48th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional, Modern and Symbolic Anniversary Gifts

Below is a list of both traditional and modern gift materials, as well as classic flower and gemstone symbols, which mark a couple’s 48th wedding anniversary in countries around the world…

Traditional Gift – UK		No traditional gift
Traditional Gift – US		No traditional gift
Traditional Gift – Spain		Feldspar
Traditional Gift – Germany		Amethyst
Traditional Gift – Russia		Amethyst
Traditional Gift – France		Amethyst
Traditional Gift – Italy		Feldspar
Flower Gift		Aster
Gemstone Gift		Feldspar
Modern Gift		Optical Goods

About 48th Wedding Anniversaries

You will no doubt want to celebrate your 48th wedding anniversary with a sumptuous dinner and a bottle of fine wine – quite possibly your 35,000th-plus meal together.

Well, at least theoretically if you always lunch and dine together, by now you could have shared that many meals, which equates to approximately four years of contentedly eating and chatting about the highlights and special moments of your day.

And there certainly are many highlights, because you have been married for 17,520 days or 420,480 hours or 25,228,800 minutes – that is, over 1,513 million seconds. During this time you would have spent, on average, 131,400 hours of snuggle time (aka sleeping), and surely by now know everything there is to know about each other.

How to Celebrate a 48th Wedding Anniversary

Many anniversaries have traditional gemstone and flower themes associated with them, but not so much for this 48th celebration – at least not universally around the world.

So that brings us back to eating – and celebrating with an intimate dinner for two at your favourite restaurant. Or simply relaxing at home with a favourite take-away meal and a bottle of chilled Champagne.

Surely the stars are images of love.” Quoted by: Philip James Bailey

48th Wedding Anniversary Gift Ideas for Him, Her… and the Couple

If you would also like to spend some time away from your usual home base, why not plan a short break based on the modern-day “optical” anniversary theme – to a planetarium, for example.

If you decide on optical goods as a 48th wedding anniversary gift, you could buy your partner some fashionable new prescription glasses, or a chic pair of designer sunglasses.

As there are no specific flowers or gemstones associated with 48 years of marriage, surprise them with their own personal favourite – always a thoughtful gesture.

48th Wedding Anniversary Gifts for Him

What can I buy my husband for our 48th wedding anniversary?

Use our anniversary gift suggestions here to help guide you when selecting a gift for your partner. We also have many more ideas on our other anniversary pages.

48th Wedding Anniversary Gifts for Her

What should I buy my wife on our 48th wedding anniversary?

There are no restrictions at all for gift selections this anniversary… here are a few more stylish gift ideas with a hint of indulgence.

48th Wedding Anniversary Gifts for the Couple… or Parents and Grandparents

These gift ideas are ideal for all couples celebrating their 48th wedding anniversary – including parents and grandparents.

Travel & Experience Gifts

• Travel gift vouchers
• Three-course candelit dinner (try that restaurant that has great reviews)
• Luxury afternoon tea for two
• Relaxing spa day for two
• Boutique hotel and wine tasting

Jewellery

The traditional 48th wedding anniversary gemstone (in some countries) is amethyst.

• Earrings
• Pendants
• Rings
• Necklace
• Tie Pin
• Cufflinks

Something Different & Unique

• On the optical theme… unfortunately, the Hubble Space Telescope is not open to the public, but you could still plan a visit to a planetarium – for example, the largest in the world, at Nagoya City Science Museum (Japan).
• Visit L’Hemisfèric in Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences (Spain), to view spectacular digital astronomical projections.
• If travel is not an option this year, buy a telescope and share many contented hours star-gazing together.

After so many years – and meals – as a married couple, it is not so much what you decide to do to celebrate your 48th wedding anniversary as simply making sure you enjoy it together. And, as always, with plenty of love and a touch of romance.

5 Fun Facts about “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”

If you decide to stay at home this 48th wedding anniversary, you and your partner could still indulge in some entertaining space exploration by opening a bottle of your favourite wine and sitting down to a marathon session of science fiction comedy from the 1981 TV series adaptation of Douglas Adams’ multi-media “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. 

1. The idea for “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” reportedly came to a broke Douglas Adams as he was drunkenly star-gazing in a field in Innsbruck (Austria) in 1971 while hitchhiking from London to Istanbul with a stolen copy of Ken Welsh’s “Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to Europe”.
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide began as a six-part radio play broadcast by the BBC in 1978. According to radio producer Geoffrey Perkins, publishers were keen for Adams to write a book, but the BBC’s initial negative reaction to their overtures was enunciated in a letter… “Thank you very much for asking us. Unfortunately, we can’t do this. In our experience, books and records of radio shows don’t sell.” 
3. Once explaining why towels had such a prominent and revered role in the series, Adams said he had been holidaying in Greece with friends and, “Every morning they’d have to sit around and wait for me because I couldn’t find my blessed towel… I came to feel that someone really together, one who was well organised, would always know where his towel was.” For Adams, a towel is the most quintessential item in an intergalactic hitchhiker’s arsenal.
4. The number 42 is, in The Hitchhiker’s scheme of galactic things, considered to be the answer to life, the universe and, indeed, everything. Why? “The answer to this is very simple,” explained Adams in 1993. “It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought ’42 will do’. I typed it out. End of story.” 
5. Inspiration for the follow-up “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe” came to Adams while he was listening to progressive rock group Procol Harum’s 1973 song “Grand Hotel”.

Next Anniversaries

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