How much to spend on a housewarming gift

A friend has just moved and you are standing in a shop wondering whether €15 looks mean or €50 looks like you are trying to prove something. Housewarming gifts sit in an odd zone: generous enough to count, small enough that nobody expects you to pay for the moving van.

What people actually spend

The usual range is €15 to €50, and your relationship with the person does most of the deciding. Close family and old friends sit at the top of that range. Colleagues and the friend of a friend sit closer to €15 or €25, and nobody thinks less of them for it.

The new owners have just signed for the biggest purchase of their lives and know better than anyone that money is tight in the month after a move. A €15 gift chosen with some thought lands better than a €50 gift grabbed at the station on the way over.

Gifts that read as generous without costing much

The gifts people remember are the useful ones they would never buy for themselves while the kitchen is still in boxes:

• A bottle of decent crémant with a handwritten card
• A bag of beans from a local roaster, or a tin of good tea
• A basil plant in a pot that can stay on the windowsill
• A bar of proper soap and a hand towel for the new bathroom
• A wool throw or a cushion in a colour that suits the sofa
• Something from the market near the new house, like a jar of local honey

All of these come in under €25 and get used within the first week in the new place.

More for close family, less as a plus-one

For a sibling or a close friend, €40 to €60 on something like a good picture frame, a Microplane grater and a cast-iron pan, or a doormat with the house number on it makes sense, especially if they would do the same for you.

If you are going as someone's plus-one and have met the hosts once, €15 to €20 is plenty. A candle, a box of good biscuits or a small plant does the job without overreaching.

If money is short, €10 to €15 is a perfectly good amount, and homemade things such as a loaf of banana bread or a bunch of flowers cut from your own garden cost even less and are remembered longer.

Put €15 into a group gift and give €75

Pooling money with colleagues or a group of friends lets you give something the new owners will still be using in five years: a stick blender, a print for the hall, a proper hamper. Each person puts in €10 to €20; the group ends up with €50 to €100 to spend.

It also solves the problem of three people independently buying the same candle. One person coordinates, suggests a rough amount in the first message, and collects by bank transfer. On a wishlist, an expensive item can be opened for several people to contribute to, so the coordinating mostly disappears.

If you are the one moving, write a wishlist

If you are on the receiving end, a housewarming wishlist saves everyone the shop-aisle dilemma above. List a mix of cheap basics (tea towels, storage boxes, a good peeler) alongside a few bigger things a group can contribute to together. Each guest then picks something that fits their own budget, and nobody has to guess at yours.

You can create a wishlist in a few minutes and share it with anyone who has asked what you need for the new place.