Housewarming gift boxes for a place you have probably never seen
The difficulty with a housewarming gift is that you are buying for a room you have not stood in. Anything decorative is a guess, and a guess in somebody else's new hallway is a thing they have to find a home for out of politeness. So none of these four is decorative. All of them get used up in the first fortnight, which is the only safe thing to send into a house you have never seen.
You have not stood in the room, so nothing here is decorative. I pack every box by hand in Canada.
Four boxes for a new place, $99 and $119, and the rest of what I pack underneath.
Jonah. For the first night in, whenever you find the kettle.
From Sara
Four boxes for a new place
Four boxes for the first fortnight rather than for the house itself, from $99 to $119. Three of the four come in two sizes. The larger size of one is that same box with about two more things in it, picked the way the rest of it was picked. Nothing in them has to be hung, matched or found a shelf for. What is in a box shifts with what is good this season, so the page describes each one by how full it is rather than listing it.
The Kitchen Welcome Box
the one I'd send
- Inside
- about four things. About two more things at $119.
- Good for
- A kitchen with nothing in the cupboard under the sink yet
- Price
- From$99
The Sweet Scent Home Box
- Inside
- about three things. About two more things at $119.
- Good for
- The first evening where they sit down instead of unpacking
- Price
- From$99
The Morning Espresso Box
- Inside
- about three things. About two more things at $119.
- Good for
- The morning after the move, before anybody finds a shop
- Price
- From$99
The Premium Welcome Home Box
- Inside
- about five things
- Good for
- A first home of their own, where you want it to be a proper gift
- Price
- $119
Not quite it? Every box on the site is in one place, sorted by price and by who it is for. Browse all of them and pick something else for the new place.
About the date, and the address
Moving week is the wrong week. Nothing is unpacked, half the day is spent waiting for a van, and a box that turns up then gets put on a pile with the other boxes. The week after is better, and a housewarming party is better still, because there is somewhere to put it down and somebody to open it in front of.
The address is the part to be careful about. Send it to the new place, and only once they are actually in it. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and takes 1 to 7 days in transit. I can't promise an exact arrival date. You can pick a preferred delivery date at checkout, which tells me when to send it rather than when it will land.
Other boxes that suit a new place
Each of these is sold here for another reason as well, so nothing on this page renames them.
Showing all 9
The Thanksgiving Table Box
From$99Things to spread and linen for the kitchen, for the first time they have people over.
The Premium Harvest Gratitude Box
Something woven for the table, cups to keep and a candle for the evening.
The Breakfast in Bed Box
From$99Pancake mix, syrup and two napkins, for the first Saturday in a new kitchen.
The Sweet Beginnings Box
From$99Cocoa and two mugs, for a couple whose boxes are still stacked in the hall.
The Charcuterie Congratulations Box
From$99A small board and things to put on it, which is dinner on the night the oven is not in yet.
The Gourmet Send-Off Box
From$99Savoury, and built for standing around a counter with people.
The Warm Hug Box
From$99Something soft and something warm, for a move that was harder than it looked.
The Cozy Date Night Box
From$99One quiet evening in, for two people who have not sat down in a fortnight.
The Cozy Warm Start Box
From$99Two cups and something chocolatey with coffee in it, for slow mornings once it is unpacked.
If you want to spend more than this
These four stop at what these boxes cost. A housewarming gift that goes much higher stops being a welcome and starts being furniture, and I would rather stop here than pad a box out to reach a number. Eight boxes on the site run a ladder of three sizes instead: $119 for the smallest, $189 for the middle one and $299 for the fullest box I pack.
If it is a first house rather than a first flat, the two below are $299 each and go higher. Neither of them is a housewarming box, so the card would have to say why it turned up. Nothing on this page is a smaller gift for costing less.
- $299Luxury Gift Box for HerScent, skin care and the small things she talks herself out of buying.
- $299Luxury Gift Box for HimGood pieces, for the man who says he doesn't need anything.
Or start from every box I make, sorted by priceThe whole range, $70 to $299, including the sizes between these and those.
The card is the part that ends up on the fridge
Everything in these boxes is gone inside a month, which is deliberate. The card is not. It goes on the fridge of the new place with a magnet holding it, and it is usually still there when the next people come round. You type it at checkout and I write it out by hand.
Stuck on the card? People start with something like:
"Welcome home.""For the first night in.""Whenever you find the kettle."
There are more lines worth borrowing in my guide to writing a gift card message.
For the first night in, whenever you find the kettle. It looks like a house already.
From Sara
How to choose a housewarming gift
There are only three things you can safely know about a house you have not seen: somebody has to clean it, somebody has to eat in it, and at some point somebody sits down in it for the first time. Every box on this page is built on one of those three.
If you have never seen the place
The Kitchen Welcome Box at $99 or $119 is the one I would send without hesitating. Everything in it is used up and thrown out, so it cannot clash with anything, and a kitchen sink is a kitchen sink whether the flat is in Halifax or Kelowna.
If it is their first place of their own
The Premium Welcome Home Box at $119 is the fullest one I pack for a new home, and the only one here with things in it that stay. A first place is the one time a housewarming gift is allowed to be a proper gift rather than a supply run.
If you are going to the party
The Sweet Scent Home Box at $99 or $119 is the one to carry in with you: it is small enough not to make a scene when it is opened and it gets used that same evening. If you are posting it instead, send it a week or two early so it is not competing with the doorbell.
If two of them have just moved in together
A first place shared is a different occasion from a first place alone, and the difference is that everything arrives in pairs. These are the boxes on this page with two of something in them.
The shelves either side of this one
A move rarely happens on its own. It usually comes attached to something else that has just happened to the same person, and the shelf for that thing is often the better one to send from.
If the move came with a job, the new job boxes are about the desk rather than about the kitchen.
If two people moved in together and there is a wedding coming, the wedding shelf has the boxes for the part of a house nobody put on a registry.
And if the move was a hard one, a separation or a downsize, the thinking of you boxes say nothing about new beginnings, which is sometimes the point.
You are not expected to send all of them. It is worth knowing the next one is here when it comes around.
Questions people ask me
What is a good housewarming gift?
Something that gets used up rather than something that has to be displayed. You have not seen the room it is going into, so the safest gift is the one that is gone by the end of the month. The Kitchen Welcome Box at $99 or $119 is the one I would send.
What do you send when you have never seen their new place?
Nothing decorative and nothing that needs a wall. Anything with a colour or a style in it is a guess, and a guess creates an obligation to display it. Food, drink, candles and things for a kitchen sink are all safe in a house of any size, and they let somebody who has just moved feel looked after without acquiring another object to find a home for.
Should I send a housewarming gift before or after the move?
After, and to the new address. A box that arrives during moving week competes with the van and ends up on a pile. The week after is when the kettle has been found and the first quiet evening happens, and that is when the contents of these boxes actually get used. If there is a housewarming party, aim for a few days before it rather than the day itself.
Can I send it straight to the new address?
Yes. Put their address in at checkout and type your message, and I write it onto the card by hand before the box is closed, so the note from you is the only thing in there with words on it.
Do you ship anywhere in Canada?
Yes. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and takes 1 to 7 days in transit. Free anywhere in the country, with nothing added at checkout. I can't promise an exact arrival date, so send it once they are in rather than up against moving day. You can pick a preferred delivery date at checkout, which tells me when to send it rather than when it will land.
Can I send a box back?
All sales are final. Every box is food, skin care and other things that can't be sold on once they have left here, and each one is packed by hand to order. If you have a question before you buy, write to me at team@swipegifts.com.
Housewarming gift boxes, packed by hand in Canada
A housewarming gift is the one you are least qualified to choose. You are buying for a house you have not been inside, for rooms whose colours you do not know, at a moment when the person owns more objects than they have places to put them. That is the whole argument for consumable gifts here: food, drink, candles, the things under a kitchen sink. They get used, and then the house belongs to the people living in it rather than to the people who furnished it by post.
There are four of these, from $99 to $119, and they split by which part of the first fortnight you want to make easier: the cleaning, the first evening sat down, the morning after the move, or the whole thing at once. Three of the four come in two sizes. The larger size of one is that same box with about two more things in it, picked the way the rest of it was picked.
Every box is packed by hand here in Canada and ships free anywhere in the country, straight to the new address. There's no price on anything inside the box. You write the card at checkout and I copy it out by hand, which on a housewarming is the part that stays: the box is gone in a month and the card is on the fridge a year later.
While you are here
- Housewarming Gifts in Canada for a Place You Have Never SeenWritten for exactly this problem: a place you have never seen.
- Housewarming Gift IdeasWhat gets used in a new house and what gets put in a cupboard.
- Gifts for New HomeownersIf they bought rather than rented, which changes what is useful.
If you are not sure which one to send, write to me at team@swipegifts.com and tell me who it is for. I read every email myself and I answer them.