited to American jewelers in 1937 (history).
Checked against Emily Post, Wikipedia and Hallmark on .
What Are Good 2nd Anniversary Gift Ideas?
- Good sheets. The cliché is a cliché because people rarely buy themselves the better set.
- A tee or sweatshirt that means something. Not a slogan. A drawing, a date, a place, stitched rather than printed so it lasts.
- A quilt or throw. Especially one made from something of yours: old shirts, the wedding linens.
- Matching robes. Cotton waffle or terry, for the slow mornings the second year finally allows.
- A cotton tote of the first home. A drawing of the house or flat, printed on canvas cotton.
- A picnic, properly. A cotton blanket and a basket. The material is the excuse; the afternoon is the gift.
What We Make for the 2nd
We stitch drawings onto a 100% ring-spun cotton tee, in real thread. If your kids have ever drawn the two of you, that drawing is the most personal cotton gift you can give. A drawing either of you made of the other works the same way. You upload the drawing, approve how it will be stitched, and only then does it go to the embroiderer.
2nd Anniversary Questions
What is the traditional 2nd anniversary gift? +
Cotton, on the American list. Some British lists give paper for the second year and cotton for the first.
Did Emily Post list cotton? +
No. Her 1922 Etiquette lists only the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 50th and 75th anniversaries. Cotton came with the expanded year-by-year list generally credited to the American National Retail Jewelers Association in 1937.
Is your embroidered tee really 100% cotton? +
Yes. It is a Comfort Colors 1717, 100% ring-spun US cotton, in every color. The sweatshirt and hoodie in the same line are cotton blends, so if the material matters, choose the tee.
Other Anniversaries
- 1st: paper
- 3rd: leather
- 4th: fruit and flowers
- 5th: wood
- 6th: iron
- 7th: wool, copper
- 8th: bronze
- 9th: pottery
- 10th: tin, aluminum
- 11th: steel
- 12th: silk
- 25th: silver
- 50th: gold
Every year from the 1st to the 60th, with the US and UK lists side by side, is on the anniversary gifts by year page.