The week someone gets the keys is a strange one. They own a house and cannot find a teaspoon. They have a hundred things to buy and no idea where the nearest shop is. A good new home gift is either useful that week or a keepsake of it, and the best ones manage both.
In short:
- For the first morning: the Personalised Our First Home Mug, with the address and the names.
- For the bare wall: the Personalised Home Print with Surname and Address or the Personalised New Home Coordinates Print with Address.
- If you have a photo of the house: the Personalised New Home Photo Print with Address.
Everything below is personalised with the new address, the names on the door or the date they moved in, and printed to order in the UK. Delivery times are on our Delivery page, which matters when the moving date has only just been confirmed.
What they actually need that week
Not a candle; they may have several already. What they need is something that acknowledges the address, because the address is the thing they have just spent months and a good part of their savings on. A mug with the house number on it, used on the first morning, does more than a hamper.
Timing matters. Send it to arrive in the first week or two, when the boxes are still around and a small ceremony is welcome. Send it to the new address, not the old one, and only once the move is definitely happening.
The mug for the first cup of tea
Our Personalised Our First Home Mug reads Our First Home in serif above a line-drawn front door, with the address line beneath and the names and the year. It is an 11oz white ceramic mug, printed on both sides, dishwasher and microwave safe. Buy two if there are two of them; it is the sort of gift that goes well with a bottle and a takeaway on moving night, and it is in our Gifts under £20 collection.
If it is not their first home, choose one of the prints below instead; they work for any move.
The print for the bare wall
New walls are bare walls, and a print solves that on the day it arrives. The Personalised Home Print with Surname and Address reads Home is where the Ahmeds are, or whatever the surname is, in serif above a line-drawn house, with the address and town beneath and the year they moved in at the base if you add it. It is printed in forest green with a cream background on 220gsm smooth matte fine art paper, in 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm) or 8 x 12 in (20.3 x 30.5 cm), supplied unframed.
If you want to frame it before you hand it over, note that it is slightly larger than 30 x 40 cm (or 20 x 30 cm), so choose a 12 x 16 in (or 8 x 12 in) frame. It suits a hallway, and it works for a family, a couple or a household of friends.
For the address with its coordinates, the Personalised New Home Coordinates Print with Address sets the address large in forest green serif with the coordinates in small capitals beneath and a compass motif above, and the names and the month they moved in lower down if you add them. You choose the line: Home, Our first home or Where our story continues. It comes on the same paper, in the same two sizes, supplied unframed.
If you have a photo of the house
If they took a photo of the front door on the day they got the keys, ask for it. The Personalised New Home Photo Print with Address prints that photo with a printed cream border and the address beneath, with the moving-in date and the names if you add them. Take or choose a photo from across the street in daylight, with the door in the middle; it prints better than one taken up close, and a screenshot of a listing will not do. If the photo is too small to print well, the product page will warn you before you add it to your basket. It comes in the same two sizes as the home print, supplied unframed.
If you do not have a photo yet, order the mug now and the photo print later. Both are in our New Home collection.
For a couple's first place together
When the new home is also the first shared one, a gift about the place carries more. The Personalised Coordinates Print, Where It All Began takes the place name and its coordinates, adds both names and a date if you want them, and sets them beneath the line Home, or Where it all began if the story started somewhere else.
For either coordinates print, search the place in Google Maps, press and hold (or right-click) the pin and copy the numbers. They are printed as you type them, with any letters in capitals, so check them before you pay.
If they move in the autumn
A first Christmas in a new home is a small event of its own. The Personalised First Christmas in Our New Home Ornament marks it with a line-drawn house wearing a wreath, the names, the year, and the house name or number if you add it, on a round ceramic ornament with the same design printed on both sides. It is the ornament that comes out first every December and reminds them where they started. The last order dates for Christmas are on our Christmas order deadlines page. There is more on this in our guide to a first Christmas in a new home.
Getting the address right
The address is the whole gift, so a minute of checking pays.
- Ask for it in writing, from the person moving, rather than from memory or a group chat.
- Decide between the house name and the number. If the house has both, use whichever they use.
- Check the spelling of the street and the surname. We print your wording exactly as you spell it, and some designs set a line in capital letters. A personalised item cannot be returned because you have changed your mind.
- Wait until completion, or at least exchange. Moving dates slip, and a mug with the wrong address is a mug with the wrong address.
We do not send proofs, and orders go to our printer within about 10 minutes of payment, so check everything before you pay.
Delivery to the new address
Everything is printed to order in the UK and sent by a tracked service (usually Royal Mail or Evri, chosen by the print partner). Delivery times and charges are on our Delivery page, so you can time the order to land while the boxes are still out. Enter their new address as the delivery address and your own as the billing address, and we will send tracking updates to you, not to them. We cannot include a gift message or a printed gift card at the moment.
Damaged or misprinted? Your right to a free reprint or refund, made easy: send us a photo within 30 days of delivery. Full details are on our Returns page.
More gift guides
- How to choose a photo that prints well explains which photo suits a mug, a print, a canvas, a blanket or an ornament.
- Personalised anniversary gifts by year follows the traditional list, from paper for the first to gold for the fiftieth.
- If you want a small tradition that lasts, start with One first-Christmas ornament every year: small traditions, for the bump, the new home or the puppy as well as the baby.