My parents will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary soon. They did not want a bid party so the immediate family will be doing a lunch boat cruise. I would like to buy them a gift. My siblings are purchasing separate gifts. Their ages are 76 and 71 and are both in relatively good health. They do a little traveling, involved in their church and like spend time with children and 4 grandchildren(ages 13-16).
What kinds of gifts have you seem given to a couple celebrating their 50 anniversary?
For my parents' 50th we gave them new wedding bans. They were very simple and I had the design be a repeated initial that went all around the ring; my Dad's had my M.'s initial and vice versa. They loved them.
For my in-laws we surprised them with a huge book from Shutterfly full of old pictures and past memories. Each child wrote a nice letter that was included in the book. The best part in that book was the "confessions of a teenager" where each child had confessed to something that they got away with, it was so hilarious to see my in-laws pointing their fingers saying, "I KNEW that was you!!". Another family member also put together a slide-show (DVD style) of a ton more photos of all the families throughout the years. We all sent photos of our individual vacations, school functions, whatever and he put them together in a video montage with music from the era that they grew up in. It was awesome! Also, another sister, did a necklace for my MIL with all the kids birthstones and for their dad she had all the little grandkids paint, draw, make handprints, whatever on muslin squares and she sewed all the squares into a quilt.
We did the same thing with my in laws for their 50th. We did a boat cruise around Lake Minnetonka. They really enjoyed it.
I am a scrapbooker, so I made them a scrapbook of a trip we all took together. They loved it and show it off to everybody. If you dont scrapbook, I say do a digital book on Snapfish, Shutterfly, Creative Memories etc.... Can you get ahold of some of their pictures from some trips they took? or pictures from when they were younger? Something memorable.
we had a party for my parents 50th...we had a picture from their wedding day blown up and a matte finish around it - so everyone that showed up at the party signed it.
for their 40th - we sent around letters to all of their friends and asked them for a memory of them - and a picture too....a LOT of people responded and my sister and I put a memory book together for them with the letters/memories and the pictures together. We had a surprise party for them at my sister's church and the people that could attend the party read their stories/memories for my parents.
besides throwing a big party , we had a photo of my in-laws blown up and they loved it... my FIL has since passed :( but that big ol photo is hanging in the livingroom of my MIL 's house.. she LOVES it .. a huge photo is not for everyone, but my inlaws liked it..
also.. mine are very religious so my husband was able to get a blessing from the pope in paper form. it's really colorful and pretty.. sounds like your parents are religious so maybe something "blessed" from the church... you can send away for it to Rome.. I think it cost, but not too much... anyway, even something local might be cool.
I also saw one couple have a copy of their wedding vows painted and framed.. not my thing, but it was sure pretty..
I love Heather D.'s idea of a picture book.
Another suggestion would be to give a "job" book. The book could include mowing the lawn, washing windows, taking them shopping, out to dinner, etc.
Another suggestion would be to give them a weekend at a bed n breakfast or resort at a place they would enjoy.
I think one of the best gifts is the gift of time/ sharing an outing with them, or having them at your home for a special get to gether.
Happy Anniversary to your parents.
Tickets to something! Do they like theater, music, etc? How about a sporting event?
For my grandparents 50th, I got a clock and cross-stitched their first names
Rob + Dorothy
50 years
1947 - 1997.
They kept it in their living room. They have both since passed and now I have it in my dining room. I suggest a set of nice watches.
I thought 50 th was the golden anniversary. His and hers gold watches with engraving their names
My parents just had theirs. My sister took her kids to the river last weekend and they wrote my parents' names in the sand with a heart between them and my sister took a picture of it, had it printed in sepia tones, and put it in a 50th anniversary commemorative frame with sepia trim.
We would have liked to have done it with one of their wedding pictures, but they don't have any. The film the photographer used was defective and none of them came out.
Haven't read the other answers, but you or someone else can take pictures of the event and then you can put them in a nice album with the wedding date and anniversary date. We did that for my husband's grandmother's 90th and she loved it.
My parents received a decorative plate with their wedding date and anniversary date in gold on it. They hung it in a place of honor.
For my parents' anniversary, we made a photobook. I borrowed all the old photos Mom had taken throughout the years and a few we had taken. I scanned them onto the computer and uploaded them to a website where I could make a photobook. We put it all together in a big photobook and each got a copy along with giving one to Mom and Dad. The only negative of this was there weren't many pictures of Mom since she took most of the photos.
For our parents 25th ( they would be celebrating their 50th this Sept... but my dad passed :( ). we did a DVD (it was actually a VCR back then!!) of photos of all the children, them, the grandkids throughout the years. My mother cried the ENTIRE time!!! My dad was totally chocked up too... and they just loved the older pictures.
I like the idea of asking others for photos and memories... if you have time I would try to do that too!!
