A 40th or Ruby wedding anniversary can be a tricky one to buy for. Unless it’s your anniversary you are probably not looking at giving an actual ruby are you? If you are looking for a 40th Wedding Anniversary gift for Mum and Dad, for your friends or for your Aunt and Uncle you need some different ideas. Luckily there are lots of alternative that are more suitable for couples and a lot cheaper than rubies available out there.

We’ve had a couple of Ruby Wedding Anniversaries in our family and friends group in recent years and I’m not ashamed to say I repeated the same gift idea for both. And luckily, both times it was well received! I’ll start with the idea I used and then, if you scroll on down, I’ll share some other inexpensive ideas I’ve found online.

This is a similar idea to my 50th Birthday gift idea - it’s a box full of goodies - but this time, for a 40th wedding anniversary, it’s a box full of ruby red goodies.

The beauty of this idea is that it is so simple, all you need is a trip to your local supermarket, plus it can easily be tailored to the exact likes and dislike of the couple involved.

As I said, I’ve done this twice. The first time I didn’t take many good photos to share with you all here, so when I did the second version I was sure to take a few more shots. What you have here therefore is a mix of the 2 versions.

To make a Ruby Red Box of Goodies for a 40th Anniversary you will need:

• A box

• Red tissue paper or paper napkins

• Red things! (I’ve written out a list of possible things below to give you lots of ideas)

The box and the items you select will depend on if this gift is to be posted or hand delivered.

For version one I was posting the gift so I selected a small and sturdy box and picked mostly light items to go in it. For version two the gift was hand delivered so I could go for a slightly larger box, and not worry about some of the items being heavy.

This is what I included in version one - the one that was posted:

And this is what I included in version two, the hand delivered one. I could include tins of Pimm’s and a similar strawberry drink because weight wasn’t such an issue. I don’t know what it’s like where you live but here it can get really expensive, really quickly, to post heavy items.

Line the box with red tissue paper or a couple of red paper napkins and then pop the items in.

If you allow plenty of the tissue paper or paper napkin around the edge then you can tuck it over all the items so it’s more fun for the recipients to unwrap their surprise box of goodies.

Pop the card on top and it’s all ready to seal up.

Add a label if it’s going to be posted:

Or wrap it up nicely in red paper if it’s going to be hand delivered.

Ideas for a box of ruby red goodies:

This is really easy, you literally just wander around your supermarket picking up treats that are in red packaging.

• Chocolates - a lot of dark chocolate seemed to be in red packaging for some reason

• Marshmallows

• Chewy sweets, anything strawberry, raspberry or cherry is good

• Smoked nuts

• Apple crisps

• Dried berries

• Red nail varnish

• Shower gel

• Lip gloss or lip balm

• Hot sauce

• Tabasco

• Berry cocktail mixes

• Pimms (this might be a specific UK thing)

• Red fruit cordial

• Coffee or tea - I spotted some in red packaging, especially red fruit teas

I went mostly for sweets and treats but you can make yours WAY more practical if you like, it’s kind of like an all red care package.

If this doesn’t seem suitable for the couple you have in mind, how about one of these ideas? The items below are affiliate links, just click through on each photo to go straight to the shopping page.

Another Cassette Back on Etsy have “the year you were married’ posters which are available in several sizes and with framed or unframed options.

Chocolates make great gifts, you could buy a nice big bar and try decorating it with red sprinkles and some piping. If that’s outside your skill set you could leave it to the professionals.

The brilliantly named Tilly Wonkas will write whatever message you choose and has a wide selection of toppings (Tilly delivers to Europe only)

Or how about this box of lovely chocolateness which includes the couple’s names from Cocoapod Chocolate? (this one is UK only)

Send a better letter are a USA based company and they ship their personalised chocolate ‘letters’ worldwide - yay! You can just fit the word Anniversary across too which is a bonus. You email them a photo which they include in the packaging too which is a nice touch.

I cannot be the only one who thinks mugs are a fab gift. They can be funny or classy, depending on the couple I guess. I would always go classy unless you KNOW for sure they will both appreciate the humour!!

Handmade Heaven by Amy makes these lovely photo collage letters, you email her at least 20 photos and then she transforms them. Shipping is worldwide but do check Amy’s instruction and shipping times to make sure you allow plenty of time.

A subscription to a magazine can make a fabulous, and practical gift for any occasion so why not for an anniversary. It would depend on their interests of course but how about a subscription to Gardeners World, BBC Good Food or Who do you think you are? (Please note these links take you to BuySubscriptions.com and can only be described as ‘inexpensive’ for UK people. The P&P pushes the price right up for the rest of the world - sorry folks, I still think a magazine subscription is a great gift idea but you’ll have to search for one local to you)

Paper Steps have this sweet Love print in their Etsy shop. The red heart makes it perfect for a Ruby Anniversary.

Amanda Pullin makes beautiful fused glass coasters, these red poppies could be a perfect ruby anniversary gift. They are handmade and a little bit pricey for a set of 4 (as we are looking especially at inexpensive ideas) but you could order a set of 2 much more affordably and 2 is perfect for a couple after all!

Sticking with the fused glass idea, how about these lovely red heart coasters, this listing from The Fused Glass Garden is a set of two anyway.

Or how about this personalised wooden plaque from All things love gifts? A really unique gift.

Whether you put a ruby red gift box of treats together yourself or find an unusual handmade gift online I think we can all agree 40 years together is worth celebrating!

I’ll be sharing this idea at these link ups