Petty issue now a big issue, because he swore on my deathbed

You can't. He lies.

To some extent, I understand why he lied. You were making an unreasonable fuss about when he bought the gift, and he wanted to shut the conversation down. The correct response on his part would have been to tell the truth about having bought the gifts on the same day and to point out how unreasonable you were being to make a fuss about that. You are entitled to be annoyed that he lied instead of challenging you on your poor behaviour.

So now you know that you can't always trust him, what are you going to do about it?

yes. What does this even mean? Are you dying and on your death bed? Or do you think you’ll suddenly die because he lied?

The lying would really piss me off but this whole death bed thing is juvenile.

This is all a bit silly. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. He probably felt browbeaten by you so he said bought them earlier to appease you. And the swearing on the deathbed is utterly childish. Do you also do pinky promise?

Why were you even interrogating him over when he bought the gifts? Why does it matter? Does he always have to do things to your timelines? It sounds as if he was afraid of you going off on him because in your opinion he bought the gifts too late so he lied. Maybe lighten up a bit and stop taking the good out of everything.

I’d be upset he lied in that way

I think it was very odd indeed if anyone swore on my life over anything, but then I wouldn't be interrogating them over when they bought my gifts.

Did you ask him to swear....?

If you gave me this grief about something that I had bought you, you would never receive another present from me again.

I reckon he gets so fed up when you interrogate him that he lies for a quiet life. Unfortunately for him he's got caught out and this could rumble on and on and on.
I suppose you mean he swore on your life (swearing on your deathbed really isn't an expression unless you're about to croak and he's uttering profanities).
I've always found swearing on someone's life a particularly unpleasant (yet also meaningless) thing to do.

The deathbed thing is like swearing on your life? So it's just another way of adding emphasis to his honesty as it were. "I'm telling the truth, I promise," versus, "I'm telling the truth, I swear on your deathbed." They are the same thing, so forget about the deathbed aspect of it. A lie is a lie, it doesn't matter what fancy words you add to the lie.

Whether lying is considered a big issue varies by relationship, as you can see from this thread. Me and DH are clear that any lie is unacceptable to us. Some couples are happy with white lies (ones that won't hurt you so long as you don't find out it was a lie) and other couples seem to stay together through worse lies. What you and your partner feel is right is something you need to agree together, and then stick to. Further betrayal of this agreement is a problem.

The lying would bother me a lot, but the buying things last minute being such an issue with you seems ridiculous. I'd still hate the lie but I can see why he did it.

He got you a bag of things you like in time to give them on the day. I really can't see an issue with that.

What does swearing on someone's life (or deathbed) actually mean though. I've never really understood it. Do people actually do that irl?

This in abundance.
Not everyone places huge significance on anniversaries

Lack of effort, care and a lie? Nah.

The immaturity of saying "i swear on your life" would give me the ick

I wouldn't tolerate anybody who would swear something on anybody's life except their own. I have no idea what "swearing on someone's deathbed" means

Has he done something else to annoy you recently? Only it sounds an awful lot like you've gone looking for a reason to start an argument and then it's spiralled from there. I've lost count of the number of times I've bought people's birthday presents or DH's anniversary presents on the day (or the day before) rather than weeks in advance. You like to do it ahead of time, he doesn't. You still get the same gift though. It doesn't mean any less.

So when he's bought you your present you've had a 'gotcha' conversation about the fact that he's bought it on the day instead of at least 5 working days in advance. And if he'd said 'yes I bought it on the day' presumably you'd have been annoyed about it instead of saying 'I'm glad you were honest with me, thank you for my gift, it's lovely'?

And so now you've gone hunting for the evidence you need to say 'Ah ha! Gotcha' again because now the fact that he lied is all-important, rather than when he bought the present.

You're not exactly making things easy for each other, are you?

He shouldn't have lied, but in the grand scheme of things a lie about when you bought pyjamas isn't something I could get worked up about.

He should have put a bit more effort into your gift.

Swearing on people's deathbeds is something primary school children do. You absolutely shouldn't be married to a tween. Considering his mental age I'd be pleased that he got himself to Asda and bought some nice bits tbh.

You are getting caught up in ridiculous things that don’t matter.

If you are feeling that your DH doesn’t value you then address that.

Olivia Von Halle PJs bought on the day. Not a problem.Even with fibs.
Asda plus lying. LTB.

"Swearing on your life" is just a phrase. It doesn't actually mean anything and it isn't as if your life is somehow at risk because he lied.

He shouldn't have lied, of course. But equally, you shouldn't have made a fuss about when the gifts were purchased. You got them on your anniversary so why make such a big deal of it.

Fault on both sides as far as I can see. If you want to celebrate many more anniversaries together, then you both need to start behaving like normal functioning grown-ups imo.

You know swearing on something doesn't actually mean anything? It's not a magic spell that makes lying impossible.

It's pjs, does it matter when he bought them?

He got you a gift and gave you it on the appropriate day, and you complained so much that he felt he had to lie about when it was purchased.

Swearing on someone's life/deathbed is utterly meaningless, nothing is going to happen because he said it.

You sound ungrateful, as if PJs mean more if they are bought 5 days in advance.

I really don’t like lying but then I also don’t like drama and there seems to be a lot here (over a pair of pajamas).