Autumn is the right season for a housewarming

You moved in June, the boxes are finally gone and nobody has seen the place yet. October is the month to fix that. The weather still allows an open door, the shops are full of cheap seasonal decoration, and the calendar has not yet filled up with December.

The weather does half the work

A housewarming in July means thirty people sweating in a flat with no shade, and in January it means thirty pairs of wet boots in the hall. In October you open the balcony door, the air moves through and guests stay an hour longer because nobody is too hot or too cold to stand around. If you have a garden or a terrace, it is the last month you can use it without a heater.

A patio heater is not worth buying for one party. Blankets on the garden chairs cost nothing and people like them more.

Decoration and food cost less when the season does the work

Three pumpkins from the market, a bunch of dried grasses in a jar and one string of lights over the table are enough. The point of the evening is the house; nobody came for the centrepiece. Buy one good candle (a cinnamon or apple one, whichever you can stand for four hours) and skip the throws and cushions in orange, which you will pack away in November and never use again.

For food, one big pot beats a buffet. A pumpkin soup or a chilli made the day before feeds thirty from one pan, keeps warm on the hob all evening and sends people into your new kitchen, which is where they wanted to look anyway. Add bread, a cheese board and a pan of warm cider on the stove, and you are done cooking before the first guest arrives.

Once it gets dark at seven, string lights on the balcony or along the fence turn the outside into a second room for the smokers and the people who want a quieter chat.

When to send invitations

Pick a Sunday afternoon in October or early November, from three o'clock. Guests see the house in daylight first and in lamplight later, families with children can come and be home by eight, and you still have Saturday to clean. A Saturday evening works for a younger crowd and turns into a party; decide which you want.

Send the invitation three to four weeks ahead. Autumn weekends go quickly: the school holidays at the end of October, the last long weekend at the coast, the first family birthday of the season. Check the school calendar before you set the date, or half the parents will be away.

Gifts that actually get used

The gifts that survive a move are the ones that fill a real gap. A Bialetti moka pot for the couple that still buys coffee at the station, a proper chef's knife (an inexpensive Victorinox outperforms most of the knife blocks people receive), a set of large mixing bowls, a Dualit toaster if the budget allows. Good bath towels and a warm throw for the sofa get used every day.

A plant for the empty corner is a classic and it works, as long as it is one that survives a busy household: a Monstera or a Zamioculcas, never an orchid. Picture frames are nice if you like the ones the guest picked, which is rarely the case. Smart plugs and a basic toolkit with a drill are the presents nobody asks for and everyone uses within a week.

Give guests direction

Most guests want to bring something and have no idea what you already own. Left to guess, four of them bring a candle and two bring wine glasses in a house that has twenty-four. Naming a few categories on the invitation ("anything for the kitchen or the garden") helps a little; a list with the actual things on it helps a lot, and nobody finds it rude when it comes with "only if you want to bring something".

Put the knife, the mixing bowls and the drill on it, at different prices, and let the guests pick. You can create a wishlist in ten minutes and drop the link in the invitation, which saves you the same conversation fifteen times.