Gift Idea for New Neighbors on Move-In Day

My family’s moving situation is a little strange.  We literally moved RIGHT down the street.  Seriously – same street name…different house number.  I’m sure we aren’t the first, but we have certainly gotten our share of teasing in the last six months.

Here’s how it happened.  We had our little “surprise/blessing”, Addilyn Marie, in December of 2011.  We decided not long after that we were in a good spot to buy or build a bigger house and decided that was what we wanted to do.  A few problems (at least in our minds) with our line of thinking:  First, we ADORE our neighbors.  They have been, and still are, like family to us.  We didn’t want to leave them.  Second, Cathy and I lived right next door to each other and it was such an easy thing to work on The Curriculum Corner together whenever we wanted. Anyway – long story short – an open lot in the neighborhood next to ours, a one minute drive down the same street (five minute walk), same schools…SOLD!

All of that leads me to the next part, which could have been awkward.  We fully intend to keep the closeness with our old neighbors, because they ARE still neighbors/friends/family to us (albeit a few more houses down), and my business partner/good friend will live right next door to the young couple who bought our house. Are you understanding what the awkward part might be?  We will more than likely see the new homeowners quite a bit – both in hanging out down at our old neighbors’ houses and through the work that Cathy and I do.

We weren’t sure how we felt about this or how they might feel either.  We wanted to do our best to help them to be comfortable with the situation, so I decided it might be nice to leave a little house-warming gift in the form of a “Move-In Day Care Package”.  I thought about some of the things that might make move-in day a little easier – especially when you are moving from another state, have all of your belongings packed away and don’t know the area.

Here are some of the things I left, along with some other ideas you might add:

• plastic cups
• bottles of water
• kitchen garbage bags
• roll of paper towels
• toilet paper
• bottle of multi-purpose surface cleaner
• dish soap or dish washing tablets
• salty snacks
• chocolate
• pizza coupons (with local numbers for ordering) and/or gift card
• “New Home” greeting card or personal note
• bottle of champagne (to toast a new home!)
  

**If you aren’t  the one moving and/or don’t feel the need to leave a care package for the new owners of your old home, why not try this idea with a family who is moving into your neighborhood?  Imagine how nice it would be for them to pull up with a moving truck and be met with a friendly face and a care package to help them get through the day.  Don’t want to spend a lot of money?  Have a group of neighbors chip in on the care package and attach a card with the neighbors’ names, addresses and contact information.  

Never underestimate the power of a small friendly gesture!  In our case I hope that it makes the new homeowners feel good about us.  We may very well end up being friends with them!

On a personal note, I actually got to speak on the phone to the young lady of the couple who will be moving into our house.  Turns out she is a 2nd grade teacher if you can believe that!!  She sounded like such an outgoing and sweet person.

So…CONGRATULATIONS on your new home, Lyndsey and Aaron!  We hope that it will bring as many great memories for you as it did for us.  We shared some of our best years in that house with our three children and are so very happy that it is going to such a nice young couple.  Know that you will be surrounded by some of the BEST people we know!  You are going to love SBN! 🙂

HAPPY MOVING DAY! 🙂