What is the traditional gift for a 9th or 20th anniversary?
Updated 14 October 2026
On the classic American list of anniversary gifts, the ninth year is pottery (or willow) and the twentieth is china, according to the Emily Post Institute's guide. Emily Post's modern list also gives china for the second year. A pair of cups, one for each of you, fits all three.
Pottery and china are not the same thing
Pottery is the wider word: any clay shaped and fired, from rough earthenware to fine stoneware. China is porcelain, the hardest and whitest kind, fired hottest. English took the word from the name of the country, as Merriam-Webster's entry shows, because for centuries the porcelain in European homes came from China.
So for a ninth anniversary, a speckled stoneware cup or a mug of dark clay is exactly right. For a twentieth, choose porcelain.
What to give
A couple who have been married nine or twenty years already own plates. Cups are different: most people drink coffee or tea every day and would happily replace the ones they use. Two cups that match without being identical suit a couple, and when each is painted by hand, they will not be in anyone else's kitchen.
Pieces for each anniversary
For the ninth, pottery:
- Ladder Cat and Boxing Cat: two tall mugs of dark clay, with cats modeled on them and painted by hand.
- Two Chicks: two small stoneware cups pinched by hand, each with a chick painted on the front.
- Orchard for Two: two apple cups with saucers, one painted in red and one raised in green.
For the twentieth, china:
- Folded Coffee Service: white porcelain folded like crumpled paper cups, unglazed and matte outside.
- Lychee Tea Set: a gaiwan and small cups in white porcelain, painted by hand with red lychees.
- Birds and Horses: two porcelain cups painted by hand, each turning above a ring of metal charms.
The pieces in this story
- Ladder Cat and Boxing Cat
- Two Chicks
- Orchard for Two
- Folded Coffee Service
- Lychee Tea Set
- Birds and Horses