Your 40th wedding anniversary is a cause for celebrating your love, relationship, and future. However, not everyone is good at selecting the perfect gift, especially when it comes to something meaningful, romantic, creative, or memorable. 

While it’s still a few years until Capture celebrates its 30th year of digitizing memories, we know a thing or two about meaningful gift ideas. So, we put together this guide to help you choose the best gift for your 40th anniversary celebration. 

Keep reading to learn about the traditional 40th-year gifts including ruby red options, personalized gift ideas, unique presents, romantic experiences, keepsakes, memorabilia, and tons of ideas to ensure a happy anniversary. 

Jump to:

• History and Tradition
• Ruby-Themed Gifts
• Personalized 40th Anniversary Gifts
• Unique 40th Anniversary Presents
• Celebrating the Romance
• 40th Anniversary Keepsakes and Memorabilia

History and Tradition

Each of the major anniversary milestones has a traditional gift. For example, traditional 50th anniversary gifts include gold and yellow roses while the 20th anniversary gift is China or porcelain. So, what is the traditional 40th anniversary gift? Ruby.

The deep, red-colored ruby theme designated for 40 years symbolizes passion, loyalty, devotion, and a love that is burning just as it was the day you got married. While you don’t have to get a gem for your 40th ruby anniversary, other gifts often incorporate the traditional red color as well. 

In fact, the two traditional 40th anniversary flowers are Gladioli and Nasturtium, both known for offering a bright, passionate red color. Additionally, rose gold is often more popular than white gold for celebrating 40 years because of the reddish tint.  

Let’s look at all the different ruby gifts you can get as the perfect way to show your love on your 40th anniversary occasion. 

Ruby-Themed Gifts

There are lots of ruby-themed gifts that you can get for your spouse. Some of the more traditional options include ruby earrings, necklaces, rings, or other pieces of jewelry. These are all great, traditional, and show how much you care, but there are plenty of other options as well. 

For example, there are many ruby-adorned home décor pieces. For example, if you want a photo gift for him, you can get a picture frame with ruby decorations and emblems while including your wedding photo. Another option for men is a watch with ruby gems at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions. 

Another option is ruby-tinted wine glasses or champagne flutes. Combine these with red roses, a 40th anniversary date, and a red throw blanket, and you have the perfect gift to say, “I love you.” You can even get him and her monograms to place onto a ruby-colored blanket, towel set, or comforter to symbolize the comfort and warmth of your relationship. 

Other ruby-colored gifts include candles, cuff links, perfumes, kitchenware, tumblers, wall art, and more, but if you want to get something non-traditional there are plenty of other non-ruby options as well. 

Personalized 40th Anniversary Gifts

Personalized gifts include inscriptions, messages, photos, dates, and other personal information and memories based on you and your spouse. For example, you can personalize a photo frame by including the oldest photograph of you as a couple and charms that tell your romantic story or you can get a him and her wine glass set with your wedding date and anniversary date to celebrate 40 years. 

There are lots of customizable gifts that you can personalize with your own message, photo, or date including luggage, wall art, jewelry, photo albums, wallets and handbags, candle holders, anniversary sundials, and so much more. 

These 40th anniversary gift ideas are great because they combine a traditional gift with your memories of 40 years together. You can find some great options on Amazon and Etsy from sellers who will add your message or photo to a gift box or unique item of your choice. 

In some cases, you can also combine them with a ruby gemstone to create a more personal version of the traditional gift for your 40-year anniversary. Either way, personalized messages can make any gift more memorable and meaningful, which makes the day extra special. 

Unique 40th Anniversary Presents

While going the traditional route is a fantastic way to ensure a happy 40th wedding anniversary gift, there are also more unique gift options that you might want to consider. One way to make your ruby wedding anniversary present super unique is to make it yourself. 

For example, you can learn how to scrapbook and dedicate the book to your relationship with pages on the way you met, old Polaroid camera photos from your early years as a couple, favorite experiences, biggest laughs, your wedding day, and so much more. 

You can also plan an entire experience around your ruby wedding anniversary. You can plan a vacation to your favorite spot as a couple, go on a weekend getaway, or just have a romantic date revolving around your partner’s favorite food, fun, and hobbies. 

If you’re feeling extra adventurous, then you can plan an awesome experience around the day by going skydiving or rock climbing. Or, you can get dance lessons, cooking classes, or theme park season passes for the two of you. When you start thinking out of the box like this, you might discover the perfect unique four-decade milestone gifts based on you and your spouse’s personalities. 

Celebrating the Romance

While many of the 40th anniversary gift ideas we’ve mentioned so far are romantic, we haven’t mentioned some of the most romantic 40th gifts. 

One option is to pamper your husband or wife with a complete day of relaxation with experiences like a spa, bed and breakfast, a weekend getaway, or an intimate dinner. However, you don’t have to go all out for something like that, and an intimate evening at home complete with a warm bath, homemade dinner, massage, and, most importantly, being together can be just as romantic at a fraction of the cost. 

Sometimes the most romantic thing is simply telling your partner how you feel about them. Write a handcrafted letter, poem, or song to tell them how much you love them on this special occasion. Explain how much they mean to you and reignite your passion with intimate musings on the future of your relationships. 

Finally, you can renew your vows as a romantic and unique way to celebrate 40 years of marriage. This can be both romantic and meaningful while also giving you an excuse to create new family memories by inviting friends and loved ones to witness your commitment to love.  

40th Anniversary Keepsakes and Memorabilia

Another type of wedding anniversary gift idea is a keepsake that remembers and cherishes all the wonderful years you’ve spent as a happy couple. Some of the best 40th anniversary gifts are simple, but meaningful because they revolve around your relationships and the experiences you’ve had over 4 decades. 

As we mentioned before, you can create a scrapbook or photo book for organizing photos that detail your relationship. You can also use your favorite picture as a couple to place into a locket or use photos of your entire family to create a family tree keepsake. 

Another option is to have a professional digitization company like Capture preserve all your memories including old movie formats, videotapes, Super 8 camera footage, photos, and so much more. This not only preserves your memories in high-quality digital format, but also gives you an excuse to look through them together and reminisce on your 40-year (and counting!) romance. You can even give your loved one the gift of preserving memories with our digitizing gift ideas.

These types of keepsake items and modern gifts are not only meaningful at the moment but help to pass on your relationship and the special memories you’ve created to future generations. Because of that, they are some of the most cherished 40th anniversary gifts available and can last forever as a family heirloom. 

Conclusion

Your 40th anniversary gift is important, but there are plenty of gift suggestions to choose from including traditional ruby jewelry, thoughtful gifts with personalized messages, unique experiences, and great gift keepsakes. Whichever great gift idea you decide on, it’s sure to make your husband or wife smile and remember all the decades you’ve been in love. 

If you want help creating digital images to preserve your memories as a couple or to use for a digital photo album keepsake as a 40-year anniversary gift, Capture can help. Our digitization services have been trusted by over 12 million families and counting. Click here to read our exceptional reviews!