The Best Housewarming Gifts for a Friend Who Just Got Their Own Place

By VICE Staff

We all have friends who took this opportunity to relocate, peaced out from city life altogether, or, in many cases, decided that they could no longer deal with having three roommates who were touching everything in the kitchen with their potentially germ-ridden hands.

If these friends are close enough to warrant holiday gifts, we know exactly what to get them, whether they’re plant-obsessed, a wannabe sommelier, or someone who deserves nice hand soap. Read on for gifts to congratulate a friend for spreading their wings and going solo.

A Match Cloche

You may be asking, what in god’s name is a match cloche? The simplest answer is it’s an attractive glass vessel filled with matches you can put on the back of your toilet, for reasons we hope we don’t need to explain. Skeem Design Match Cloche, $30 at The Sleep Code

A Statement Bath Mat

Finally, a bathroom that's only covered in YOUR hair, toothpaste, and soap scum, and no one else's! This Quiet Town Arco Desert bath rug is for fans of the desert, soothing neutrals, and modernism. $124, at Design Milk.

UO Papaya bath mat

An underrated fruit, preserved in terry cloth. $39, at Urban Outfitters.

Mackenzie-Childs Courtly Check bath rug

Is the vibe Italian piazza, or is it ska? Depends on the friend who receives it. $80, at Mackenzie-Childs.

Wine Glasses

But not just any wine glasses. If you drink at home, you probably recognize by now that frequently breaking fragile wine glasses is just a reality of existence, whether they get knocked off the coffee table or snap in half mid-wash in the sink.

Moroccan Spanish-style wine glasses

When we first sipped out of these stubby, tuna-can-shaped wine glasses at Brooklyn restaurants, we thought they were weird. But like many initially off-putting things—kombucha, Joanna Newsom—they grew on us, and now we’re obsessed. $84 for a set of 6, at Food52.

Nice Big Scissors

Scissors are the kind of household thing that you use all the time but never think about. These Garrett Wade scissors are big, gold, and sharp as hell, making them very gift-worthy. $49.95, at Garrett Wade.

Cocktail Mixing Glass

It’s likely that your friend is longing for a bar cart. What they probably don’t have is a Japanese-style cocktail mixing glass, which is perfect for anything stirred and won’t take up too much space. We like this simple one from Kotai. $34.99, at Amazon.

Fancy Soap

We’re all washing our hands a lot these days. Aesop makes the king of hand soaps, so refined that they must call it “hand wash.” This stuff is practically a cult; it smells amazing, leaves your hands soft, and comes in that iconic amber bottle. $39, at Nordstrom.

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