Your housewarming party plans may have been put on hold for months now. But with the "most wonderful time of the year" coming up, this just might be your chance to ride on all the merriment—and host a wintertime housewarming event featuring a "virtual home tour"! You’ll be decorating for the holidays anyway. Maybe even planning some simple at-home entertaining. So a safely planned virtual home visit this winter would combine both your holiday and housewarming plans in one.
Search online for an online housewarming party invitation, like this charming one from Minted. Or you could opt for one with a playful ugly sweater housewarming theme or an inviting farmhouse winter vibe.
But whatever you choose, the key will be giving your guests—both family members stuck at home with you and invitees "dropping in online"—a truly welcoming home tour experience. Think yummy appetizers and drinks, a fun game or two, and even housewarming party favors! Shall we? (*this post contains affiliate links)
Tips for a Great Virtual Home Tour
For this kind of event, you’ll need to visualize what will actually be doable with only you and the family physically present—and the rest of your guests joining the festivities from afar. So do keep these points in mind:
- Plan which areas of your home you will include in the virtual tour. That way, you can focus on decorating and prepping those spots for their on-cam moments.
- Decide if you prefer to pre-video the tour, so you can edit, record a voice-over commentary, and maybe even add fun captions and video effects.
- Or if you’d like a more casual approach, you could plan for a real-time video walk-through instead—where you can do your commentary live, chat with your virtual guests and hear their "oohs" and "ahhs" as you visit each area together.
- Like in an actual party, have a food and drinks station set up in one of the tour "stops" in your home. (See our suggestions for this in the next section.)
- Prepare a fun interactive game or two that both your actual and virtual guests can play (again, see our ideas in a section below).
- Finally, do plan some simple thank-you tokens that you can mail to your on-cam guests. While goodie bags for your neighbors would be a nice gesture to mark the occasion, too!
Food Station Options at Your Housewarming
Which area in your home would be most "videogenic" for setting up your party food and drinks? Would it be your living room, where you can arrange a stylish fondue station on the coffee table? Maybe you’d like to show off your new kitchen, where a wine and cheese buffet would look really inviting on your kitchen counter or island? Or you might have a lovely porch or patio, where you could set up a selection of Spanish tapas dishes on a bar cart—for a bit of Feliz Navidad flair!
Housewarming Party Games to Plan
You want to get both your at-home guests and your online guests in on the fun. So be extra creative in thinking up activities and quick contests for your virtual housewarming party. One suggestion:
- A DIY printable "New Home Trivia" game – with questions you’ll make up
- What is the color of our house?
- How many bathrooms do we have?
- What is the direction of our house?
- What is the name of our street?
- Do we have a TV?
- Do we have any plants inside the house?
- What is the brand of our refrigerator?
- Do we have a cookie jar?
- Do we have a clock in the living room?
- What is the message on our doormat?
Other games and activities could be:
- "What’s in Your Home?" – a race for each household represented at the party to find a specified list of items given by the party hosts
- "From Your Home to Ours" – a challenge for each guest or family to write detailed directions for how they would get to your new home (including trips by car, bus, train, or plane if needed!) from their home
- "Homeword" – a contest on which group of guests can come up with the most words containing the word "home" in them
What prizes can you give out to the winners?
- gift cards that can be redeemed online
- mini bottles of wine or champagne
- homebaked goods for the holidays
Housewarming Goodie Bags for Guests and Neighbors
In a traditional housewarming, you’d have the chance to meet your neighbors and get to know one another beyond a wave and a "hi!" Well, for this virtual housewarming, you can give your actual party guests home-themed favors like these—and also reach out to your neighbors by dropping off goodie bags of treats at their homes.
Here are some ideas for favors and bag fillers to choose from!
1 – Decorative Housewarming Ornaments – from Amazon
2 – Home Sweet Home Cupcake Toppers (24 pcs.) – from Amazon
3 – Home Sweet Home Cookies (30 pcs.) – from Sugary Sweet Cookies
4 – Cinnamon Bear, Holiday Scented Soy Tealights (12 Pack) – from Amazon
5 – Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider, 8.4 oz. Bottles – from Dollar Tree
6 – "Thanks for Popping By" popcorn in a jar – with Vintage Burlap circle tags from Evermine
7 – Pine Cone Fire Starters Party Favors (Set of 12) – from Amazon
