House warming parties provide the perfect opportunity for you to catch up with old friends by showing off the new homestead, while also making new friends with your neighbours.
Your house doesn’t have to be completely decorated, but you should wait a week or two before throwing the party so your guests don’t have to shuffle around partially unpacked boxes.
Since you will no doubt be cash poor, but house rich, you don’t need to throw a huge, expensive affair.
The theme should be casual. An open house is a great way to host a house warming. This enables you to have guests come and go throughout a specified time period, instead of everyone arriving and leaving at one time, causing house tour congestion.
Open houses also allow you, the host, to mingle with everyone, which is equally as importation as showing off the new digs.
Use all of your property – indoors and outdoors, basement and garage, for the house warming party. Make each area warm and inviting by providing cozy seating areas, food, beverages and conversation pieces. Conversation starters can include movie or book collections as well as photos or artwork on display throughout the house.
When it comes to decorating, you really don’t need any. After all, your guests are there to see your home, and an abundance of balloon bouquets and streamers can take away from a room’s natural ambiance.
Make sure each and every room in the house is clean. A house tour is no fun if there are rooms people are not allowed to investigate.
If you have children, make sure they put all of their toys away, especially their favourite ones as some other children may want to play with them.
A fun way to include your children and those of your friends and family is to allow you kids to host their own house warming party in a specific part of the house. Basements or garages are ideal for this.
Depending on how casual you want the party to be, you can either guide all of the house tours yourself, or let your guests wander around on their own. If you will be the tour guide, enlist the help of a friend or family member to greet guests at the front door, take coats, pour drinks and offer appetizers.
If the tours will be self-guided, provide a map and any additional information about each room that your guests might find interesting.
If you have done major renovations to any or all of the house, put up before and after pictures – they too make great conversation starters.
When it comes to the food, keep it simple. Serve little sandwiches, cut up fruit and vegetables, as well as your other favourite finger foods. Place platters of food throughout the house. It’s a wonderful surprise for guests to enter a room and find a platter of nibblies awaiting them.
Part of being a good host includes not expecting any gifts. Many people will bring them anyways, so it is important to acknowledge your gratitude in a thank you note.
If you are invited to a house warming party and want to bring a gift, find out about the new home décor so you bring something that fits. Or you could go the very safe route and give the homeowners a gift card for home improvement or decorating store so they can purchase exactly what they want. You can also bring the tried–and-true plant or new homeowner specific gift basket.