The housewarming wishlist for a first home

You get the keys, you walk through the empty rooms, and by the second evening you have discovered that you own no plunger, no light bulbs and one towel. Friends are already asking what to bring to the housewarming. Give them a list; it saves you five identical conversations and three identical candles.

The kitchen does not need every gadget

Leave the avocado slicer and the egg cooker for later. What you cook with every day is one good chef's knife (an inexpensive Victorinox), a wooden board, a 28 cm frying pan and a large pot with a lid. A set of glass storage boxes, two tea towels and an oven glove finish it, and none of it makes a thrilling parcel, which is exactly why it belongs on the list.

One bigger kitchen item is worth adding. If you come home at seven and want to eat at half past, an Instant Pot or a slow cooker earns its shelf. If you would rather have coffee, a cheap Bialetti moka pot beats a capsule machine that costs 40 cents a cup for the next five years.

Bedroom and bathroom: linen over furniture

The mattress can wait; the sheets cannot. Two full sets of bedding, so one is on the bed while the other is in the wash, and a duvet with the right tog for the room do more for daily life than a new bed frame. Pillows are personal, so put the exact ones on the list or leave them off.

In the bathroom, four large towels, a shower curtain if there is no screen, a bathmat and a small cabinet for the medicines. Add the toilet brush, the plunger and a first-aid kit while you are there. These are the things you want in the house before the evening you need them.

Living spaces need light and storage before decoration

A rented flat comes with one ceiling light per room and it makes every evening look like a waiting room. Two lamps (a floor lamp behind the sofa and a table lamp on the sideboard) change the place more than any cushion. Put warm bulbs on the list too; the previous tenant took them.

Storage is the other thing people underestimate. A Kallax or a set of shelves, a shoe rack by the door and a full-length mirror make a small flat look inhabited. Without them it looks half-unpacked for a year. A storage ottoman is the item everyone suggests and nobody sits on.

The unglamorous stuff you will be glad you have

A toolkit with a hammer, two screwdrivers, pliers, a tape measure and a spirit level is the first thing you use in a new home and the last thing anyone thinks to give. Add a cordless drill on top (a mid-range Bosch hangs every shelf and picture for the next decade), a step ladder and a torch.

Cleaning gear goes on the same list: a vacuum or a decent broom, a mop and bucket, a pack of microfibre cloths. A cordless Dyson is the one item here worth a group gift.

Check the smoke alarm on day one and put a carbon monoxide alarm on the list if the flat has a gas boiler. A small fire blanket for the kitchen costs very little and lives on the wall next to the hob.

What actually makes it feel like your home

Once the practical part is covered, the list can hold the things that make the flat yours: frames for the four photos you actually want on the wall, a Monstera for the corner, one piece of art you have been looking at for months. A good candle or a diffuser does more for the feeling of walking in than most people expect.

These are the presents guests remember giving.

Write the list in the order the gaps turn up: the knife on Monday, the drill on Tuesday, the lamp on Wednesday. You can create a wishlist in a few minutes and send the link to everyone who asked what to bring, from the practical to the personal, at every price.