House prices may be rising, but it certainly isn’t stopping people from buying or renting lovely new homes in Melbourne, and all across Australia. Recently it feels like every second person we know is preparing to, or has recently moved. If you’re feeling the same chances are you have had your eye out for a unique housewarming gift that is a bit more special than a bottle of mid-range red wine from your closest liquor shop. That’s why we’ve put together a list of The Nonsense Maker’s top ideas for unique housewarming gifts to make your friends and family’s new house feel like home.
Include a unique housewarming card
Once you have decided on the perfect gift, top it off with an extra special unique housewarming card. Buying or moving house is a big deal for most people, and some encouraging words delivered in a beautiful Australian made greeting card is always appreciated. If well wishes don’t come easily to you, you can always use our handy guide on what to write in a greeting card for inspiration!
Art prints as unique housewarming gifts
Nothing brightens up a new space like fun colourful art prints. Make your friends and family smile, while also supporting a local Australian artist, it’s a win win! Gifting art can be fun and easy, clever, funny, or wonderfully personal and meaningful if you know the recipients well.
Depending on your budget, and the size of the house your wall art print will be warming, you can also choose to get the wall art print framed. For hints on selecting the best artwork and frame for your housewarming gift you might like to read The Nonsense Maker’s blog post on tips for decorating with wall art.
Useful housewarming gifts
If you’re looking to get your friends and family something extra useful for their new house, look no further than Dreamfarm. Dreamfarm is an Australian design brand founded by a group of everyday Aussie “dreamers”. These guys are dedicated to redesigning and improving the everyday kitchen utensils that you didn’t even realised needed improving! Based in Brisbane, here are just a few of the many stupidly simple, but wonderfully useful products they create.
The Supoon
No quite a spoon, not quite a spatula, this nifty gadget is the best of both worlds! Scooping food while gently scraping your pan or bowl clean at the same time. The real genius, however, is the Mini Supoon. This smaller version with its oddly shaped handle and soft rubber end will scrape every last ounce of peanut butter from the jar. Your inner cheapskate will be amazed how much you can still get out of an ‘empty’ jar.
Image by Dreamfarm
The Garject
Another genius invention, this is the fanciest garlic crusher you will ever use. The Garject will crush your garlic, scape itself clean, and flick the skins into the bin in one swift movement.
Clongs
These are like regular everyday tongs, with one amazing difference. The handle is shaped with a bend in it so you can set them down without the ends touching the bench. This simple mess free handle design is an amazing feature shared by almost all the utensils made by Dreamfarm.
Unique Housewarming gift ideas designed by artists
We’ve already mentioned art prints make a good housewarming gift idea, but what if your friends or family aren’t the wall art print type? If you want to support a local artist without buying an art print here are some other unique housewarming gift ideas you can try.
Artist made monthly wall calendar
A unique housewarming gift that is also incredibly useful is a monthly wall calendar. This is an especially good gift towards the end of the year, or for anyone who loves to stay organised (or could do with being a little more organised, for that matter!). An artist designed monthly wall calendar is special because it is essentially a rotating artwork, you get a unique illustration or photograph every month of the year!
Artist made tea towel
A hand illustrated tea towel designed by a local artist is another unique housewarming gift that supports an Australian artist while also giving your friends and family a useful gift for their new home. While a tea towel is a very practical gift, some artist deigned tea towels are far too pretty to use, and your friends or family might want to get them framed.
Artist designed glassware
When it comes to fancy homewares, look no further than Melbourne brand Fazeek. The brand started out in 2017 selling hand crafted soaps, candles, and incense, but has recently moved into creating unique artist designed glassware. Fazeek’s Wave Coupe cocktail glasses, released in September 2021, are beautiful and stylish, and available in pink, green, clear, or amber coloured glass. These extravagant glasses come in a set of two making then a great housewarming gift for a couple christening their first home, along with a bottle of Champagne.
Image by Fazeek
Always be prepared with extra gift tags and greeting cards
When all else fails, you can’t go wrong with food or alcohol. We admit it’s not a the most unique housewarming gift, but as a last resort it is always appreciated. The best way to turn this gift from shabby to meaningful is to include a few kind words to go along with it. Keeping a little supply of unique Australian made greeting cards on hand in the house is the best way to avoid those “oh no, we’ve forgotten a gift” moments we all know so well. A back stock of nice greeting cards means you will never be caught out again, so long as you can find an open bottle shop or food store. The other benefit of buying a few cards at once is that you can a save some money by buying a bundle deal, such as the buy 5 cards get the 6th free deal from The Nonsense Maker. Alternately, you can also keep it simple by nicely wrapping up a bottle of wine or spirits with a hand illustrated Australian gift tag tied around the neck of the bottle.
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