Are You Looking for a Special Gift for Friends Celebrating 50 Years of Marriage?

 

The photo of the couple sitting behind a stack of 50th wedding anniversary gifts is priceless. Smiling from ear to ear, obviously just finishing a good laugh, it is a picture that everyone in the family is familiar with. And while many of those 50th wedding anniversary gifts have been misplaced or forgotten, those smiles have not.

At the funeral of your mother, just a few weeks before what would have been her 82nd birthday, the obituary in the program recounts the fact that your parents met on a blind date. Your mother, an emergency room nurse for nearly 30 years, and your father, a college English professor, were a memorable couple. They both had a wonderful sense of humor, and everyone loves the story that although your mom has two cars right now, she did not even learn to drive until she was more than 50 years old. Before that time, she always relied on your father to drive her places. When your father began to suffer from signs of Alzheimers, however, your mother did what she had to do, learned how to drive, and got her first ever license.
Lives Biggest Milestones Often Involve Specialty Gifts and Awards

From crystal retirement gifts to nurse graduation gifts, there are many times when family and friends want to find the best gift to help recognize an individual, a couple, or a group. And while cash gifts are always welcome, there are also many times when it is appropriate to give a plaque commemorating a special time.
Whether you are looking for 50th wedding anniversary gifts for your own parents or you are searching for a way to recognize a group for achieving a milestone number of years without a safety problem, it is important to know that there are many traditional gifts that are available. Consider some of these facts and figures about the many times when people find themselves giving special kinds of recognition gifts:

• The average age in the U.S. to get married is approximately 27 for women and 29 for men. As the beginning age of marriage increases, so does the age when they are going to be celebrating milestone anniversaries.
• The average age of retirement is 63, so it is important to purchase an age appropriate gift when you are trying to help someone celebrate this milestone.
• Nearly 500,000 registered nurses are anticipated to retire by the year 2022, so it should come as no surprise that these people will be recognized in record numbers.
• 50th wedding anniversary gifts, in comparison, are often gold plated items as this has always been called the Golden Anniversary.
• Approximately 40,000 students graduate from law school each year, so many people are often looking for gifts to recognize these kinds of achievements.

Not everyone needs a gift for everything that they accomplish, but it is important to know that there are studies that show that recognition at work can have some real benefits. In fact, a recent study indicated that as many as 86% of companies with employee recognition programs cite an increase in worker happiness. Worker happiness, in turn, can be an indicator of someone who will stay with their employer longer. Employee turnover is an expensive part of many company’s budgets. And given that the average CEO tenure has decreased from about 10 years in the 1990s to only 5.5 years today. These vacancies are not only expensive to fill, but they are also responsible for causing gaps in services for many companies.
As a result, many large companies have a standard gift that they present to workers who achieve five, 10, 15, 25, or 30 years of work. And while you may think that these are just standard presentations, there are some companies that also offer various kinds of vacation incentives and monetary bonuses.

What are the special events that you are preparing to recognize? Is it the celebration of your parents’ anniversary or the graduation of a son, daughter, or other relative? Finding the perfect gift can put a genuine smile on the recipient’s face!