Creative/fun way to celebrate first home purchase?

March 11, 2017 5:29 PM

My husband and I were fortunate enough to recently be able to purchase our first home, and we get the keys this weekend. What's a neat way we could celebrate/commemorate this big life event?

We get the keys tomorrow and I would love to do something cute to put the cherry on the sundae that is this exciting milestone. As you can imagine, first-time homebuying and packing up has been a bit stressful and put a (mild) strain on our normal lovie-dovie-ness, so something romantic/pleasantly surprising would be great too.

My first thought was the traditional route of cracking a nice bottle of champagne--which is nice, but we trying to adhere to a pretty strict budget for the next few months as we get used to the decrease in expendable income (plus my husband is more of a beer guy, anyway). My other idea was planting a tree together, but the yard is smallish and actually pretty nicely landscaped as-is, so I am not even sure where we would put it!

That's actually all I've come up with--life has been crazy, so my brain is pretty fried and unable to generate anything else remotely creative.

Also, we aren't fully moving in/sleeping there for about another week, so I would also be down to something we could do at the end of the big "official" move-in day (the current plan is pizza, beer, and collapsing into bed).

Just wanting something we could look back on fondly, years down the road, and say, "Aww, remember when we first got the keys [or 'our first night in the house']? That was so awesome." (I also realize that a lovely memory may very well create itself organically) :) Any ideas, folks? Many thanks in advance.

posted by lovableiago to Home & Garden (22 answers total)

This is kind of silly but when we bought our first house, we had a fast food dinner sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room, in a completely empty house. We still remember that fondly and smile whenever we see the pictures.
posted by primethyme at 5:31 PM on March 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

Best answer: We have pictures of our first home-cooked meal in our first apartment. It was something simple (frozen pizza, I think), but it was the icebreaker on our domestic arrangement.
Also, when the weather is right -- plant a tree, or at least a few bushes that can be seen from inside. Watching them grow and go through their cycles will be a reminder of all the memories shared in your new home.
posted by TrishaU at 5:53 PM on March 11, 2017

I was thinking along the same lines as primethyme -- have a picnic in the living room! Or a dance party, if you're into that. Spread out a blanket on the floor. Take advantage of having an empty house.
posted by chickenmagazine at 5:54 PM on March 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Write a note to your future selves and tuck it away somewhere special in the house?
posted by eponym at 6:14 PM on March 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I came across it in another thread on this site, but I bought a box of 3 inch common nails when we first moved in and found a spot to drive one of those suckers in the first night we moved in. It's big, it's ugly but it has utility and I use it to hang light decorations from (things like mistletoe, autumn wreaths, etc.).

I'm pretty handy so it sticks out and we've gotten asked about it more then a few times which we always explain that it symbolizes the fact that it's our house and we can do what we want with it (including damaging the molding). It's a very petty act of rebellion but after 10 years of renting, it feels good to have something so ugly hanging in plain view; it really drives home the fact that it's our house.
posted by lpcxa0 at 6:29 PM on March 11, 2017 [16 favorites]

Christen every room and have sex everywhere. It's free!
(Though I suppose your house may need curtains or blinds first)
posted by raccoon409 at 6:39 PM on March 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Best answer: We've bought a house twice now, and both times we took some drinks and deckchairs over to the house the day we got the keys and sat outside in the back yard for an hour or so, having a drink together and talking about our plans for the place. Your Climate May Vary.
posted by lollusc at 6:52 PM on March 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

Get spare keys cut and have one framed with "our first house". Or make a pressing for a Christmas ornament

ideas here
posted by Ftsqg at 6:57 PM on March 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

You can write the date and your initials in an out of the way place, like on a closet wall. You can write in colored pencil, or use paint. You can add a message to your future selves or write a poem, whatever feels meaningful to you. Then, as you use the space for years to come, you'll always remember that first night.
You could read a poem out loud, too. Coming Home by Mary Oliver is perfect for the occasion.
Take lots of pictures of the two of you in all the rooms, especially if you plan to make changes, so you can see how far you and the house have come.
posted by missmary6 at 7:50 PM on March 11, 2017

Agreeing with both primethyme and lpcxa0.

We were in the same situation you were, getting the keys but not moving in for another week or two. The day we got the keys we hung a small, silly, inexpensive piece of art that mrsturtle had surprised me with when had moved into our first apartment together, lo those many years ago. Not really knowing our new town yet, we ended up with Taco Bell eaten in camp chairs set up in the living room. It was perfect.

(if you hang something the first day, contemplate where. We just picked a random nail, figuring we'd move it once we were "really" settling in. It hung in that exact same spot for the entire eleven years that we were in that house.)
posted by spinturtle at 8:26 PM on March 11, 2017

We closed on our house the day before Thanksgiving and didn't plan to move in until just before Christmas. Obviously, we were in no way prepared to have any Thanksgiving meal there. But we went to Whole Foods, bought a bunch of sides and a rotisserie chicken, ate them on the floor in the living room and spent the night on an air bed. We felt it important to stay that first night (then went to our old places for a real thanksgiving and real beds the very next morning).
posted by marylynn at 9:44 PM on March 11, 2017

This Internet stranger says go ahead and buy a bottle of champagne. Because this really is a big deal, and it's worth the splurge. You can get a modestly priced bottle, but the shared memory of enjoying it together will be priceless.
posted by vignettist at 10:19 PM on March 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

You might want to get a polymer clay Christmas ornament made of your new house. There are a number of artists who make them on Etsy, many of whom will add a banner with text like your new address and the date.

A few months ago I started a "house journal" to record any major changes to my house, along with names of service people, paint colors, etc. I figure it might be of use to the next owners.
posted by Soliloquy at 12:05 AM on March 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

I would get a new cast iron skillet and as you use it you'll season it with memorable meals all made in your new home.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 5:23 AM on March 12, 2017

In the part of Scotland where I live marriage lintels were once all the rage. Often these would be added to the lintel of a house which had been built for a couple and would often involve initials and a year carved above the door.

Maybe you'd like to make something inspired by that idea?
posted by rongorongo at 5:35 AM on March 12, 2017

When we closed on our first house, we had a sleepover on the floor of one of the bedrooms. And then we took the door off the bathroom and rehung it on the other side of the frame, so it opened the way we wanted it to.

We just bought our second home (!) and the very first day it was ours, we started ripping up the ugly tile in the kitchen. We are definitely DIYers, but nothing makes a house feel more "mine" than changing some aspect of it that I wouldn't be able to change if I were renting.
posted by linettasky at 11:02 AM on March 12, 2017

If you're looking for a ritual, the most common is to burn a bundle of sage and wave the smoke into every corner (ceiling and floor) of every room to drive out evil spirits and lingering ghosts. Also, it smells really nice.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:26 AM on March 12, 2017

What are your religious beliefs? You may already have a ritual in your tradition that would be appropriate -- maybe ask your elders? For instance, maybe you could walk around the exterior and the interior of the house, reflecting with gratitude and well-wishes on the lives of the people who have lived there before and who will live there after you.
posted by brainwane at 12:20 PM on March 12, 2017

It wasn't until we fumigated the house ourself with bug bombs -- involving dry run rehearsals through both floors so that neither of us would be caught in the spray -- that we were finally able to, I guess, internalize the belief that this house really was ours. Until then, it still seemed like it was somebody else's property we were interloping on. We didn't move in for another month because of repairs that had to be done, but from that point onward the house was more than just a legal document, in a sense.

So it wasn't actually a fun thing to do, but it was exciting, and a ritual in a sense.
posted by ardgedee at 5:14 PM on March 12, 2017

When we got the house, half the power was out, so we could only use our gas grill in the yard for cooking (a housewarming gift from my folks). We had our first meal of hot dogs on paper plates sitting in the middle of the dining room floor. It was great!
posted by gateau at 10:30 AM on March 13, 2017

Best answer: When I moved into my previous house, I had a friend take a photo of me sitting on the front steps. I framed that photo and had it sitting on my bookcase for years. When I moved out ten years later, my fiance took an updated picture of me sitting in the same spot, same pose. It was fun to see how the front of the house had changed - and how I had.
posted by writermcwriterson at 12:53 PM on March 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Well, our first day in our new house this January, we decided to drag a 14-inch log up to cut for firewood later. God only knows why. New rural-home-owner enthusiasm. Got it stuck in the driveway with the moving truck due. In a snowstorm. Cut it in two with a hatchet and a sawz-all. Rolled the smaller half off into a ditch, found a neighbor with some chains and dragged the other half off to the side of the driveway. Where it sat til three days ago when we finally got it up to the shed and butchered and cut into nice fat douglas-fir steaks.

I recommend one of the other ideas above.
posted by SLC Mom at 1:17 PM on March 13, 2017