Whether you are planning your own Housewarming or a friend or family is throwing the Housewarming bash for you, here are tips and ideas for making it memorable!

When to throw your Housewarming Party: You do not need to wait until every room is painted, every decoration hung to invite your family, friends and new neighbors over for your Housewarming party! Since most homeowners will tell you that the decorating is a never-ending part of home-ownership, your friends and family are there to celebrate your new house, not your decorating skills and paint color choices. So, throw your Housewarming party whenever your ready! There is no time limit to throwing the Housewarming.

Choose a Housewarming theme: Most folks will show up with a gift (even though you're not supposed to expect them), but you could incorporate this into your theme. For example you could go with something like a color (for example, if Green is an accent color of yours, everyone could bring something green - towels, plants, pillows, etc). Another great idea is to go with an item theme (for example, if you like eclectic dinnerware or collect wineglasses, perhaps - everyone could bring one item from that theme). Do you collect anything, or have a particular hobby, or perhaps a theme in your new home you want to achieve? Let this be known through word of mouth.

Note: It is considered bad form to ask for gifts from your guests at your Housewarming. If someone is throwing the party for you, it is much less tacky for them to mention it on the invites. A Housewarming is not a reason for gifts, rather a party to celebrate with family and friends. So, even though many folks may bring a gift for you to your Housewarming party, please do not expect them. Just thank them accordingly if you do receive gifts.

Housewarming Party Invitations: So many people are using online invitations. This is okay if all your family and friends are online, but for your new home its much more exciting and personal to send regular invitations for your housewarming party. If you go with a theme, you can incorporate this into the invitations. Are you the crafty type who likes to make your own? If not, we do have some terrific themed invites, or you can find some great ones to print out online too! Be sure to give everyone very specific directions since they've never been to your new home before.

Other Housewarming Invitation ideas: Find a picture of a tumbledown shack and photocopy it, telling your guests, for fun that it's your (or the guest of honor's) new home. Write your party details on the back of the picture. Using a map, photocopy the route taken when you (or the guest of honor) moved. Write your party details on the back.

Housewarming Decorations: Everyone is going to be much more interested in seeing your new home during your Housewarming party than wanting to look at decorations, so keep it very simple. A few balloons, a tablecloth on the dining room table, perhaps a welcome banner. Other than that, a couple of burning candles and some fresh flowers are best. Just don't forget to get paper plates, napkins and plastic cutlery. You don't need to be worried about doing dishes!

Housewarming Food: Keep it simple. You're going to be so busy greeting everyone and giving tours, you're not going to want to go with a sit-down dinner or anything - besides, everyone will be walking around your new house, you don't want the mess! Finger foods that work great are: little tea sandwiches, fruit and vegetable trays, appetizers like stuffed mushrooms, etc Something fun is to setup food in several different rooms - that way your guests are greeted with little "surprises" as they tour the new place! If you do this, be sure to have small plates and napkins on hand around the food in each room too. This is also a great way to get strangers to start talking to each other, nothing gets people excited and animated like food! Need recipes? Email us for help! SAMPLE RECIPES HERE

Housewarming Party Games and Ideas: Only plan on maybe having an ice-breaker or maybe one short game at your Housewarming. Just so your family and friends (and maybe you can invite some of your new neighbors to your Housewarming!) can get a chance to meet.

You can play Trivia about the new city or town, if you've moved. If this party is for someone else, get artifacts about the new area and either play trivia or a Welcome to your New Neighborhood game. This is a great way to celebrate a Housewarming!

Lastly, one thing to definitely keep in mind - everyone will want a tour of your new house during your Housewarming, and not everyone shows up at the same time. Decide ahead of time, if you are going to give them the tours yourself, then have a family member or friend greet the arriving guests and show them to the food, drinks, etc. Or, you could greet the guests while this person leads the tours, or just let everyone walk around and mingle on their own. Just don't try to do it all yourself - this is a time for you to celebrate your great achievement and enjoy yourself!!! Happy Housewarming!

Information:

Administrative Assistants, Administrative Professionals, Anniversary, Baby Shower, Baby, Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, Bath & Body, Bereavement, Birthday, Bridal Shower, Bridal, Canada Day, Candy Bouquet, Chanukkah, Cheese, Chinese New Year, Chocolate, Christmas, Coffee, Congratulations, Cookies, Easter, Father's Day, Flowers, Fourth of July, Fruit, Get Well, Gourmet, Graduation, Halloween, Hanukkah, Independence Day, Kwanzaa, Liquor, Mother's Day, New Home New Years, Purim, Retirement, Secretaries, Snack, Spa, St. Patrick's Day, Sympathy, Tea, Thank You, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Wedding Shower, Wedding, Wine

Gift Baskets:

Gift Baskets Canada: Amherst, Barrie, Bedford, Brandon, Burnaby, Calgary, Campbellton, Charlottetown, Coquitlam, Corner Brook, Dartmouth, Edmonton, Edmundston, Fort McMurray, Fredericton, Grand Falls-Windsor, Halifax, Hamilton, Iqaluit, Kelowna, Kingston, Kirkland, Kitchener, Labrador City, Langley, Laval, Lethbridge, London, Magog, Mississauga, Moncton, Montreal, Moose Jaw, Nelson, Niagara Falls, Oshawa, Ottawa, Prince Albert, Quebec City, Red Deer, Regina, Richmond, Sackville, Saskatoon, Sherwood Park, St. Albert, St. John's, Surrey, Toronto, Trois Rivieres, Truro, Whitehorse, Windsor, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Victoria, Yellowknife

Gift Baskets Europe: Aarhus, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Bern, Bratislava, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Esch-sur-Alzette, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Innsbruck, Lisbon, Luxembourg City, Madrid, Marseille, Oslo, Paris, Porto, Prague, Rome, Sligo, Sofia, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Tampere, The Hague, Thessaloniki, Tonsberg, Uppsala, Venice, Vienna, Warsaw, Zurich

Gift Baskets Middle East: Egypt, Iran, Israel Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

Gift Baskets New Zealand: Auckland City, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Lower Hutt, Manukau, North Shore, Tauranga, Waitakere, Wellington City

Gift Baskets Puerto Rico: Adjuntas, Arecibo, Florida, Ponce, San Juan, Santa Isabel

Gift Baskets South Africa: Bisho, Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kimberley, Mmabatho, Nelspruit, Pietermaritzburg, Pietersburg

Gift Baskets Southeast Asia: Bangkok, Beijing, Dhaka, Ha Noi, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Nagano, New Delhi, Okinawa, Osaka, Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo

Gift Baskets United Kingdom: Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Portadown, Swansea

Gift Baskets United States: Akron, Albany, Albuquerque, Allentown, Anaheim, Anchorage, Annapolis, Ann Arbor, Arlington, Atlanta, Atlantic City, Augusta, GA, Augusta, ME, Aurora, Austin, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Bellevue, Billings, Biloxi, Birmingham, Bismarck, Boise, Boston, Bridgeport, Buffalo, Burlington, Cambridge, Camden, Carson City, Casper, Cedar Rapids, Chandler, Charleston, SC, Charleston, WV, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Cherry Hill, Chesapeake, Cheyenne, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Clinton, Columbia, MD, Columbia, SC, Columbus, GA, Columbus, OH, Concord, Dallas, Davenport, Dayton, Dearborn, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Dover, Duluth, Durham, East Orange, Edison, Elizabeth, El Paso, Erie, Eugene, Evanston, Evansville, Everett, Fairbanks, Fairfax, Fargo, Federal Way, Flint, Ft. Collins, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Smith, Ft. Wayne, Frankfort, Ft. Worth, Glendale, Grand Forks, Grand Rapids, Greensboro, Gulfport, Hampton, Harrisburg, Hartford, Helena, Henderson, Honolulu, Houston, Huntsville, Idaho Falls, Independence, Indianapolis, Jackson, Jacksonville, Jefferson City, Jersey City, Juneau, Kansas City, KS, Kansas City, MO, Knoxville, Lafayette, Lakewood, CO, Lakewood, WA, Lansing, Las Vegas, Lewiston, Lexington, Lincoln, Little Rock, Livonia, Los Angeles, Las Cruces, Louisvillle, Lowell, Madison, Manchester, Marietta, Memphis, Mesa, Metairie, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Minot, Missoula, Mobile, Montgomery, Montpelier, Nampa, Naperville, Nashua, Nashville, Newark, New Bedford, New Haven, New Orleans, New York City, Norfolk, Norman, Oakland, Olympia, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Orlando, Overland Park, Paradise, Paterson, Peoria, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pierre, Pittsburgh, Pocatello, Portland, ME, Portland, OR, Portsmouth, Providence, Quincy, Rapid City, Raleigh, Reno, Richmond, Riverside, Roanoke, Rochester, Rockford, Roswell, Sacramento, St. Louis, St. Paul, St. Petersburg, Salem, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana, Santa Fe, Savannah, Schaumburg, Scottsdale, Seattle, Shreveport, Sioux City, Sioux Falls, Spokane, Springfield, IL, Springfield, MA, Springfield, MO, Sterling Heights, Stockton, Syracuse, Tacoma, Tallahassee, Tampa, Toledo, Topeka, Trenton, Tucson, Tulsa, Tuscaloosa, Virginia Beach, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Waukegan, Westland, Wichita, Wilmington, Winston-Salem, Worcester, Yonkers

See Also "Informative Sites"