Housewarming Gifts
Photo: Todd Atkinson
Make moving in easier with these helpful presents.
Fried Chicken Dinner
A real meal can be hard to come by in the early days of unpacking. Requiring no cutlery or plates, fried chicken with biscuits, served in a vintage cake tin, is delicious. Include paper napkins so your neighbors won’t need to have anything on hand. And everyone knows fried chicken tastes even better the next day.
Breakfast Basket
A healthy breakfast is often the last thing on your new neighbors’ minds as they struggle to unpack and resume normal lives. Line a basket with vintage tea towels and fill it with everything they need to start the day off right — coffee, tea, milk, sugar, orange juice, scones, butter, and marmalade. All they have to do is find the kettle and French press. Include a card with your name, address, phone number, and an invitation for coffee when they’re ready to return the basket.
Picture-Hanging Kit
A new house finally feels like home when the pictures are hung. Gather all the necessary hardware — including wire, nails, and hooks — to make a tough job less daunting. For a single friend, include a coupon promising an afternoon of help in a task that can be impossible to tackle alone.
Essentials
Fill a bucket with the basics any new house needs: light bulbs, an extension cord, paper towels, a tape measure. Include maps and other useful neighborhood information, such as trash-collection and recycling schedules, and train timetables. You might also want to type up a list of your recommendations for the best local dry-cleaner, grocer, hardware store, and pizza shop, among others.
Think Locally
What better way to welcome newcomers than with something made in your community? If you have a nearby potter, basket weaver, or rug maker, their crafts can make a perfect housewarming gift. Giving something that’s created by a local artisan not only lets a new neighbor in on one of your town’s charms, it also supports the hometown economy. Foods harvested in your region — honey, apples, fresh eggs — make welcoming gifts, too.
Return-Address Stamp
For friends who are moving away, an address stamp is a practical and thoughtful gift that costs around 20 dollars. A rubber-stamp maker will design one to your specifications. Or, use a computer to design it, and take a printout to the shop. To make a change-of-address kit, include blank postcards and postage stamps. Your friends can send out their new address stamped under the words “We’ve Moved.”
Don’t Forget the Kids
Keep children occupied on moving day by filling a toy truck or special case with boxes of tiny furniture, toys, snacks, and games that they can unpack themselves and arrange any way they like.
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