20th Anniversary Gift Ideas for the China Year

By twenty years, most couples have been through something hard together and come out the other side. The traditional 20th anniversary gift is china and the modern one is platinum, and the best choice honors both the everyday life you built and the year that tested it. Here are 12 ideas, from a platter with your names on it to the trip you put off when the kids were small. Our top pick is a song about your twenty years, including the parts only the two of you know.

Hear what a Songbond song sounds like

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry your names and your stories.

12 20th anniversary gift ideas

1. A song about your twenty years ($39.90). Share the wedding, the homes, the hard stretch and what got you through it. Songbond turns it into an original song, ready within 24 hours.
2. New everyday plates for two. After twenty years the wedding set is chipped and mismatched. A simple new china set for daily use is a gift you both touch three times a day. $100 to $400.
3. The missing pieces of your wedding china. Replacement services track down discontinued patterns. Finding the gravy boat that broke in year three is a small, surprising gift. Usually $20 to $60 a piece.
4. Platinum jewelry. The modern 20th gift. A platinum band, pendant or pair of cufflinks will outlast you both. Expect $300 to $1,500.
5. A hand-painted platter with your names and date. Bring it out for every holiday meal. $60 to $150.
6. A pottery class for two. Make your own mugs or bowls, then use them every morning after. $100 to $200 for a couple.
7. A teapot and two cups for slow mornings. A small ritual for the years when the house gets quieter. $40 to $120.
8. A dinner party on the good china. Invite the friends who were at your wedding and finally use the plates that live in the cabinet.
9. A letter about the hard year. Write down what you saw the other person do when things were bad. Nobody says it at the time. Twenty years is a good moment to say it.
10. The trip you postponed. The one you kept saying you would take when the kids were older. They are older now. $500 and up.
11. A china music box that plays your wedding song. Some makers will set it to a tune you choose. $50 to $120.
12. Your wedding photo, taken again. Same pose, same spot if you can get there, twenty years on. Frame the two side by side. Free if a friend takes it, up to $300 with a photographer.

How to choose a 20th anniversary gift

Ask what twenty years has changed. If the house is emptying, a ritual for two fits. If the last few years were rough, the gift should say you noticed what it took. If life is good and busy, give time away together.

• If they love to cook or host: the new plates, the platter or the dinner party.
• If you came through a hard time: the letter or the song.
• If the kids have grown: the trip or the teapot.

Putting a hard year into an anniversary song

You may worry that mentioning a rough patch will spoil the song. It usually does the opposite. A line about the winter one of you lost a job, or the months of hospital visits, is what makes the rest of the song believable. From the stories couples send us, the details that make a song land are small and specific. Words like loving and devoted describe almost every marriage. The nickname, the kitchen dance, the phrase you both still say from that year: those make it yours. Keep the hard part to a line or two, and let the song end where you are now.

Make your 20th anniversary song

Create a song for your 20th anniversary and tell us the whole story. It is ready within 24 hours, and express delivery gets it to you in about an hour.

Also in the Journal: songs for a 20th anniversary and a custom song as an anniversary gift.