Stage 2 of 4
The housewarming
When to have one, what the customs actually are, what to spend, and what to write in the card.
Once the boxes are gone, somebody suggests having people round, and a fortnight of small questions follows. When is too soon. Whether a gift is expected. What on earth to write in the card. These pages answer that half of it, and they are careful about one thing in particular: there is no published British survey of what people spend on a housewarming gift, so you will not find an invented average here. What you will find is where the customs are documented and where they are not.
The reading, in order
- When to have a housewarming
- Housewarming etiquette
- Housewarming traditions
- Bread and salt
- Housewarming party ideas
- How much to spend
- What to write in the card
- Housewarming gifts
- Best housewarming gifts
- Unique housewarming gifts
- Housewarming gifts for couples
What these pages keep concluding
Read the whole stage and one thing keeps happening. The customs that survive are the ones that mark a specific house on a specific day, which is why bread and salt are handed over on a threshold rather than posted, and why the card matters more than its price. That is the argument the next stage picks up.
And after that
The stage after this one is the gift: Who it is for changes what lands: a first home, a couple, a man who says he wants nothing, a family mid-move.
Written by Craig Fearn, Our House Print.
From the journal