Is A Housewarming Party An Excuse To Get Free Stuff?

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

A housewarming party is a popular way to welcome family and friends to visit your new home, although is it just a gift grab?

I thought getting invited to a housewarming party was an excuse to get together with friends and drink the night away, but YOU may think differently.

Today, I’m exploring a recent invitation we received to a housewarming party and some unanswered questions that you might have about them.

is a housewarming party an excuse to get free stuff?
Is a housewarming party an excuse to get free stuff?

What Is A Housewarming Party?

Traditionally, a housewarming party is a way for new homeowners to invite family and friends to view the new home and party after moving in.

If you want the rest of your neighbors to know you are moving in, have a loud housewarming party in the backyard.

I’m only having a laugh, but it happens, and we’ve experienced that first-hand weekends ago when our new neighbors moved in.

We heard loud music, laughter, dogs barking, and car doors opening and closing throughout the night.

The smells of a BBQ permeated the air, making us hungry for whatever was cooking.

They shook up the neighborhood because we don’t usually hear anything.

Older Generation Moving Out

We were probably the youngest couple on our street two years ago, but not anymore.

Our street comprises older married couples and the odd couple with kids.

Although, recently, we’ve seen younger couples start moving into the area with kids.

The housing market in the Greater Toronto Area is so expensive that a couple on our street bought their new house at a discount from their grandparents.

They told us if they hadn’t, they would never have been able to afford a home and would have had to rent.

Should You Bring A Housewarming Gift?

A housewarming party gift is a must for this event, although some hosts may say not to bother, especially if they already have a house of furnishings.

Unexpected Housewarming Party Invite

Many of us who budget our money can’t budget for such events because we don’t know when and if they will happen.

It’s always nice to have a projected expense for a gift category, which means you can estimate the costs of gifts you may need to buy for the year, including birthdays.

Our friends who bought their second home sent us a housewarming party invitation last week.

We started to think of excuses why we couldn’t go but decided they were our good friends, and we really should support them.

Besides, we wanted to check out their new home.

Are Housewarming Parties A Money Grab?

When we opened the invitation, another friend at our house laughed and said, “Housewarming parties are just another way for people to get free stuff.”

I’m somewhere in the middle on this one.

Housewarming parties fall next to baby showers, wedding showers, etc.

How Much Do You Spend On A Housewarming Party Gift?

I know many people who detest attending these events and believe they’re just money grabs.

Not all people give gifts; depending on culture, cash is a tradition.

I’ve never heard of any etiquette regarding giving cash as a housewarming gift.

Money is always a prized gift, but don’t get greedy; accept what is given with a smile.

No one says you must spend a fortune on a housewarming party gift.

Give what you can.

Inviting People Who You Don’t Know

Some parents have birthday parties for their kids and encourage them to invite kids they hardly know.

These kids likely have no interest in going because they don’t hang out or talk to the kids, and their parents make them go.

I’m not sure what’s worse, not inviting the entire class or inviting them all where some kids are just miserable about the experience.

Adults can be just as greedy as they invite people they hardly know or haven’t seen in ages to get more gifts.

Weddings are the worst for this. I’m just being realistic here; it happens.

I bet you can think back to an invite you got from someone you haven’t heard from in a long while.

Even though an invite states, “Don’t bring a gift,” you know you will feel horrible if you don’t.

My wife once got an invite to a 30th birthday party from a woman she hasn’t seen since high school yet found her on Facebook.

I know she was being nice, but my wife had no interest in meeting up with her again.

If you receive an invite to a housewarming party for someone you don’t know so well, decline.

How Often Should You Have A Housewarming Party?

When our friend said that housewarming parties were a sham, we wondered if people who buy more than one house should even have housewarming parties.

Some people buy and sell their homes every five years when their mortgage is up for renewal.

That can become many gatherings unless you don’t mind the party factor.

Traditional Housewarming Party Gifts

A traditional housewarming gift idea is a plant or something similar.

You can pick these up relatively cheaply, or even better if you can make the plant yourself from the one you have.

Buying large housewarming party gifts like furniture or house decor can get pricey unless you can source something second-hand and refurbish it.

Then again, what if the item you buy doesn’t suit their tastes?

You might spend money on something they will turn around and sell.

The funny twist, though, is they may make more money from it, haha!

You might not care, but you should; it’s your hard-earned money.

Choose a housewarming party gift wisely, or ask the host what they need for their new home.

Some couples set up a housewarming gift registry at their favorite store, making gifting easier for guests.

Bringing A Housewarming Party Gift

So, what do you buy for someone who has practically everything and is having their second housewarming party since buying their first home?

Good question, and we need help from all of you because we are stumped!

Here are a few of the housewarming party gifts to consider:

I’m unsure if these will be the best housewarming gifts to pick from, but we wanted to bring something different.

Spending Time With Family And Friends

A housewarming party is a great way to forget about your daily stresses.

The invite also suggested that we were more than welcome to bring easy finger foods.

Although we didn’t have a housewarming party when we bought our first house, we aren’t too worried about attending this one.

Even if this house is their second home, and some people think it’s a housewarming party to get free stuff, we see it as an opportunity to ‘adult.’

Sometimes, life, such as work or family obligations, gets in the way, and we forget to live a little.

A little adult time is excellent, even if it means wrapping a housewarming party gift and bringing something for everyone to munch on.

Discussion: Do you think housewarming parties are held to get free stuff? What would you bring? Should housewarming parties only be retained for first-time home buyers?

CBB Week At A Glance

This week was just as busy as the last howe, but we did manage to get out as a family to pick up some groceries and our Halloween candy.

I promise not to touch the four boxes of chocolate bars in the freezer and repeat.

My wife made me say this over and over.

She knows what I’m like with chocolate.

The chocolate bars were on sale at Zehrs, so we picked them up while we could.

We used to load up after Halloween and freeze them until the following year but didn’t get out after the last Halloween, so we missed out.

We’re still looking at our options for Halloween costumes, as we have about four of them.

They were all gifted to us by someone in the past year.

Our son will go door to door this year, or we are both going out with the hand.

I’m then coming home to hand out candy.

We’ve also started to pack up all of our son’s summer clothes and bring out the Fall and Winter items.

While on Kijiji the other day, my wife found a Children’s Place two-piece snowsuit in mint condition for $15, so we picked that up.

Our friend says she may have winter boots for him, so I’m hoping that works out better, so we’ll keep looking.

We’ve learned that we must ‘plan’ with him (the sacred word of all parents); otherwise, we run around like chickens looking for what we need.

That was my week…how was yours?

-Mr.CBB

Blog Posts This Week

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Today, Jen P. shares her latest garage sale finds!

Hi Mr.CBB and Fans,

Fortunately, I found these fantastic Children’s headphones, which are soft and fuzzy like earmuffs and have a retractable cord. Brand new in box. Asking $4. Paid $2.

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toddler headphones Biker Bearz

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Hey CBB Readers!

I’m Thias, and I run the newly launched personal finance blog It Pays Dividends. (no longer exists)

The reason I started on my finance journey wasn’t because I found myself in massive debt or because we were constantly spending too much, but instead because a significant life event happened.

In August 2014, my wife and I discovered we were expecting our first child.

This event helped me realize that I needed to improve everything I did to provide the life for our daughter that I knew she deserved.

It helped push us to prioritize paying off the remainder of our student loans, which we can happily say we completed this past June.

We discussed our finances more and what we valued in life, and we started planning for longer-term goals.

We are more conscious about what we spend our money on, ensuring we save a good portion of our monthly income.

Every decision you make in life can pay you something down the road, whether it is taking time to read each day, deciding where to invest your money, or whether you will eat good, healthy foods.

I hope that my experiences and insight will help others be able to realize dividends in their personal lives as well as their finances.

Top Recipe

pumpkin spice woopie pie cookies

Food and grocery shopping are a BIG part of CBB because food is a large part of the budget, which people struggle with most.

Instead of buying convenience meals, consider cooking homemade meals or baking from scratch.

Not only will you save money, but you will be proud of what you accomplished, and you’ll see that from the smiles on those you feed.

This week, our Top Recipe Pick goes to The Noble Pig Winery Blog for these fantastic-looking Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies filled with Maple Cream.

Editor’s Pick

Every week, I will pick a blog post of the week from around the web that I found interesting and want to share with you and an Editor’s top blog post pick.

Editor’s pick (That’s me, Mr.CBB) is a Globe and Mail online post.

Should this Couple Dig Away Their Mortgage or Grow Their RRSP’s-answerer-I think it’s pretty clear they should get rid of the mortgage. (Post no longer exists.)

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