DIY Gifts to Welcome your New Neighbors

One of the great things about having good neighbors is that you help each other out in a pinch or in a real emergency. If you’re lucky, it is one of the best things about moving into a new home! If you’re even luckier, you’ll have awesome neighbors as a renter.

In the past, we always welcomed new neighbors with a small gift or some baked goods. That doesn’t mean the practice has gone away! In fact, it can make new neighbors feel extra welcomed because not everyone does it these days. A little goodwill early on will help with good neighbor relations in the future. You don’t want your first meeting to be an awkward conversation about the neighbor’s dog barking all night long.

Here are some easy and fun ideas for gifts to welcome your future neighbor friends! Take the time to give a gift right now so you can build a great relationship going forward when you need it.

Pamper Yourself Gift Jars

If you’ve ever moved house before, you know what a soul-sucking endeavor it can be. That’s why these “pamper yourself” gift jars are so awesome. You can put just about anything in them: tea, lotion, chocolate, gift cards, scented sachets, lip gloss, washcloths, candles…the list is endless!

You can pick up travel toiletries at a nearby big box store like Walmart or Target, along with some candy, and make a bunch of these to give as a gift for just about any occasion.

Creative Neighbor Gift “Travel Farkle Game”

Farkle is a game that “is played by two or more players, with each player in succession having a turn at throwing the dice. Each player’s turn results in a score, and the scores for each player accumulate to some winning total (usually 10,000).”

This is a super fun and inexpensive new neighbor gift, because you can either buy dice in bulk or at the dollar store, then print the directions off the internet and decorate a spare mason jar. Voila! Awesome and unique gift in no time at all.

S’Mores Mason Jar Gift Idea

Isn’t this s’mores gift jar just so pretty? And yes, this list has been a lot of jar gifts so far, but they’re just so easy to whip together and your neighbor can surely use a mason jar in their new home!

For this gift, you’ll need a mason jar, graham crackers, big square marshmallows, chocolate bars, twine, and printed out s’more gift tags. Follow the directions to assemble the s’mores inside the jars and then decorate the jar with the twine and tag. Get ready to become BFF with your new neighbor!

Affordable Neighbor Gift: Dinner in a Mug

If you like gifts in jars, you’re gonna love gifts in a mug! For this, you’re going to want to find a BIG mug, either at the dollar store, Walmart, or a thrift store. Then buy a packet of soup mix and crescent rolls, for a quick and easy dinner for your new neighbors. They’re gonna love you if they’ve spent the day moving and didn’t have time for groceries!

Print or make your own gift tag and keep an eye out for cute decorative twine like the picture above (again, dollar stores are your friend! Also craft stores and of course, Amazon will have it as well).

Thank You Herb Gifts

These herbs are an awesome neighbor gift! Who doesn’t like fresh herbs on their window sill? You’ll need brown lunch bags, plastic sandwich bags, big shipping tags, alphabet stamps, vine/leaf stamps, black and green ink pads, and fabric cut wide enough to fit around the pots. The most fun part of this is decorating the gift tags!

Ice Cream Sundae in a Box Gift Idea

This gift is as complicated or as simple as you want to make it! Buy ice cream sundae toppings like sprinkles, mini m&ms, mini marshmallows, and put them in little bags. Keep an eye out for cute little spoons, paper bowls, and ice cream scoops. You can make your own hot fudge and caramel (or pick some up at the store). Finally, you can buy tags, alphabet stamps, an twine to decorate the components!

If this is too much work, you can buy you neighbors a small pint of ice cream and one or two parts of the sundae box and put together a mini sundae gift bag as well.

Soap Gift Idea

Your neighbors are going to be so happy to have a nice new liquid hand soap in their new kitchen! This is a thoughtful gift that everyone can use.

One you buy gift soap, print out the tags using a color printer with cardstock paper. Trim the paper down and then you can cut out rectangle tags or cut out circles with a 2-inch circle punch. Then, use a hole punch to punch a hole in the top corner tie the tag onto the soap bottle using twine or ribbon.

‘Thankful For You’ Apple Bread Neighbor Gift

Do you have a baking specialty, like banana bread, pound cake, or apple loaf? Why not whip it up as a lovely gift for your new neighbors? Afterward, decorate it with printable tags and twine!

Shake and Pour Pancake Gift

Premade pancake mix is often packed with chemicals, so why not make your neighbors a homemade version? You just need flour, cinnamon, sugar, baking powder, salt, powdered milk, and powdered egg replacer (or let them add their own egg!) Mix it together, then print the cute tags to decorate your jar with them and a lovely ribbon.

Potato Soup Mix In A Jar

More jar gifts! Homemade soup mix is such a thoughtful gift to help your neighbors throw together a quick dinner after a long day of unpacking. To make this, you’ll need instant mashed potatoes, dry milk, bouillon granules, onion powder, dry chives, black pepper, and salt. Mix it together and decorate the jar to make a sweet and lovely gift for your neighbors.

Soda-lighted You’re Our Neighbor

This is a fun gift that has a fun pun as a gift tag: I’m SODA-lighted you’re our neighbor! Of course, you’ll need soda pop, but you can also toss in some cookies, chocolates, and ice pops to make a gift basket. Print the gift tags from the site and decorate to make an amazing gift! You could also just buy a 6-pack of soda and attach the gift tag to that for an easier gift.

Compound Butter Gift Basket

Lots of restaurants serve compound butter with bread at the beginning of the meal. Garlic butter is the most common, but you can really make almost any flavor of compound butter. For example butter, raspberry preserves, honey, and citric acid can make an awesome Berry Butter!

Make your butters and put them in tiny mason jars, then decorate them with printable or premade gift tags.

Neighbor Housewarming Gift Idea

This is another gift jar idea, this time with useful items for their new home. You can use kitchen sponges, Meyer’s hand soap, scented candle, and candies for energy! Of course, you can grab anything that’s on sale or available for a gift. This site has gorgeous printable gift tags that says “Love Builds A Happy Home” that you can use to decorate the gift jars before giving them to your future friends.

Sangria for Neighbors or Friends

Sure, a bottle of wine is a great and easy gift, but how about putting together this sangria gift instead? You’ll need a drink dispenser, wine, fruit, a wooden spoon, and ribbon to decorate. You could go an extra step and print Sangria instructions onto a gift tag and attach it.

New Neighbors “Popping” In

Popcorn is a cute gift for your new neighbor. Print this neat gift card that says “Just poppin’ in to say…you have new neighbors!” and attach it to the popcorn to go the extra mile. You could also buy a card and write inside it!

We hope you loved this list of great gifts for your new neighbors. With some mason jars and printer, you have over a dozen ideas for wonderful gifts for your future new friends moving in next door.

When you head over, its a great time to exchange phone numbers and/or emails so you can keep in touch and offer to pick something up for them or help them out with their move. Spending time building up a good relationship will help tremendously if there’s something bothering you in the future, if you need to borrow a cup of sugar, or if you have a serious emergency! So, take the time to put something nice together for your new neighbors today.