The first day in a new home is usually stranger than people expect. Things are not in place, the walls still smell of paint, footsteps sound louder because the rooms are still empty. You sit down among the cardboard boxes and the only feeling then is that you do not yet know this place.
So a good gift for someone who has just moved is usually something that helps the place become theirs sooner. It should be light, usable that very day, and not force them to find somewhere to store it. A candle jar does all three, because it can stand anywhere, and once lit the room has a point of light and a scent of its own.
Why one small flame does so much in an empty room
In a room with no furniture yet, what is most missing is a place for the eyes to rest. Candlelight gives exactly that. It is small, it moves, and it turns a corner of the room into a place where someone lives. Many of you tell us that on the first evening you simply sat beside a candle jar with a takeaway meal, and suddenly felt your home beginning there.
Scent does its own job too. A new home usually smells of paint, of materials, of the dust of moving in, and those smells remind people that this is still a building site. A warm direction of scent, with a note of leaves and plants, will lie over that and give the room the air of a place to come back to.
For someone who has just moved, we usually choose the two hundred gram glass jar. Once washed, the glass cup can be reused as a pen pot or a place for a sprig of leaves, so the gift stays in their home after the wax has gone.
What to wrap it in and what to write
A housewarming gift is at its best when it is neat. We usually wrap in canvas or jute for plainness, or a paper box for lightness, and if you would like something more formal there are wooden boxes and silk cloth. Gift wrapping with a handwritten letter is a separate service, and because each style of wrapping is different we discuss it by message to suit your occasion.
As for the letter, keep it short. One wish for the house, one line recalling the last time the two of you met, and that is enough. We find the cards kept longest are usually the ones with only three or four lines.
If you are sending from afar, parcels within the country arrive in about two to five days depending on the route. It is best to count a few days before their moving day, so the gift arrives just as they have finished setting up the first table.
A few questions you often send us
Is a candle a suitable gift for a new home
Very suitable, because it can be used on the first day and gives the room a point of light and a scent of its own. The glass cup can also be reused afterwards.
Which size should I choose
The two hundred gram jar is the familiar choice for a housewarming, burning about thirty-five to forty hours. The two hundred and twenty gram version is for when you want the gift a little fuller.
Does ZUNGZA wrap gifts and write cards
Yes; we wrap in wooden boxes, paper boxes, silk cloth, canvas, jute or linen, and we write letters by hand to your wording. Message us and we will choose the style of wrapping to suit the occasion together.
Read more how to choose a candle jar as a gift, the story of wrapping a gift, and one candle jar in a small apartment.