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Coronavirus update

We are Open (for online retail only.) As our business is based in our annex we continue to operate and within the social distancing rules with a few minor restrictions detailed below.

Public Health England (PHE) has advised that people receiving parcels are not at risk of contracting the coronavirus. From experience with other coronaviruses, we know that these types of viruses don’t survive long on objects, such as letters or parcels. This complements the highly publicised guidance from PHE for people to wash their hands more often than usual using soap and hot water. 

Wherever possible we are using paper based packaging to ensure the maximum protection of our customers and their families.

We continue to keep abreast of the developments of this pandemic and at the time of writing do not envisage any serious disruption to our services to our customers. The only caveat to this is if Royal Mail services are affected by staff absentees due to people looking after their dependencies, this may introduce delay into deliveries but not stop them. Their difficulties unfortunately has resulted in the suspension of the next day delivery option for the time being.

Update following UK Government’s announcement 23rd March 2020:

We have confirmed our services will continue as detailed on this page, we are open for online retail and have confirmed Royal Mail continue to pick up and deliver our parcels. They have stated there may be delays in certain parts of the country depending on staff availability.

Some of our manufacturers and suppliers have closed, we have sufficient stock of our best sellers currently however stock replenishment may take longer than expected.

If you are unable to visit the celebrants we are able to deliver gifts directly to recipients, and if you tell us will gladly include a gift note at no additional cost. Please tell us what to write in the note section of the order at checkout. We can accommodate up to about a quarter page of A4 writing if necessary.

Recap of Coronavirus update

  • We are Open.
  • Parcels & Letters do not transmit the virus.
  • Next Day Delivery suspended.
  • We can ship direct to recipients.

Stay well and stay safe from us all at Anniversary Ideas.

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Christmas 2019 Latest posting dates and Office opening times

Latest Christmas Delivery Dates for 2019

Items received on or before the dates stated below should be delivered before Christmas. Please note these dates are estimated and whilst we will try and do everything we can to ensure your item is delivered we cannot guarantee the performance of external organisations involved in the delivery process.

Stock Items:

Latest Recommended Date

Monday 9 December

Destination

Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Central and
South America, Far and Middle East

Tuesday 10 DecemberCyprus, Malta
Wednesday 11 DecemberEastern Europe (except Czech Republic,
Poland and Slovakia)
Thursday 12 DecemberAustralia, Greece, New Zealand and
Turkey
Friday 13 DecemberCanada, Czech Republic, Finland,
Italy, Poland, Sweden, USA
Latest Recommended DateDestination
Monday 16th DecemberAustria, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland
Tuesday 17th DecemberBelgium, France, Ireland and Luxembourg. Free UK Delivery (Royal Mail 48 service)
Friday 20th DecemberUK Faster Shipping Option (Royal Mail 24 service)
Friday 20th DecemberUK Next Work Day Delivery

Personalised Items

If an item requires personalisation i.e. Engraving, Embroidery or Painted/Printed products then all orders placed on or before 16th December 2019 will be dispatched for delivery before Christmas. After this time we will endeavour to dispatch before Christmas up until 19th December, this we achieved last year however it’s no guarantee we will this year.

Priority Shipping, if offered, up to 20th December 2019 on Painted/Printed products and will be delivered before Christmas.

Next Day delivery is available up to 19th December 2019 on Engraved or Embroidered products.

International Shipping for personalised items

European Standard Shipping – 12th December 2019

European Priority Shipping – 12th December 2019

International Standard Shipping – 4th December 2019

International Priority Shipping – 10th December 2019

The Dispatch Dates are based on cleared funds being received for the item which instigates the dispatch process.

We use Royal Mail for most items and thus delivery capability is dictated by their performance. At this time of year it can take longer than their stated timescales. Some personalised items are dispatched via courier.

Next Day/ Priority and International Shipping services are a signed for service and thus if no one is available to sign either a redelivery will need to be arranged or the item will need to be picked up from the local sorting office/depot.

Christmas and New Year Opening Hours and Order Processing times.

24th-26th December 2019. We are closed. No orders will be processed or dispatched. Orders received during this time will be processed on 27th December 2019 with Next Day Delivery Requests being delivered 30th December 2019

31st December 2018 and 1st January 2020. We are closed.  No Orders will be processed or dispatched. Next Day Requests received during this time will be processed on 2nd January 2020 and delivered on 3rd January 2020.

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Celebrate your 50th Wedding Anniversary with Music from 1969

Hits of the 60's ~ Hit Music of 1969 on CD & download plus Greeting Card in one gift ; A Time to Remember, The Classic Years -1969Many parties are thrown to celebrate a 50th Wedding Anniversary whether they are formal, informal or just slung together we can help with the right music to celebrate 50 years of marriage if the marriage occurred in 1969.

Get our CD gift greeting card for 1969 which has a CD  inside with a multitude of top hits from the year they were married with many love songs that will bring the memories of yester-year flooding back.

The complete playlist is as follows with a brief synopsis as well to help you.

  1. Simon & Garfunkel – The Boxer.  Reached number 6 on the UK charts in the week ending 4th June 1969, it spent 14 weeks in the top 40 charts. 
  2. Bob Dylan – I Threw It All Away. Reached number 31 on the UK charts in the week ending 21st May 1969, it spent 6  weeks in the top 40 charts. Although Bob Dylan is a well known international artist he has never had a UK number 1 in his own right.
  3. Nilsson – Everybody’s Talkin’  Although this song scored poor chart success it won the Grammy for the Best contemporary vocal performance by a male for Harry Nilsson. Beautiful South covered this track in 1994 and achieved better chart success than the original.
  4. Elvis Presley – In The Ghetto. An iconic song by the King of Rock and Roll. Despite it being such a well know song it only reached number 2 in the UK charts. This was on 2nd July 1969, it stayed at number two for three weeks being held off the number 1 spot by Thunderclap Newman’s Something in the Air.
  1. Chicken Shack – I’d Rather Go Blind. These guys indulged in the 60’s music scene. This track peaked at number 14 in the weekending 18th June 1969.
  2. Johnny Cash – A Boy Named Sue. One of Cash’s iconic songs. It peaked at number 4 in the week ending 4th October 1969. It spent 16 weeks in the top 40 charts. Although well known it has never charted again through re-release or cover.
  3. Sly & The Family Stone – Everyday People. Snuck into the top 40 in March 1969
  4. Andy Williams – Happy Heart. An Iconic singer of the late fifties and sixties. This song peaked at number 19 in the week ending 25th June 1969. Reminiscent of a classic Euro song, it spent 10 weeks on the charts.
  5. The Love Affair – Bringing On Back The Good Times. Reached number 9 in the top 40. It spent 10 weeks on the charts peaking in the week ending 16th August 1969.
  6. Fifth Dimension – Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In. With the classic line “this is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.” Yes, that one. It peaked in the charts at number 11 in the UK although was a Number 1 in America.
  7. Lou Christie – I’m Gonna Make You Mine. Reached number 2 on the UK charts in the week ending 1st November 1969, it spent 17 weeks in the top 40 charts. 
  8. Nina Simone – To Love Somebody. Reached number 5 on the UK charts in the week ending 5th February 1969, it spent 9 weeks in the top 40 charts. 
  9. Blood, Sweat & Tears – You’ve Made Me So Very Happy. Reached number 36 on the UK charts in the week ending 11th May 1969, it spent 6 weeks in the top 40 charts. 
  10. Johnny Nash – Cupid. Reached number 6 on the UK charts in the week ending 30th April 1969, it spent 12 weeks in the top 40 charts. 
  11. Box Tops – Soul Deep. Reached number 22 on the UK charts in the week ending 27th September 1969, it spent 9 weeks in the top 40 charts.
  12. Roger Whittaker – Durham Town. Reached number 16 on the UK charts in the week ending 6th December 1969, it spent 18 weeks in the top 40 charts.
  13. Zager & Evans – In The Year 2525. Reached number 1 on the UK charts in the week ending 30th  August 1969, remaining there for 3 weeks. It spent 13 weeks in the top 40 charts. The song is very reminescent of the era as it followed on from the first moon landing on 20th July this year.
  14. Clodagh Rodgers – Come Back And Shake Me. Reached number 3 on the UK charts in the week ending 7th May 1969, it spent 14 weeks in the top 40 charts. If you think you recognise her it’s because she represented the UK in the Eurovision Song contest in 1971. She finished fourth, which at the time was shocking as it was the first time the UK had not been in 1st or second. Wow, how times change!
  • 19. Jim Reeves – When Two Worlds Collide. Reached number 17 on the UK charts in the week ending 16th August 1969, it spent 17 weeks in the top 40 charts.
  • 20. Georgie Fame – Seventh Son. Reached number 22 on the UK charts in the week ending 10th January 1970, it spent 7 weeks in the top 40 charts. This was a popular dance tune over the Christmas period of 1969

You could complement this with the number one for the week they got married (check what song here http://www.officialcharts.com/chart/) or if you want a longer playlist then how about a montage of number ones from their anniversary for every year since they wed.

It’s also the 50th Wedding Anniversary of John and Yoko, so you can’t omit the song that reflected their marriage which reached number one on 11th June 1969

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Corinthians 13 Love is…

Corinthians 13 4-7 KJV

  • Love is kind;
  • love does not envy;
  • love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;  
  • does not behave rudely,
  • does not seek its own,
  • is not provoked,
  • thinks no evil;  
  • does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
  • bears all things,
  • believes all things,
  • hopes all things,
  • endures all things.
  • Love has no fear;
  • it does not worry;
  • love keeps no records of wrongs;
  • never fails.
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40th wedding anniversary gift ideas for couples

40th wedding anniversary gift ideas for couples

If you’re looking for some great gift ideas for a couple’s 40th Wedding Anniversary then we can help. The 40th Anniversary is also know as the Ruby Wedding. This is because Rubies are the associated theme for 40 years of marriage.

Ruby is the main focus for the 40th wedding anniversary gift both in colour and the gem. The pink or blood red gemstone is one of the most sought-after gems due to their luscious colour and beautiful look. The whole theme for the 40th year wedding anniversary is the ruby. Even the modern day equivalent is still the ruby and therefore you should look for many items that have the gorgeous red stones in them.

Below are some of our ideas that are great 40th wedding anniversary gifts for couples. The ideas should enable both partners to enjoy the gift.

For more ideas check out our 40th Anniversary Gifts page. If you want more details on the actual anniversary check out our 40th Anniversary page

Within this page we’ve concentrate on our gift ideas that can be given to couples to celebrate their Ruby Wedding. Use the link above to see our complete range of 40th wedding anniversary gift ideas for couples.

On the 40th anniversary of your marriage you would have been:

  • married for 14,600 days or
  • 350,400 hours or
  • 21,024,000 minutes,
  • over 1,261 million seconds
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50th wedding anniversary gifts for Mum and Dad

50th wedding anniversary gifts

If you’re looking for some great gift ideas for your Mum and Dad’s 50th Wedding Anniversary then we can help. The 50th Anniversary is also know as the Golden Wedding. This is because Gold are the associated theme for 50 years of marriage.

Obviously this theme makes it relativity easy to find a gift for your Mum. However it’s a bit more difficult for your Dad or when you are buying a joint present. Below are some of our ideas that are great 50th wedding anniversary gifts for your Mum and Dad. The ideas should enable both your parents to enjoy the gift.

For more ideas check out our 50th Anniversary Gifts page. If you want more details on the actual anniversary check out our 50th Anniversary page

The Golden Wedding, to give it the traditional name used, is gold both for the traditional and the modern gift theme lists and as gold has such a stunning look and can be used in many ways you shouldn’t have difficulty finding the perfect 50th wedding anniversary gift. Although the traditional theme for your 50th year as a married couple is gold the modern day equivalent has a slight variation and suggests gold jewellery and what better way to impress your loved one with some stunning earrings, a ring, or even matching watches for each other.

Earliest recorded celebrations show the Husband presents his wife with a Gold Garland to wear. This was normally at a family celebration. Celebrating 50 years also maps into the biblical events of their second jubilee as each jubilee traditionally lasted 25 years.

Gold also replaces the gemstone gift theme. Thus you could take the opportunity to have a gold themed day. Spending time together with gold being used throughout the day. As you can eat gold leaf, you could have a nice meal with gold leaf making an appearance or you could simply be content with some beautiful gold jewellery such as updated wedding rings.

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30th wedding anniversary gifts for parents

shop for 30th wedding anniversary gifts

If you’re looking for some great gift ideas for your parents 30th Wedding Anniversary then we can help. The 30th Anniversary is also know as the Pearl Wedding. This is because Pearls are the associated theme for 30 years of marriage.

Obviously this theme makes it relativity easy to find a gift for your Mum. However it’s a bit more difficult for your Dad or when you are buying a joint present. Below are some of our ideas that are great 30th wedding anniversary gifts for parents. The ideas should enable both your parents to enjoy the gift.

For more ideas check out our 30th Anniversary Gifts page. If you want more details on the actual anniversary check out our 30th Anniversary page

For this anniversary any type of Pearl can be used; there are more than one type at the basic level there are fresh water pearls and saltwater pearls.  Both contain the same properties that make them desirable and nowadays they are equally attainable. One difference is the larger types are typically the saltwater variety as the shellfish they come from can grow larger.

Naturally developed Pearls are still the most sought after due to their rarity. Cultured Pearls can be as good a quality especially the ones from the top Pearl culturists.

The best know cultured Pearl producer is Mikimoto. A Japanese producer named after the founder who discovered how to grow Pearls ‘on demand’. The results are beautiful, check out these Fine Mikimoto gift ideas from one of our partners.

If choosing Pearl as a gift please always ensure it is real Pearl, we’ve seen many items designed with Mother of Pearl which, unless you know, can be confused with Pearls. Mother of Pearl is actually the shell of the mussel or oyster that can produce a pearl.

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Mother’s Day 2019

mothers day 2019

Mothers Day in the UK is also known as Mothering Sunday. Mother’s Day is always celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent in the UK. However as the dates vary as to when Lent falls, the actual Sunday chosen to celebrate it varies every year.

This year Mother’s Day is on 31st March 2019 and next year it is a week earlier on 22nd March. The leap year next year makes it look like it is not seven days earlier. (See here for the next 10 years)

Mothers day 2019

Mothering Sunday is more often referred to as “Mother’s Day” and it origin is distinctly different to Mother’s Day in America although the sentiments are similar.

In Victorian times, it was a day when children, mainly daughters, who had gone to work as domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother and family.

Today it is a day when children give presents, flowers, and cards to their mothers.

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

We’ve a great selection of Mother’s Day Gifts on our site some of our selection we’ve shown here.

Spring Garden Bone china Vase

Our Spring Garden range is a colourful design to brighten up any home

£39.95

History of Mother’s day

Most Sundays in the year churchgoers would worship at their nearest parish or “daughter church”.

In olden times it was considered important for people to return to their home or “mother” church at least once a year. So each year in the middle of Lent, everyone would visit their “mother” church.

As the return to the “mother” church became an occasion for family reunions when children who were working away from home returned. It was quite common in those days for children as young as ten years to leave home to work in service.

The majority of historians think that it was this return to the “Mother” church which led to the tradition of children, particularly those working as domestic servants, or as apprentices, being given the day off to visit their mother and family.

This special day has now become a time when people give thanks to their mothers and offers an opportunity to express both love and thanks for the work that they do.

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When is Mary & Joseph’s Wedding Anniversary

I noticed today (23rd January) on Twitter someone put forward the fact that it is Mary & Joseph’s Wedding Anniversary, given the level of fake news around I figured I’d at least check this before blindly retweeting. Oh boy, wish I hadn’t.

Firstly the religious scholars differ on whether they were actually married when Jesus was born and if you can’t agree this fact how can you decide when they where actually married.

The things that can be determined seem to come mostly from the gospels of Matthew and Luke. The details get blurred when translations from ancient languages to modern struggle with the intent of words. For example the ancient word to describe a wife can in certain contexts also simply refer to a woman.

The whole basis of the difference seems to be on whether betrothed is a state of marriage in ancient Hebrew scriptures means they were engaged or married.

There are plenty of resources if you search discussing these points however none really address the actually date of when they married and thus their actual wedding anniversary. From our prospective it would seem they were married before Jesus was born as why would Mary travel to Bethlehem with Joseph for the Census, he was from there and she was not thus would have travelled to her own town if not married to him.

It is a bit frustrating as we cannot confirm what date even if they wed before or after Jesus was born and the closest we came was someone declaring that they married in 2BC based on the latest astronomical calculations. No day through! Some photos would be good, sadly though the earliest know image was not produced until the 5th Century and it had no babies in it!The Marriage of the Virgin (Raphael)

Given the slow decline in quality of material available through the search engines I suspect we’ll not easily find an answer to this question so cannot endorse this being their wedding anniversary. I would love to here any thoughts on their specific marriage day, feel free to comment.

 

 

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St Valentine’s Day Thursday 14th February 2019

It’s an expensive time of year for all you Lover’s out there, you just finish paying for all the Christmas romance then you get hit with Valentine’s Day. It’s a good job they are worth it!

This year (2019) Valentine’s Day is on a Thursday which we figure is probably one of the best days of the week for Valentines to fall upon. Simply this is because it appears to stretch the weekend out by at least an extra day. Given we’re in the middle of winter this is no bad thing.

St Valentine’s Day History

History tells us that the first Valentine card was sent in 270 A.D. by Saint Valentine himself. He sent this on the eve of his execution for refusing to renounce Christianity. Signed “from your Valentine”, it was a note of appreciation from the young cleric to his jailer’s blind daughter who had brought him food and delivered messages for him.

The Romans celebrated St. Valentine’s Day as the Feast of Lupercalia, dedicated to the pastoral god Lupercus and to the Goddess of Love, Juno. The birds of Italy began mating on February 14, the oracles observed. Roman Maidens placed their names in an urn set up in the public square and courageous bachelors drew from it to obtain their “blind date” for the coming year. The Christian Church denounced these “love lotteries” as pagan rituals. During the Middle Ages, “love lotteries” persisted in France as “chance boxes” that allotted couples one year to get married or part company and, in England, men wore the name of the girl they drew on their sleeve encircled with a heart, you may guess from this ritual that this is where the expression “wearing your heart on your sleeve” originated.

St Valentines Day gift ideas 2019With the invention of the printing press in the mid 1400’s there was an explosion of Valentines as quaint love missives, many were anonymous. Church opposition gradually declined and, by the 1700s, the familiar “roses are red, violets are blue…” verses were popular. In France, Valentines grew in size and elegance featuring ribbons, lace, gilt and other intricate effects made by hand.

The first Valentines in America are recorded as exchanged during the Revolutionary days these were mostly handmade with sentimental verses written in a flowing script. In 1840, Miss Esther Howland, an imaginative artist and entrepreneur became the first regular publisher of Valentines in the United States. She became a successful businesswoman heading her own publishing firm specialising in Valentine cards.

Around 1850, the first “Vinegar Valentines” were produced. These masterpieces of insult were sent anonymously and were popular along with the usual sentimental Valentines until around 1910 when the strictly sentimental ones gained more popularity. Since that time, Valentine’s Day cards can be found to fit almost any relationship. In fact, teachers receive more Valentine’s Day cards than any other group of people.