The 8th Anniversary Gift Is Bronze
The traditional eighth anniversary gift is bronze. Hallmark’s list offers pottery or bronze, and some British lists add salt. It was not one of Emily Post’s 1922 anniversaries.
US traditional: bronze · UK lists: bronze, salt · Hallmark: pottery or bronze
What Does the 8th Anniversary Gift Mean?
Bronze is an alloy, two metals made stronger by being combined, which is the reading most people give the eighth year. It also weathers well and takes a patina rather than breaking down. Pottery, the alternative, is clay made permanent by fire: the same idea, in a material you can eat off. The 8th 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). Hallmark’s list gives pottery or bronze.
Checked against Emily Post, Wikipedia and Hallmark on .
What Are Good 8th Anniversary Gift Ideas?
- A small bronze sculpture. An animal you both love, or the shape of something from the wedding.
- A handmade mug each. From a potter, so no two are quite the same.
- A pottery class for two. Make each other a mug, then use them for the next eight years.
- Bronze bookends. For the shelf where the shared books ended up.
- Salt, for the UK list. A good flaky sea salt and a salt cellar. Small, daily, slightly funny.
- A clay-style portrait. The two of you as handmade clay figures, for the pottery reading.
What We Make for the 8th
For the pottery reading, our Clay Crew style paints the two of you (or the family) as handmade claymation figures from one photo. It is a print, not fired clay, but it has the hand-sculpted look and your real faces. It prints as a framed canvas, a canvas or a puzzle.
8th Anniversary Questions
What is the traditional 8th anniversary gift? +
Bronze on the American traditional list. Hallmark’s list gives pottery or bronze, and some British lists give bronze and salt.
Is the Clay Crew portrait made of clay? +
No, it is a printed portrait painted in the style of handmade clay figures. Pair it with a real piece of pottery if the material matters.
Was the 8th anniversary on the original list? +
No. Emily Post’s 1922 list covered only the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 50th and 75th. The years between were filled in later, which is why lists disagree about the 8th.
Other Anniversaries
- 1st: paper
- 2nd: cotton
- 3rd: leather
- 4th: fruit and flowers
- 5th: wood
- 6th: iron
- 7th: wool, copper
- 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.