Practical Housewarming Gifts

Showing all 38 results

Gift giving is much more art than science, and like any art, you have to know your audience. Practical people speak the language of economy; they dance to the solemn music of efficient solutions. So save the first edition leather-bound poetry volume and the postmodern wall art installation for your sister-in-law who works at the liberal arts college in Vermont. Homo Practicalis wants a bucket full of batteries or a robot vacuum. That’s the kind of thing that’s really going to make their hair stand on end.

DIY

Perhaps the best gift you could give is a well-earned day off. Watch their face light up when they kick back and enjoy a day of total relaxation as you take care of all the hard work for them. Just be careful not to do the job too well or you’ll find them asking for the same thing for every birthday and holiday to come.

Covering your losses is a forgotten skill in today’s world. You can buy them all kinds of fancy stuff, but without one of these there’s a small but non-negligible chance you’re just providing kindling. Here’s the antidote.

Moving into a new home means jumping into an endless sea of home repairs, contractors and service providers. This is a practical housewarming gift that will help them keep it all recorded and organized. Are we do for a water test? Did the leak start before or after that plumber was here? Who was that guy we used to trim the trees? All the answers and more can be found in their new home journal.

Hanging a row of pictures straight seems like an easy enough thing to do, but if you’ve ever tried you know it’s easier said than done. Homeowners will have lots of opportunities to use this handy tool that really puts things in their place. The Hang-o-matic marks the exact spot on the wall that the nail needs to go and includes a tape measure and built-in level.

Sure, we lived for hundreds of thousands of years without electricity, but that’s not the point. The next time they’re in the middle of baking a casserole and a squirrel falls in the wires at the power plant, don’t make them resort to eating lettuce and raw cookie dough for dinner. Every house needs one of these.

A home safe is often one of those after-the-fact purchases. That is, people wait until after their first burglary to buy one, when they don’t have anything to put in it anymore. Save them from their own silliness and make the smart investment for them.

Offering to vacuum your friend’s house every day would be an insane (and insanely good) housewarming present that nobody would ever give. And yet, if you think about it, that’s exactly what giving them a robot vacuum amounts to. Give the gift of clean floors every day with this amazing invention.

The first time they filled the basement with batteries was just before the Y2k crisis. Or if they’re old enough, perhaps during the cold war. In both cases, nothing really happened. But maybe three times is a charm. Even if the modern world doesn’t collapse on itself, you’ll be giving them peace of mind knowing that their 84 remote controls will always be well fed.

The internet may have trained you not to trust “listicles”, but that shouldn’t stop you from buying this handy book for a new homeowner in your inner circle. Unlike most listicles, this isn’t clickbait - in fact, being a book, it can’t be clicked at all. They have to read it. And after they do, they’ll be a lot smarter about all things home-related. A home should be a source of happiness, pride, and comfort, not an infernal, bottomless money pit. This is the guide to making sure they come out on the right side.

No longer just the province of fancy schmancy chefs in the big city, sous vide cooking is now available for the home cook as well. Give your friends the gift of perfectly cooked, melt-in-the-mouth meats at a fraction of the cost of dining out. Just make sure they invite you over! Check out our Guide to Sous Vide Cooking to learn more about this underutilized method of cooking.

Few household hobbies have the potential to be as hard on the joints as gardening, unless you like playing “Army Men” and parachuting off the roof with umbrellas, like some of us did as kids. This waterproof nylon stool does double duty as a knee/ankle saver and a tool bag, so the right implement is always within reach.

Everyone likes a housewarming gift, but there is a limit to how hot a new homeowner wants their house to get. Enter Fire Avert. When the smoke alarm comes on, Fire Avert turns the stove and oven off. This simple kitchen gadget should be standard safety equipment in every home.

Coffee beans, roasted or unroasted, confer a distinctive buzz when consumed that’s characterized by heightened mental function and increased energy. Studies show, however, that many people prefer to brew them in hot water instead of eating them. To do this, they must be ground first. We think this fancy, compact, and handsome grinder is a great way to do that.

The natural cycle of life involves death, decay, and rebirth. A really good compost bin allows you to speed this process up, almost like you had the hands of God. Actually, don’t tell them that. They’ve got a big enough ego already. Just tell them it “makes stuff grow faster”.

You take drinking water for granted because it’s always been there. But no amount of planning can stave off certain emergencies, like natural disasters, zombie infestations, and other end-of-the-world scenarios. This giant water bladder will get them through the first several weeks.

Most people don’t have the patience to search for the right-sized socket to tighten or loosen a bolt, some don’t have the eyesight to read the little numbers and letters that differentiate them, and in many cases they don’t have even the wherewithal to remember where they put those sockets. A universal socket can’t prevent itself from getting lost, but it definitely solves the first two problems. This tool not only adds convenience, it takes a lot of the time out of fixing stuff, because it eliminates the part that involves fumbling around and swearing.

We really like to pretend that all the things we don’t like or need can just go away. You might even say our whole society is built on this illusion. But I’m not about to go all Dick Gregory on you. Just pointing out that a built-in vacuum that eliminates debris with minimal effort will probably make someone you know feel a lot better about everything.

The world is full of magic jar opening tools, so why would we possibly need another? Because you can never actually find the damn thing when you need it. This simple solution is always within reach and will save you from banging the lid on the corner of your countertop or worse. We understand the frustration. You just need the right tool for the job, and then you need to remember where you put it. The EZ Off Jar Opener is easy to install and can open jars and bottles of just about any size, even as small as water bottles.

If you know someone who has ever tried to drain the pasta water from the pot using a fork to hold back the noodles, this gift is just what they need to quit their habit of pulling those noodles out of the dirty sink and pretending like nothing happened when they inevitably spill over. They'll wonder how they ever lived without this simple tool, and will silently thank you every time they don't have to wash a bulky colander after dinner, or wonder if that green speck in their pasta is actually parsley.

If you’re looking for a practical gift you might consider a drywall repair kit. Drywall takes a lot of abuse from daily life, especially if they have kids. With this kit they can repair small holes without any special skills or tools.

They may know the best recipe for every major Northern Italian, French, and Thai dish ever invented and be able to whip up a soufflé blindfolded, but can they cut a tennis ball in half in mid-air? The truth is, these knives do all the work for you. Or so we’re told. They certainly look better than that Walmart set.

A video doorbell should come standard in every home, but since it doesn’t, you’ve found a great gift idea. They’ll be able to see who is at the door, and make that critical judgement about whether or not to get up and open it, by simply checking their smart phone. Ignoring unwanted guests has never been easier. Just hope they come to the door next time you ring.

Why is it so hard to judge the correct amount of spaghetti noodles to cook? It’s not like we haven’t done this a million times. For whatever reason, the human mind cannot solve this equation. Luckily there’s no need with this handy tool that can measure standard portions for people and even those who are so hungry they could eat a horse.

You probably know someone who would like their own personal supply of organic produce but doesn’t have the time to manage a multi-acre farm. Or go to the grocery store for that matter. This is also a great gift for the healthy eater who’s too busy to garden or who tends to kill everything they lay their hands on.

They not only own that newly-bought house, they also own every disaster that occurs within. Give them the means to go to war with broken door hinges, leaking pipes, faulty appliances, and whatever else Murphy’s Law drops in their lap.

To be an effective steward of the kitchen, one needs a strong organization system — a system that makes storage, operation, and cleaning super easy. Otherwise, food prep efforts are liable to become a shit storm of fruit peels, vegetable parts, and other victual detritus. The Prep Deck is a fully integrated meal prep station, complete with all the storage container and prep accessories needed to help even the most disorganized cook stay on the straight and narrow.

Chances are you know someone who still patches up their household items using duct tape. Probably while listening to their favorite Bee Gees 8-track. Do that person and their home a favor and bring them out of the DIY dark ages with a roll of Fiberfix. Then maybe go to work on their music collection.

Propane tanks are convenient and useful, but the last thing you need is to have the damn thing run out at your next barbecue and everyone ends up eating raw chicken. It used to be the manliest man in the group picked up the tank, said how many hours were left, and then by the time the tank was empty everyone was too drunk to remember how wrong he was. Boy we’ve come a long way.

You may think a battery is a battery, but oh Lordy! would you be wrong. Most batteries suffer from a host of fatal flaws: they’re single use, too often unreliable, and frequently inhabited by evil spirits, just to name a few. Eneloop, on the other hand, has fully cracked the battery code. These are the Cadillacs of the rechargeable battery world. The standard Eneloop is a badass little powerpack in its own right, but the Eneloop Pro is where the real party is at, offering a high capacity battery that can be recharged up to 2,100 times. Now that’s a sweet little hot dog.

If they're a little clumsy in the kitchen, these cut resistant gloves may help them from accidentally adding unplanned ingredients to their meal (fingers in the coleslaw are never good). Now you won’t need to be suspicious of that red sauce when they invite you over for dinner.

It’s a simple, ingenious tool. But you have to understand that in giving them this gift, you’re removing a set of excuses: “Oh, my arms aren’t long enough”; “I’m afraid of heights”; “I don’t know how to use a mop upside down,” etc. Now they’ve gotta own the clean.

A conventional peephole is better than nothing, but has its limitations. They can see who’s on the other side of the door, but what if that person comes in and kills them? Wouldn’t it be better to have a permanent photo? Also, it’s just nicer to see things on a big screen without squinting.

Manly men (and women) wear big, dirty boots. The problem is, those entryway mats are designed for dainty folk who need to remove maybe a pebble or two from their penny loafers or whatever. That’s not gonna cut it here. Don’t let them mess up their brand new floors because they didn’t have the right tools. No brainer.

So many housewarming gifts are dedicated to improving or preserving the house itself. Well, people can sometimes use some improving too, and like objects they’re also breakable. Luckily, we know how to put them back together when things go wrong, up to a point. You just need the right tools. Like these.

Some people like to prove their mad skills by tapping the wall to find a stud. Some people also go dowsing in their spare time. Save a new homeowner the embarrassment of putting useless holes in the wall just to prove how awesome they are.

So this maybe doesn’t have the wow factor of, say, a MENSA membership, but that’s not the point. You can buy a lifetime supply of Frosted Flakes for $.99. We’re not sure what MENSA does for you, but we know it can’t deliver like that. Who’s the genius now?

You’ve heard the old saying, “Measure twice, cut once.” Let’s be honest, the real reason you measure twice is because you forgot the first measurement. This digital tape measure lets you save multiple measurements for easy recall, so you can stop playing games and get the work done.

In case you haven’t noticed, Mother Nature could use some help. Old plants and leaves will eventually rot enough that you can use them as mulch, but Jesus does it take a long time, and nobody’s got all day to wait. Like they say, if you want something done right, do it yourself. An electric leaf mulcher is a great way to speed up that slow old woman’s work.