A housewarming gift can become a treasured keepsake, or it can become one of those things that gets shoved into a closet or re-gifted. You don’t have to make yourself crazy about what to get your friends in celebration of their new home, and you don’t have to worry that your gift will be relegated to the back of the closet with the dust bunnies. Just follow a few simple tips, and your friends will be sure to love your gift.

Think About Who You Are Buying For

You know your friends. Do they entertain a lot? Are they moving from an apartment to their first home? Are they outdoor people? Are they more excited about having summer barbeques in their new yard than anything else? Or, are they home bodies who are more likely to soak in the tub with a good book on a Saturday night than have a crowd of people over for a party?

Think about what your friends like to do, what they love about their new home, and what gift you can give them to help them better enjoy their home in a way that is meaningful to them. You may be the grill master, but that doesn’t mean they’ll appreciate the expensive set of barbecue accessories that you are so excited about.

• For the grilling guru: A personalized set of grilling accessories is sure to be a hit.
• For the home body: A gift certificate to a local bookstore, a basket of bath oils, or a cozy throw are all sure to please.
• For the foodie: Gift certificates to a few area restaurants will make any foodie happy, and help them get to know their new town.

Get the Teak Accessories They’ll Love

The bathroom is often one of the most neglected areas of a new home. Get your friends off to a good start with some beautiful accessories like a teak bath shower mat or our one of a kind Pi-shaped teak bench.

If your friends can’t wait for summer to take advantage of their outdoor space, get them off on the right foot with a teak side table or lounger from our outdoor catalogue.

Don’t Forget the Kids

A move can be tough on children, especially if they are leaving friends and favorite places behind. Give a gift that will be sure to brighten their day and help them feel more at home in their new space, and in their new town. Here are some ideas:

• Personalized or monogrammed accessories for their room.
• A DIY paint your own furniture kit.
• Gift certificates to a local water park or movie theater.
• A new pet, with their parent’s permission of course.

DIY Magic

There are so many DIY projects that are both practical and personal, that it was hard for us to choose the best ones for this article. We managed to pull together a few of our favorites. Here they are.

A QR Code for Their New WiFi Password: If you can get one person in the household to slip you the family’s new WiFi password on the sly, you can make a QR code for them, frame it in a way that’ll make it a welcome addition to their office, and give them the gift of never having to answer the question, “What’s the WiFi password?” again.

Welcome Home: A personalized, DIY welcome mat is sure to be a big hit. You don’t need a lot of artistic talent to pull this off, and with a little effort you can come up with a message that is unique to your friends. You’ll need a simple doormat made of sisal or some other material that is easy to work with, paint, a sharpy, a utility knife, and contact paper. That’s it. The whole project won’t take more than an hour or so. Here are some easy to follow instructions.

Dinner in a Jar: If your friends are anything like us, they’ll be living off of pizza and fast food for the first couple of weeks they’re in their new home. That’s no fun. So, why not give them the gift of a few meals? Give them a few soup or stew recipes, along with mason jars filled with the ingredients, so they don’t have to worry about the shopping. And, if they’re still waiting for the moving truck, throw in a soup pot, a ladle, and some soup bowls. Every time they use those bowls they’ll think of you, and how you helped make their first nights in their new home so special.

We hope this article sparked some ideas for you. If it got you thinking about accessories for your own home, and we hope it did, take some time while you’re here to look at our unique, sustainably-sourced, and beautiful teak furniture and accessories.