How To Throw a Great Housewarming Party

Moving into a new and larger home can often give the new occupants an empty feeling. The house literally feels empty. A housewarming party will fill the house with family and friends, as well as providing a few great gifts that will help fill the house after they are gone. Use this guide to throw a great housewarming party.

1. Find a friend to host: Hunting, buying, and moving into your new home is a lot of work. It would be easier on you if a sibling, parent, or friend were to do the hosting.
2. Invitations: Make postcard invitations using photos of the new house with the address showing in the picture. This will help your guests to find the home more easily. You can take the pictures yourself and print the cards on photo paper or postcard paper from your computer printer. Add printed address and return address labels to the back, and print the party details like date, time, and driving directions on larger stickers and add to the other side of the card.
3. Place: A housewarming party should be held at the new home, of course! However, you can dictate whether the party will be outside or inside.
4. Time and date: You can have an open house party where people come and go all day as available, or a party with a definite arrival and ending time. Unlike other parties, housewarming parties are effective on holidays and birthdays and can even be combined with the usual festivities (except perhaps Christmas or the birthdays of your in-laws).
   
5. Party theme: Make the housewarming party activity-related. If there are rooms to be painted or a garden that badly needs planting, plan the party around getting that task done. You can have a painting party, where most of the guests show up early and help paint, or a garden party where each guest brings a plant, and actually plants it. (Yes, you can let them know which plants you prefer.)
6. Gift registry: Chances are that although you probably have plenty of items for your new home, there will also be plenty of items you still need. It is OK to register in advance for housewarming gifts.
7. Fundraiser: If you are more interested in presence, than presents, you can ask for donations toward your favorite charity in lieu of gifts.
8. Food: Keep it simple. You are just getting oriented with your new home; this is not a good time to exercise cooking skills. It is also unlikely that you have money for catering after closing on a home. Ask everyone to bring a dish and you can provide beverages and dishes.
9. Things to do: Besides the hard work of painting and gardening, there are plenty of fun things you can do at the party to add to the beauty of the home. You can have your guests make abstract paintings, which you can then hang around the house. (Supply a limited number of paints so they stay in your color palette.) Use disposable cameras or have your guest bring their digital cameras to take pictures of each other and interesting views of the home and its details. Have these pictures blown up and transferred to canvas.
10. Remembering it later: Provide a guest/ prayer book for the guests to sign and write their good wishes. Add photos of each person next to their signatures so you will remember them and the occasion years later.