If you are the close friend or relative of someone who has just purchased a home, you may be ready to hand over the perfunctory houseplant and bottle of sparkling wine to help them celebrate the occasion. How, you may ask, could you really set yourself apart, however, giving the happy homeowners a memory that will not easily fade?

Many homeowners have their own ideas about how they want their homes to look someday. Buying them pictures and knick-knacks are fine, but there may be some gifts that may cause new homeowners to smack you on the lips (even if you don’t want them to). Consider the following: 

• A massage. Achy muscles and weary bones are the order of the day after a move-in. Areas of bodies not used for years feel the weight of boxes and bags loaded and unloaded, as well as furniture placed and rearranged. Arms extending to new heights and legs bearing more than their share of weight would no doubt be in ecstasy over a gift certificate to a nearby masseuse.

• The services of a professional organizer. What homeowner wouldn’t want to have someone who is a pro at setting up and organizing drawers and closets, placing things in logical locations, helping “weed out” superfluous items,and coming up with ideas to design efficient storage space in their home? Available through your local Yellow Pages or through www.napo.net, professional organizers can be worth their weight in gold. You can hire them by the hour or by the task, helping with, perhaps the kitchen or garage only, or for a consultation for an organizing overview, giving the new homeowner suggestions for the future.

• Meals out. You may get more mileage out of several gift certificates to reasonably-priced, family restaurants than just one to a classy cloth-napkin establishment.  If you have to wait until the homeowners are settled enough to find and wear their nicer clothes, the novelty of moving may have already worn off. Restaurants that serve breakfast, lunch AND dinner just might be the ticket here, while new homeowners are still in a quandary as to which box contains the frying pans and while the refrigerator contents are sparse.

• A plug-in intercom set. For homes not wired with an intercom system, and especially for two-story and rambling ranch-style homes, two and three station intercom sets can be family life savers. Available at many electronics store, such as Radio Shack, these little table-top units, each about the size of a small book, will keep all family members in close, but calm communication, especially when emotions run high at move-in time. Kids think they're fun. Adults think they're life (and lung) savers.

• Gardening, pool services, or housekeeping services. It’s the first month or so that counts here. The luxury of a hired person to do the actual cleaning or maintenance while homeowners are still figuring out where to put things can be a godsend, with their permission, of course.

• Video-taping the move. No one will have time for this, so if you are a helper or bystander, this could be a fun gift for the new homeowner. Conducting interviews (similar to a wedding video) will capture moods and excitement that can be shared for years to come. Just don’t get in the movers’ way, however, or you may live to regret it.

However you choose to help out the new homeowners, most are happy to have you show your concern and offer assistance. While our parents’ generation may have opted to avoid the new homeowner for a while as to not impose while the household is still in an uproar, people these days realize that if we wait until a new home is completely set up to show our enthusiasm, we may miss out on an important milestone in people's lives. No one expects a home to be in its pristine condition right away. In fact, half the fun just may be in sharing in the process.

Published: December 20, 2000

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