Did you have a "Housewarming"?

[pixielou]

After you bought your house and got settled, did you have a Housewarming party? Invite people over for the sole purpose of seeing your new house?

[Sophia]

Nope.

[ejs]

No. To me, they seem like people are gloating or hoping for gifts.

[PinkMartini]

No. To me, they seem like people are gloating or hoping for gifts.

Ditto that! Never had one, never will.

[NicoleWisconsin]

Not really. We had a "thank you" bbq for the people that helped us move and our immediate families, no gifts or anything.

[salysaturn]

We did, but it was a bar-b-que as well.

[MLA]

No. We bought our house in across the country from our family and friends and hadn't yet really made any friends out here, so we didn't have a housewarming. I actually would have liked to have done something.

[off2skl]

Yes, but ours was also a combo graduation party, we called it a "finally can unwind" party :)

[Weddings by]

I have always wanted one, but we didn't have one.

[Hello Kitty]

Yeah, we did. It's pretty common in our area. We moved to our first house, in a new area with lots of family near.

We're contemplating moving again and wouldn't have a second one though. I would have people over to see the house, but would definitely do it as 'we're having people over for dinner/bbq' instead of a housewarming.

[rubyslippers]

We didn't have a housewarming because we bought our house a month before we got married. Housewarmings are pretty common in my area though.

[LeslieR]

Nope. We did receive housewarming gifts from our parents, though.

We recently had our son's birthday and I thought it would be a good time for people to see the house, but everyone stayed outside and only came in briefly for food. That was kind of a bummer (especially since we cleaned our butts off!:p ).

[SweetRed]

No. But we did host a big Game Night a few months after settling in, and it gave everyone an excuse to come over and see the house. That's pretty common in our social circle - no one throws an actual housewarming, but you have a party or BBQ of some kind to inaugurate the new digs. :)

[rachrich]

We purchased our 1st house a year ago, and we were going to have a cookout type of party, but never got around to it because of a 6 month old and DH taking a lot of grad classes. It wasn't a big deal that we didn't do it though.

[MrsWilson]

We did. We bought our first house on Halloween and had a housewarming after decorating for Christmas in mid-December. We had a bunch of family and friends who wanted to see the place and instead of having people constantly stopping by, we set aside 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon for everyone to come by. Gifts were not expected, but those that did bring something, mostly brought a small gesture to help us decorate for the holidays. It was very nice to do for our first house, but I don't think I'll do it for any future houses. This purchase was such a big deal to us after waiting so long and paying off all our debt to be able to comfortably afford it.

[GeekGirl]

We haven't yet, but we plan to. We had actually originally planned to have it this weekend, but there is horrendous construction on my street that won't be finished until the end of the month (it started the week we moved in and has been going on all summer - would have been nice for the realtor/prev owners to let us know!! :mad:). I think we'll end up having it in December.

[Kristy]

We didn't, but I wanted to. Most of our friends don't live close enough that they could drop by and see it, so I wanted to have something so they would all have an excuse to stop by. We never found a good time. I'll definitely do it for our next home, though.

[myshel]

No. But we did host a big Game Night a few months after settling in, and it gave everyone an excuse to come over and see the house. That's pretty common in our social circle - no one throws an actual housewarming, but you have a party or BBQ of some kind to inaugurate the new digs. :)

This is what we did too. We hosted a July 3rd party (long story...) and that gave people a chance to see our new house and our new baby.

[tenofcups]

I've never had anything that I officially called a housewarming party (I don't like the implications of gifts that go along with the name). But I have had just regular parties after moving into a house and getting the renovations finished. In my last house, for example, we had a barbecue for friends and then had different family sets over for dinners. In this house, we've done the same thing when the house was finally ready to show. Most times, people bring gifts the first time they come over anyway, but calling it a housewarming seems more like asking for those gifts.

[nyclaura]

My answer is a solid "sort of".

We bought out house 1.5 years ago and have been doing major renovation work every since. We did not have an inital housewarming party because our kitchen was under renovation for the first 7 months. However, our friends were so happy and supportive of our reno efforts that we have started celebrating the end of each major reno project with a little party. It is something that our whole social group looks forward to.

They also know us well enough to know that we don't care about or expect gifts. Usually people bring a bottle of wine though or make a dessert. It's been really great sharing our progress with our little group.

[allison]

We did! It was also a Super Bowl party and we had a blast despite the rain! Most of our friends live in the same city as us, but we're spread out all over and don't get to see each other often, same with family. We got a few gifts, but we didn't expect them. We still hadn't finished some things with the house so the gift cards to Target were very helpful and appreciated.

I never thought that having a housewarming party meant you had to bring gifts. I usually bring a bottle of wine and a gift card. I also bring those gifts if it's my first visit to a friends/family house even if there isn't a party. I just see it as a nice gesture, not a requirement.

[KrissyCat7]

We will. We just purchased our first home and we will have a small get together with friends and family. For us, it's an excuse to have a get together. We will probably just have some snacks and maybe play cards and what not.

[Loud_curly]

We will. We have a scheduled BBQ/poker night planned for next Saturday. It'll run from 4 pm on, so those with little kids can come around 4 and play outside, and then we'll swing into the BBQ and then poker night. We're not expecting gifts - it's our 3 place that we bought - but rather wanted to host something before I was too huge from the pregnancy!

[Standrea]

We didn't with this house, because the layout is terrible, and we can only fit about 10 people in the house comfortably. House #2 though we definately will. I love hosting parties, so it will just be an excuse. No gifts, just good food, and good company.

[Standrea]

So, now we are in the process of purchasing a new house.

I think I want to have a holiday "open house". Come and go as you please, no gifts, etc. Any ideas?

[Goddess Tiff]

We did, just this past weekend. We bought our first house this summer, and we just had an open house. It was a lot of fun.

[Hello Kitty]

Standrea - I think you'd be just fine. There are a lot of events like that around the holidays anyway. If you frame it more as a holiday open house holiday gathering, instead of a general housewarming, I can't see how it would offend anyone.

[jajacobsen]

I have always done housewarming parties whenever I loved in. Everyone always wants to come see the new place and it gives me a deadline to get ourselves moved in/unpacked. I try to keep them lowkey and have only received small hostess type gifts so I don;t think anyone thought I was being gift grabby (so not me). I also always invite all my new neighbors because I find these days people are reticent to come over and introduce themselves so it helpd to break the ice.

Standrea - holidays are perfect - you could make it a holiday tea/open house. Peopel are used to those things that time of year so I don't think anyone would think it was strange. Have fun decorating!

[pixielou]

we ended up "combining" our house warming with our daughters 3rd birthday. we didn't use the word "housewarming" at all on the invitation.

a few people ended up bringing housewarming gifts. but these were the people that we knew would bring us a gift the first time they visited us in our new house - regardless of whether we had a housewarming.

i thought of doing the holiday open house. but we already have commitments for 4 of the 5 weekends between thanksgiving and christmas - so i just didn't want to add to the stress. plus i would have felt the need to really decorate the house - and i don't think that is something i will want to do with a 3 year old child.

~pixie

[cocopops]

We finally purchased a new home!!! Yay us :) We were both divorcée’s so we (I) mostly got rid of our old stuff we each had from our previous marriages that was given as wedding presents back in 2002. Because... I did not want to carry in my stuff from my previous marriage into my new. etc etc...

We have purchased a lot of stuff in the four years that we have been together. However it would be wonderful to have a housewarming with friends and family so hey can #1 see the house and #2 give us neat gifts ;) for our home since we are pretty much broke from buying the house and the holiday's are coming up. A few of my family members have done it that way and I see nothing wrong or tacky about it. Shrug* oh well
.

[Lolly]

We did! We settled on our house one month after our wedding. My inlaws were the hosts, and planned an Open house for us a month after settlement, so it fell right near Thanksgiving time. We didn't expect gifts, since we did just get married. The open house gave us more time to hang out with our friends and families before the busy holiday season. We did receive lots of wine as gifts though. But like others have said, I bring a gift (like wine and chocolates) to people's houses if I haven't been there before.

Standrea, I think a holiday open house is perfect!

[Fenway]

We will, but I don't think we'll call it a "housewarming." We are building our own house and we've had so many of our friends and family come to help us build. We're planning on having a party to celebrate all our helping hands and to show off their handy work. Whenever we have a party, whether it's a birthday, or open-house, or holiday party, we always put "no gifts please" or something like that on the invite.

[HeatherFL]

Yep. It wasn't so people could "see" the house...I mean they wanted to, so of course that was part of the reason, but that wasn't the sole purpose. Just a celebration of being in a new home and wanting to share it with friends, enjoy food, drinks and be merry. Any reason for a party LOL! ;) It was a GOOD party too! (It was hinted on the invite for people not to bring gifts, but most did.)

~H.

[justHB]

we were going to, but then time got away from us with moving in and getting the house in order. we had thanksgiving here, but by that time most everyone had already been here anyway. on our one year anniversary in the house we were going to throw a bbq and then that day came and went and here we are nearing 1.5 years i the house and well ... not so much.