Housewarming gifts: what to bring, how much to spend, and what the new kitchen is missing

Someone you know has just moved. There is a party, or there isn't and you want to mark it anyway, and the question is what to send to a house you have probably never seen, for people who have just spent every spare dollar on the move. Most housewarming gifts answer that question badly. They are things: a vase, a candle, a framed print, a set of coasters. The new homeowner now has a box of things from other people, in a style they did not choose, in a house they are still trying to arrange.

The better gift is something that runs out.

What a kitchen does not have on day one

Walk through the first week in a new place. The kettle is in a box somewhere. The nearest decent coffee is a drive away and you do not know the roads yet. Dinner is takeout on the floor, and the one thing you want at ten at night is something sweet that you did not have to go and find.

That is the list. Good coffee or tea, because it will be made every morning for a month. Snacks for the unpacking, which goes on far longer than anyone plans. Chocolate or biscuits for the first evening on the couch. Something for the people who come round to help and need feeding. None of it needs a shelf, all of it gets used, and none of it will be in a donation bag a year later. Our housewarming baskets are built around exactly that week, and the coffee and tea baskets are the safe pick when you know nothing about their taste except that they are tired.

How much to spend

This causes more worry than it should. As a working guide:

Situation	Reasonable spend
Guest at a housewarming party	$30 to $60, the same as a host gift
A friend or sibling, no party	$60 to $120
Your child's or a close friend's first home	$120 to $250, if you want it to feel like a milestone
A new neighbour	Under $40, or something baked. More is odd from a stranger
A client, from a business	See our closing gift guide; the rules differ

Go by the relationship, not by the house. A friend who has just bought a $1.2 million semi in Oakville does not need a bigger gift than one renting a basement apartment in Brampton; if anything the opposite, because the renter has less. And do not try to match what you imagine others will bring. Nobody compares, and the people who do are not worth impressing.

The gifts that quietly become a burden

Anything decorative is a gamble unless you know their taste well. The print you like may not be the one they would hang, and now they have to hang it when you visit. Strongly scented candles and diffusers are a guess about their nose and their allergies. Plants are lovely and also a responsibility handed to someone who is already drowning in jobs; a very hardy one with a note saying "water it when you remember" is fine, anything fussier is not.

A bottle of wine is the traditional default and a poor fit more often than people admit. A lot of households do not drink, for reasons they may not want to explain at the door, and a mixed crowd at a party includes drivers, pregnant guests and people in recovery. We do not sell alcohol at all, which turns out to make the choice simpler: a basket of coffee, snacks and chocolate can go to any house in the GTA without a second thought.

And be wary of the large, useful thing. A kitchen gadget, a set of knives, a rug: these are the gifts people want to buy for themselves, in the version they want, once they know the space. A gift card to a hardware store is a better way to help with that than guessing.

When to send it

If there is a party, bring the gift to the party. If there is not, the right moment is between the first and third week after the move. Earlier and the house is chaos; a delivery on moving day itself tends to get put on top of a box and found in April. Later than a month and the gift reads as an afterthought, though a late gift with a note that says "finally, now that you've found the kettle" is charming rather than rude.

If all you have is the new address, that is enough. Enter it at checkout, choose the day, and write the card. Across most of Mississauga and the GTA we deliver the same day when you order by noon, and next day otherwise, with our own drivers rather than a courier, so a basket does not sit on a porch in a street where nobody knows the new people yet. The delivery page has the areas and fees. For a move to another province, the baskets marked as shippable travel by tracked courier.

Condo, house, or first apartment

The setting changes the gift a little. A condo has no storage and often a concierge who will hold a delivery, so send something small and consumable and include the unit number. A house with a garden invites the hardy-plant exception. A first apartment, especially for someone young, is the one case where a practical gift wins: a good set of tea towels, a decent pan, the things nobody buys for themselves at twenty-three. Pair it with something to eat and it stops looking like a parent's lecture.

What to write on the card

Housewarming cards are easy, because the occasion is happy and there is nothing to get wrong. A line about the house, a line about them, done.

• "Welcome to the new place. Coffee for the mornings, snacks for the boxes. Can't wait to see it."
• "Congratulations on the keys. The first dinner on the floor is the best one."
• "From your new neighbours at number 14. Knock if you need anything, especially a drill."
• "To your first home. We are very proud, and we promise not to comment on the paint."

More on wording, including the formal version for a client, is in what to write in a gift message.

If you are the one moving

A note for the other side. If people ask what you want, tell them. "Honestly, coffee and snacks" is a perfectly good answer and saves everyone the vase. And if someone brings a gift you cannot use, the rule is the same as at a wedding: thank them warmly, and let it go quietly in the spring.

Browse our housewarming gift baskets, or all gift baskets if you already have something in mind.