14 Housewarming Gifts Under $50 for a New Home

A plant is the oldest housewarming gift there is, and the snake plant is the forgiving kind.

This is three live snake plants, each 8 to 12 inches tall, so the gift covers a windowsill, a bookshelf and a nightstand at once. They put up with low light and missed waterings better than almost any houseplant, handy in a home where the boxes come first and the watering comes later. I like three small ones better than one big one here: nobody has to figure out where a floor plant goes in a house they've lived in for a week. If they have a cat or a dog that chews leaves, pick something else, since snake plants are mildly toxic to pets.

Bread is the traditional housewarming gift, with a wish that the house never knows hunger. Bring the loaf and the knife to slice it.

Mercer makes knives for restaurant kitchens, and this one is a 10-inch wavy edge in high-carbon Japanese steel, long enough to cross a whole round loaf. The teeth bite through crust without crushing the soft middle, and they handle tomatoes and cake just as well. The black handle has a textured grip, nothing fancy. Hand wash only, which is worth saying on the card. Most people saw through bread with a chef's knife for years before they buy one.

New door, no mat, and it shows the first day it rains.

This one is natural coconut coir with a bold "Welcome" and a border, 17 by 30 inches, which fits a single front door without crowding the step. The coarse bristles scrape off mud before it gets inside, and a non-slip backing keeps it from sliding. Coir sheds a little at first and can stain the floor under it when it's wet, so it does best under a covered porch or just inside the door. If the "Welcome" lettering isn't their style, the same mat comes with a plain border.

Le Creuset is the name people know from its enameled Dutch ovens. This is my favorite way to give it for under $40.

It's a covered stoneware butter dish, and it lives on the counter, so they'll see it every morning. Le Creuset says the glaze resists chips and stains, and it's dishwasher safe. It comes in white, which goes in any kitchen, and in other colors if you know their style.

Not romantic. I'd still put it near the top, because it's rarely on anyone's own shopping list.

The First Alert HOME1 is a multipurpose extinguisher rated 1-A:10-B:C, which means it covers the common household fires: wood, paper and trash, plastics, flammable liquids like gasoline, and electrical equipment. The valve and trigger are metal, not plastic, the gauge shows at a glance whether it's still charged, and a professional can recharge it once it's been used. Suggest the spot when you hand it over: near the kitchen, not right next to the stove.

After a move, keys end up wherever the last box was put down. This gives them a set place.

Six hooks for keys and a tray on top for mail, sunglasses or the parking pass, in powder-coated steel, about 9.5 inches wide. It comes with strong magnets and with screws, so it can stick to a steel front door or the side of the fridge, or go on the wall once they've decided where.

Plastic spatulas tend to get thrown out in a move, and teak is what to replace them with.

Nine pieces: a flat spatula, a frying spatula, a slotted spatula, a strainer spoon, a mixing spoon, salad servers, a holder for the counter and a spoon rest. Teak is a dense, hard wood that resists cracking. Hand wash and let them air dry. It pairs well with the skillet at #1.

Mixing bowls are the boring kind of gift a first kitchen almost never has.

Three nesting tempered glass bowls, 1, 1.5 and 2.5 quarts, that are safe in a preheated oven, the microwave, the dishwasher and the freezer. Glass doesn't hold on to stains or smells, so a bowl of salad can go straight into the fridge. At about $18, it's one of the cheapest gifts here and one of the most used.

Cutlery tends to get tossed in a drawer on day one and stay that way.

OXO's compact organizer gives forks, knives and spoons their own sections, with square corners so it sits flush in the drawer and non-slip feet so it doesn't slide when the drawer opens. The tray lifts out for cleaning. Measure the drawer first if you can.

For the friend who cooks and has a sunny window they haven't done anything with yet.

The kit grows nine herbs from seed: basil, dill, chives, thyme, parsley, oregano, cilantro, sage and mustard. Everything is in the box, the seeds, the soil discs that swell up with water and a step-by-step booklet, so nobody needs a trip to the garden center. It's a few weeks before the first basil is ready to pick, so the gift is still going long after the party.

The guest bathroom usually ends up with whatever towel was left in the box. Two Turkish cotton hand towels fix that before the first party.

They're long, flat-woven cotton towels with a hanging loop, prewashed so they don't shrink, light and quick to dry. The beige stripe goes with almost any bathroom, a safe bet when you've never seen theirs. They also work as kitchen towels if the bathroom is already covered.

Unpacking is when people finally organize everything, and I'd argue a label maker turns it into the fun part.

The Brother PT-N10 is a small battery-powered label maker with a full keyboard, a little screen to check the text and a built-in cutter. It prints on half-inch tapes that Brother sells in a range of colors. Flour, sugar, the breaker box, the spare keys: it's the kind of gift that gets used the first weekend they're in.

Renters can't drill. People who just bought a house can, and the first month is all shelves, curtain rods and pictures.

This is BLACK+DECKER's compact 12V drill, sold with its battery and charger. Bits change by hand, with no key to lose. The 11-position clutch stops a screw before it sinks too deep, and a small LED lights the spot you're working on. BLACK+DECKER sells it as compact and lightweight, a sensible first drill sized for household jobs rather than building a deck. At about $50 it sits right at the top of the budget, so check the price before you buy.