Traditional gifts for your spouse
The traditional gift for the fifth wedding anniversary is wood and I feel like that’s something you can really have fun with. After all, just about every type of serving piece can be made out of wood. From bamboo bowls to engraved cutting boards to hand-carved olive wood salad servers there are so many gorgeous kitchen/dining items made from wood. It’s pretty easy to build out a whole gift around that – get some famous soup dumplings and prepare them in a wooden steamer, for instance. I always love turning my gifts into some sort of experience, but with a new bambino, that was a bit tougher this year. I wanted something that was more than a tchotchke but still fun and meaningful…and I think I found just the thing. (My beau knocked it out of the park too.) And in case you want more inspiration, I’ve listed a few other wooden gifts at the bottom of this post.
I don’t know how I stumbled upon this, but I found a seller on Etsy who had reclaimed bleacher seats from the Notre Dame stadium. As a die hard ND fan, I knew it would be perfect for Albert. At 86 years old, the Notre Dame stadium got a bit of a face lift in 2016 and the wooden benches were replaced with steel. I was able to request a specific seat number from one of those original benches and chose 4, our lucky number. I love that it’s a piece of history and can be hung on our wall as art. There is so much sports memorabilia that wooden
Albert chose to give me the gift of cheese because he knows me so very well. Technically, he didn’t give me cheese, but he gave me the most epic cheese board. Not only is it huge, it opens up to reveal all the cheese knives you could ever need. Next to each knife is usage indication so I know exactly which utensil to pair with each type of fromage. I immediately put it to use with a big meat and cheese plate. Cheese boards are my love language. It’s my favorite thing to both prepare and eat so this could not have been a more perfect gift.
Other wooden ideas:
- Anything framed (with a wooden frame, duh)
- A camping trip – literally spending time in the woods
- A nice bottle of scotch or bourbon that’s been aged in a wooden cask
- Wooden frame sunglasses or a watch with a wooden band is great for a trendy fella
- For another experience-based gift, organize a game night with wooden games (like mancala) plus a nice meal and cocktails. You can even personalize the games by writing truth/dare or sweet nothings on jenga blocks, getting a customized puzzle, or designing a custom cornhole set.
- Some golf clubs are known as woods (even though they’re no longer made of wood) and a fairway wood would make a great gift for a golfer. (Note: this was what I was originally going to gift Albert before I found the ND bleacher.)
Peaches to Apples 