Housewarming Gift Ideas for a Couple's First Home

They have the keys, a stack of boxes and a living room that echoes. The best housewarming gift for a couple is something they will use in the first month, or something that marks the start of their life in this home. Here are 12 ideas for a couple's first place, from the useful to the sentimental. Our honest top pick is a song about their first home, because it captures this moment before the boxes are unpacked and the walls are painted.

Hear what a Songbond song is like

This one was made for another family. Yours would carry their names and your stories.

12 housewarming gift ideas for a couple

1. A song about their first home ($39.90). How they found the place, the day they got the keys, the argument over paint colors. You share the details and Songbond turns them into an original song, ready within 24 hours. It becomes the soundtrack of this chapter.
2. A doormat with their shared name. Or both first names, if they kept their own. Choose a thick, hard-wearing mat so it survives the first winter. Usually $30 to $60.
3. A drill and a box of wall anchors. They will hang every picture and shelf in the first month. Usually $60 to $120. Offer an afternoon of help with it.
4. A line drawing of their front door. An artist works from a photo. Usually $40 to $120, and it will mean more in ten years than it does now.
5. A fire extinguisher and smoke alarm set. Not romantic, but every home needs them and they are easy to forget. Usually $40 to $70.
6. A Dutch oven for the first dinner they host. It will cook stews and bread for decades. Usually $60 to $150.
7. A potted lemon or fig tree. For the balcony or patio, and it grows along with them. Pick a dwarf variety so it stays a size a pot can handle. Usually $40 to $80.
8. A spice rack, already filled. Their current collection is probably three half-empty jars from two old kitchens. Usually $40 to $70.
9. A guestbook for the first year. Leave it by the door so every visitor signs it. Write the first entry yourself. Usually $20 to $35.
10. A set of good towels that match. A grown-up upgrade from the mismatched ones they each brought. Usually $60 to $120.
11. Takeout for moving week. A restaurant card for the nights the kitchen is still in boxes. Usually $40 to $80.
12. A home journal. A notebook for paint colors, the plumber's number and the date the furnace was serviced. Usually $15 to $30.

How to choose for their new place

Find out whether they bought or rented, and how much space they have. A small rental needs things that move with them. A house they own can take something that stays. Check whether they have a garden, a balcony or neither before you buy anything that grows.

• If they are renting: the Dutch oven, the towels and the guestbook.
• If they just bought: the drill, the home journal and the fire safety set.
• If they are sentimental: the front-door drawing, the lemon tree and the song.

An old housewarming tradition worth borrowing

In many families, a new home gets bread, salt and something sweet. Bread so the house never knows hunger, salt so life always has flavor, and honey or sugar so it stays sweet. It costs a few dollars. Put the three in a small basket with a note explaining each one, and set it next to whatever else you give. If you order the song, ask their parents or friends for one detail about moving day: the first meal eaten on the floor, the neighbor who waved, the box labeled kitchen that was full of shoes.

Give them a song for their first home

Create a song for their first home. It is ready within 24 hours, or in about an hour with express delivery if the party is tonight.

Also in the Journal: housewarming songs and first anniversary songs.