Cash is always nice......or gift cards to house-filling or -fixing places.

While a bottle of wine is great, a housewarming gift should be something you might not splurge on yourself. The wall hanging you described is a very good example. Perhaps a piece of really nice lawn furniture say a bench or even a really great "Welcome" mat. Artwork, vases, etc. not so much unless you're really close to the new homeowners and know their taste.

While nothing beats being given a good bottle of wine, i think a great house warming gift is a nice piece of art work (As long as the person likes that kind of stuff). When you first move into a house, every wall is bare and it gets pretty pricy trying to fill all that blank space. Plus, you gave them something that they can have forever.

I tend to get a nice welcome mat for folks I'm not super close to. Sort of thing folks forget to buy, and if they didn't they have a back door and if they don't it's easy to store and they'll wear out the one they have in a few years anyhow.

Also nice: wine rack plus a bottle or two - scaleable for income and how much you like them!

I think it depends on how well you know the person-- you don't want to give them crap that they'll just have to get rid of. So if you know their design taste, go ahead and get them something for their house. If you know they need something, that's a no-brainer. Likewise, if they don't have something that you think they'd find useful (we were given a fantastic tea giftset once that we'd never buy on our own, but really like now that we were gifted it), then go for that. If you don't really know, get them something consumable, like wine. It's always appreciated.

I've heard of people having a candle party, but that seems like it might lead to an olfactory assault. :]

If you're the new homeowner and really could use specific items, I guess you could go with the direct approach. Someone I know was once invited to a housewarming party for an unmarried coworker. For the party the coworker had registered for all the kinds of things people usually receive as wedding gifts --- a toaster, etc.

Great ideas, guys. Thanks for sharing them! Any more out there?

When we bought our home about 2-1/2 years ago, our realtor gave us 3 gift cards and a nice letter explaining each one:

Home Depot for home improvement projects (our house is over 100 years old);

Ruby Tuesdays for when we need a break from the home improvements and

the local liquor store for when we really need a break !!!

Hee! Thanks for the chuckle, Kathy.

When we moved into our present house the sellers left us a bottle of champagne in the fridge and some microwave popcorn for the kids. Party!

How fitting....my husband and I just moved into our new home and recieved a custom made art piece from a photo of our trip to Spain. Our friends used a web site called www.CanvasPop.com . We will remember this gift forever- it was the first piece of art we hung on our new walls!

A wreath for the front door is always an option.