Leather Gifts for Him & Her

My husband and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary last week and like we have practiced since our first, we exchanged traditional themed anniversary gifts.  I didn’t even know about these traditional gift themes when I first got married, but began hearing more and more about them as my friends started celebrating anniversaries.  Some traditional anniversary themes include: First is paper, second is cotton, etc.  There are also modern anniversary gift themes that have been updated to be more “with-the-times” but also much more expensive!  Some of the modern anniversary themes include: First anniversary is clocks (some do watches), second is fine china, third is crystal and fourth is appliances.  Those are some seriously nice gifts if you ask me!  Maybe I should switch from traditional themes to modern next year and go for a new refrigerator or front-load washing machine :).

I like the traditional gifts because it forces you to be a little bit more creative.  For our first anniversary (paper) my husband gave me tickets to see the play “A Christmas Carol” here in Chicago and I gave him a new wallet with a $1 bill on which I wrote “Happy 1 Year Anniversary – I ❤ You!”  I admit, I kind of cheated since a wallet is REALLY a leather gift, but he still has that $1 bill in his wallet to this day.  For our second anniversary (cotton) we took an anniversary ski trip to Lake Tahoe, CA so we bought long sleeve cotton T-shirts from the ski resorts and new ski hats.  And that brings us to our third anniversary which was leather.

For him, I found this great leather Tie Case from Brookstone.  My husband is always stuffing his ties in suitcase pockets, so when I saw this I thought it was a great idea!  The case keeps the ties all in one place, and from getting wrinkled.  You can also choose to monogram it, which I obviously did because I love monograms :).

I was spoiled this year and received two leather gifts because my husband couldn’t decide.  Both were HOBO brand (designed by women, for women) which I love.  First I received the above “Effe” clutch in gold.  It has a big chunky zipper along the top that zips open to a large amount of room for a clutch.  It is darker (more bronze than gold) than the picture on the Hobo website, which I liked because it went with my dress for the night perfectly.

My hubby also knew I was in need of a new wallet.  My most recent wallet had a huge magnetized flap and it demagnetized EVERY hotel key I’ve had this past year.  Frankly, I think he was sick of returning to hotel front-desks for new keys :).  He made sure my new wallet was magnet-free, and he gave me the Hobo Diane Wallet in Stone.  I love the number of card slots and the large change purse (which I am using for coupons and grocery/retail loyalty cards – I don’t have much use for change these days).

Photo Opp: Post opening leather gifts; Pre anniversary dinner!

These leather gifts would also make great holiday gifts if you still have a little shopping to finish.  Also – below is a reminder of the traditional and modern anniversary gift themes if you need a refresher.  I’d love to hear of some other creative anniversary gifts you have given, or heard of others giving!

Anniversary #               Traditional Gift               Modern Gift
First                                    Paper                                      Clocks
Second                                Cotton                                     China
Third                                   Leather                                  Crystal or Glass
Fourth                                 Fruit or Flowers                   Appliances
Fifth                                     Wood                                      Silverware
Sixth                                    Candy or Iron                       Wood
Seventh                               Wool or Copper                     Desk Sets
Eight                                     Bronze or Pottery                Linens or Lace
Ninth                                    Pottery or Willow                 Leather
Tenth                                   Tin or Aluminum                  Diamond Jewelry
Eleventh                              Steel                                        Fashion Jewelry
Twelfth                                Silk or Linen                          Pearls
Thirteenth                           Lace                                        Textiles or Furs
Fourteenth                          Ivory                                       Gold Jewelry
Fifteenth                             Crystal                                     Watches
Twentieth                           China                                        Platinum
Twenty-Fifth                     Silver                                        Silver
Thirtieth                             Pearl                                         Diamond
Thirty-Fifth                       Coral                                         Jade
Fortieth                              Ruby                                         Ruby
Forty-Fifth                        Sapphire                                   Sapphire
Fiftieth                               Gold                                           Gold
Fifty-Fifth                          Emerald                                    Emerald
Sixtieth                               Diamond                                   Diamond