12 Useful Housewarming Gifts So Good You’ll Want To Keep Them

It’s nice to bring drinks or snacks to a friend’s housewarming party, but these items are only temporary. Useful housewarming gifts might prove more meaningful for both of you: They’ll make your friend’s life easier and bring you to mind with each use. They may also prove more practical over decorations in that, instead of fading into the background, they’ll become everyday staples in your friend’s life. And with the below practical housewarming gift guide, you’ll have little trouble finding the perfect present that’s as useful as it is heartwarming.

12 useful housewarming gifts

The next time you’re heading to a housewarming party, bring one of the below gifts with you:

1. Home bartender kit

Although a bar cart could make a nice housewarming gift, you might not find it the easiest thing to get from your place to your friend’s (plus, gifting something your friend may need to assemble isn’t the most practical gift either). A home bartender kit strikes just the right middle ground. The kit’s cocktail shaker, muddler, and other drink prep items work excellently as practical housewarming gifts – even with no bar cart around. Maybe your great gift will inspire your friend or loved one to treat themselves to a bar cart all on their own.

2. Oil diffuser

Oil diffusers are a perfect gift because they’re both pleasing and genuinely useful. Essential oils are correlated with certain therapeutic benefits, so your friends and family might find that your housewarming gifts help them feel calm or sleep better. Even without their potential health benefits, oil diffusers will add delightful aromas to your loved one’s home. They also happen to be pretty eye-catching most of the time – few gifts so gently stimulate all the senses.

3. Fun doormats

If the person you're gifting is the “shoes off in the house” type, a fun or customized doormat can be a useful, thoughtful housewarming gift. For your dog-lover friend, a doormat with a cute puppy on it adds decorative flair while telling guests to take their shoes off at the door. You can also give your friend two doormats – perhaps one with a cute message you wrote – for their front and back doors respectively. These mats’ slightly rustic vibe and adorable images might just elevate their home.

4. Houseplants (with pots)

Houseplants may seem like relatively ordinary housewarming gift ideas, but there’s more to them than meets the eye. Spider plants, aloe vera, pothos plants, and several other plants can filter undesirable substances from the air. Of course, they’ll look pretty while doing so, making them both aesthetically pleasing and useful housewarming gifts. Bonus points if you pair them with pots that match your friend’s wall colors.

5. Throw pillows

Throw pillows are among the most versatile housewarming gifts. They add more personality to couches and loveseats, and they make great back or neck rests for when your loved one reads or watches TV. They’re also half-decent pillows for overnight guests in a pinch. If their colors and patterns match your friend’s room, they’ll do an especially good job of transforming the space around them. Their comforting and decorating qualities make them especially excellent gifts.

6. Engraved wooden cutting board

As kitchenware goes, an engraved wooden cutting board might be the most useful housewarming gift of them all. If you get your friend or family member a cutting board with high-quality wood, you’ll be giving them a lifetime of sturdy, easy-to-clean chopping. Your engraved, customized message will also provide comfort and joy every time they start their meal prep. Rarely do the practical and the heartwarming meld so seamlessly.

7. Magnetic keyholder

We all have that friend or loved one who’s constantly losing their keys. A magnetic keyholder is a practical gift that helps solve this problem. Your friend can hang this keyholder near their front door so their key ring is always at arm’s length as they exit. The keyholder’s magnets should also exert a firm grip on most other small metal items. And if your keyholder gift is in a funky shape or pattern, it gets two jobs done: Key loss prevention and simple decoration.

8. Magnetic to-do list

If your friend is the task-oriented type, get them a to-do list notepad with a magnetic bottom for their fridge. This way, whenever they go to their fridge for a snack, they can grab a sheet of paper and plan their day or week. A fridge-magnet notepad also makes for a cute decoration, so your gift will be equally eye-catching and practical. Plus, every time your friend writes a to-do list, they’ll think of you.

9. Candles

Candles are a tried and true housewarming gift that can be used in all kinds of ways. The soft light and gentle aromas of candles can make a bath during a self-care day all the more relaxing. Candles are also great for at-home date night, especially placed tableside during a romantic dinner. And if you’re looking to give a gift set rather than just one item, candles are super easy to find boxed into groups of three or four.

10. Himalayan salt lamp

Pretty much everyone agrees that Himalayan salt lamps make for stunning decor pieces, and some people would say they’re useful housewarming gifts too. That’s because these lamps may impart health benefits such as boosted mood and fewer allergy symptoms. Although the science behind these effects remains unconfirmed, two things are for sure. One: These lamps are beautiful. Two: They’re far from your only lighting gift option.

11. Smart lights and LED lights

Smart lights and LED lights can have both decorative and practical appeal – and some lights are both smart lights and LED lights. As with other smart home devices, your loved one can control their smart lights’ brightness and color from their phone. The result is full control over how their home looks and feels. LED lights lacking smart technology still make great gifts since they reduce your friend’s energy usage while providing unique warm or cool lighting. Neither of these lights, though, is quite the single most useful housewarming gift on the lighting front.

12. Laser lights

Laser lights are just as energy-efficient as LED lights, but they lack a flaw common among LED lights: the use of incoherent light. Whereas incoherent LED beams lose brightness and become blurry over relatively short distances, laser lights are coherent and thus stay sharp over long distances. They also shine astonishing patterns and several colors at once, making them ideal for home uses such as meditation, gaming, and movie night.

With their vibrant images and hues, laser lights don’t just add a subtle touch to your loved one’s home. They recast indoor spaces in a whole new light. Galaxy laser projectors and aurora lights, for example, use nebula clouds and northern lights respectively to move your friend miles away without them budging an inch. The newest laser light around, the Sky Lite 2.0, combines starry skies and nebulas in three to four colors of your friend’s choice to transform their home on their own terms. There are endless ways to use these stunning housewarming gifts.

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Laser lights aren’t just useful – they’re transformative

The most useful housewarming gifts are often not just practical, but decorative, and that’s why laser lights are excellent gifts. The patterns and colors of laser lights are great for relaxing, getting lost in an on-screen adventure, or just giving guests a dose of wow and wonder under the stars. And that’s all without leaving home! Browse the BlissLights collection to find your friend’s favorite housewarming gift – they’ll have to see it to believe it.