5 Stellar, Personalized Hostess Gifts & Good Housewarming Gifts

5 fantastic housewarming gifts DIY options…

Good housewarming gifts. They are sometimes hard to find, or dream up. Same with host and hostess gifts, right?

You guys have any of those friends who are just ALWAYS on top of their gifting game? I totally have those friends, and I so appreciate them. Not only because they give such great gifts, but because I find their Type-A-ness beautiful.

I’m totally a Type A, but when it comes to gifting, I’m like a type D-.

I just never seem to be able to come up with that special, perfect, personalized treasure despite my desire to give such a gift. So, I’m going to get all Type A here, and try and bring my D- giving skills up to the level of the rest of my up-tight, always trying to stay one-step-ahead nature.

I’ve crafted a list of 5 GOOD HOUSEWARMING GIFTS AND/OR HOSTESS GIFTS so that next time I’m in need, I’ll be prepared and know where to shop or what to DIY.

5 Good Housewarming Gifts / Hostess Gift Ideas

#1 Customized House ornament

I don’t know about you, but I adore Christmas ornaments. Each time we move, I create a new ornament with the image of the new home on it.

There are places you can buy these pre-made, but quite frankly, the ones I’ve stumbled upon have been really $$ and I haven’t loved either the quality, or the design, or both.

You can make these yourself in about 5 minutes online, and they cost less than $15 each!! Here’s how:

1. Download/purchase the “Waterlogue” app from iTunes.  It costs about $2. This app allows you in one click to transform any photo into a watercolor-type rendering! Check it out! Here’s an example I did from an image of our home…

Here’s the image I started with:

2. Then simply open the Waterlogue app on your phone or device, and choose a “style”. Then you can email yourself the image.

Above is how mine turned out with a simple click on the app!

3. Then, I went to zazzle.com. That’s one of my go-to sites for designing all kinds of personalized stuff.

On zazzle, you simply upload your watercolored image and paste it onto an ornament of your choosing. Here’s how mine looked on the screen…

You can add text, in a variety of fonts, sizes and colors to the front and/or back of the ornament. Below is a screenshot of adding some text.

That’s it! Literally took me about 5 minutes flat to whip up this ornament. And I think it makes a stellar hostess, housewarming, or gift for ANY occasion, really!

2. Home State Pillow

I love this gift idea, and there are a variety of vendors on one of my favorite gift-giving/gift-idea sites, Etsy.com who make these pillows.

My favorite though are from the vendor Finch & Cotter.  She makes a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and styles…for any state that you need! On the pillow you see below, you can even personalize where in the state the heart is located! How awesome!!

The Virginia pillow above is one we had made for our deck makeover project, which you can check out more of HERE. 

We also had one made for the state of Maryland, which is not where we are from, but is where we currently reside…

What’s not to love? I personally would love this as a gift, wouldn’t you?

#3 USB Wall Outlet

OK, truth be told. I DON’T OWN one of these fancy shmancy wall outlets with not one, but 2 USB charging ports, but as soon as I saw it, I ordered on on my trusty Amazon Prime account, and it will be here in 48 hours.

Having a wall charging station is important for lots of people these days, and so this one seamlessly fits in, without bulky plugs sticking out all over the place.

Great idea…especially for those gadgety, computer-savvy (nerdy) friends! And certainly, something that’s pretty innovative, original and useful!

4. Longitude, Latitude Doormat

Buying friends something to hang on their wall is a fun idea, but not always practical if you aren’t familiar with their color scheme or furnishings.

An alternative is something super practical, but in this case, tricked out to be really fun and personalized in the form of a longitude, latitude doormat. Once again, another Etsy.com find.

Now truth be told, you could DIY this bad boy as well…

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To make these, you’ll need:

• plain ol’ doormat
• acrylic paint(s) (color(s) of your choice)
• stencils (font/size/style of your choice)
• small foam brush or roller
• longitude, latitude coordinates

How-To Create a Painted Doormat:

I recommend purchasing a coir type doormat if you take this project on. Above, I’ve linked some options from Amazon, but they sell these at IKEA for a good price as well (I’d recommend their TRAMPA doormat).

Once you have your mat and have chosen your paint color(s) and stencils, all that’s left to do is paint!

You can find out the longitude/latitude of your friend’s pad (for free) on the website latlong.net.

As easy as this project is, let’s face it, often we just don’t have the time to execute, right? And when that’s the case, it’s nice to have the option to buy this cool doormat instead!

#5 Customized Map Coasters

Last, but certainly not least, personalized map coasters are a gift that I once received as a housewarming present, and I couldn’t have loved anything more.

Not necessarily because coasters are the greatest thing ever, but because they were DIY’d and personalized with the location we had moved from, and where we were moving to. How sweet and thoughtful, right?

Again, there are Etsy vendors who make and sell these awesome gifts. This is another one though, that given the ambition and time, is not a hard DIY project.

**We have a full, step by step tutorial on this DIY map coaster project HERE

There you have it! 5 good housewarming gifts and/or hostess gift ideas for your mental rolodex the next time you may one.

Make sure to check out all the other great posts in this Back to Basics series each Monday in September from my friends at 11 Magnolia Lane, Being Bianca, House by Hoff, Southern State of Mind and This is our Bliss!