[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’][/author_image] [author_info] Jana Kemp’s multifaceted interests shine in Nesting. As an author, facilitator, community contributor, business owner, and parent, Jana watches for the ways in which we nest to create HOME and shares her discoveries in the blog Nesting.[/author_info] [/author]
Housewarming – a celebration of a person’s new home, often in the form of a party or event to which guests bring gifts for the person/home. Several friends in their 30s have purchased their first homes this year. Moving from shared spaces and apartments is a big, and costly, transition. To celebrate the moves and support the transitions, other friends have hosted housewarming parties.
When contemplating what to bring to a housewarming party, think the basics as well as the large things like lawnmowers (on which many people go in together) and ladders. Also think about small objects that can bring joy to guest bathrooms, living spaces, window sills, and kitchens.
For my first-home friends, I put together a dish pan (because they come in handy for many uses – dishes, clothing, foot-soaking) full of the following.
- Dish cloths that I crochet along with dishwashing soap.
- Spirited and colorful dish towels for drying.
- A soap dish and decorative soap bar.
- Paper Towels – a starter set.
- Tea and caramels for relax-time during and after the move-in process.
Another friend put together a laundry room starter kit: laundry basket, soap, dryer balls, ironing board, iron, and more items than I remember. Still another group purchased a gift card from a local nursery for future landscaping projects. All of us shared our favorite home-care vendors and phone numbers.
A housewarming may be the equivalent to a barn-raising; the coming together of community for the purpose of creating a useable space that creates a place for work, life, and joy to unfold day after day and year after year. A housewarming in and of itself creates happy memories at the beginning of living in a new space. No matter the size of our homes, making them warm, friendly and safe havens is part of a housewarming celebration.
How warm is your house? Have you created HOME? If not, happy housewarming to you, and to your friends with new homes.