My son is moving and....

I would like to make up a welcome package for him and his housemate. Things like paper towels, cleaning stuff, some can goods. Need ideas if you could think of stuff let me know,

Eric, hes 21, is moving to his first place. He found a little house about 8 mile from us. Cute 4 room house. Needs some painting and carpet but in sound shape. Of course he needs furniture now which we are going yard saling this morning and will keep an eye out for things. He is SO excited. I'm alittle nervous of course him being my baby. I will post pics if you are interested after I get them.

Well we are getting ready to hit the sales. Thanks for any suggestions you might have.

Mary

Welcome, Mary. It is good to have someone else from MO on DG.

I think what you have already listed is good. How about some extension cords and power strips. If the house doesn't have lots of outlets they may need them. A list of phone numbers like police, fire dept., hospital, etc. might be nice.

I gave my boys a couple of basic cookbooks, and their favorite cookie recipes; I told them "if you can read, you can cook". They're now 31 and 28 both married, and both do most of the cooking in their homes.
Also an ironing board and iron; with nearly the same speech; that to impress the ladies and bosses, they needed to show up with ironed shirts.
***enjoy the pleasure you get from his visits to "Sunday night dinners at home".
Jo

Basic spices and herbs. By them cheap from the bulk jars at a health food store. 'Course, then you need jars, but they have them too. Still cheaper than the grocery store by a bunch, and fresher.

Light bulbs, mabye a cookie sheet or pan to cook stuff in the oven. Pot holders, wooden spoons.
Id go check the dollar store too, alot of times you can find stuff there that you wouldnt think of in the big stores that are a big help and even if it dosnt last a long time its good to get started with.

When aaron and jen moved out, i took them to wally world for basics. Things like a laundry basket, ziploc bags, tin foil, light bulbs, toilet brush, wastebaskets, garbage bags, broom, dustpan, mop, mop bucket....it seems like they needed everything except toilet paper, lol
They thought they were so ready to make it on their own, but when i asked about the above items, they gave me the blank look, lol.
Along the same lines, when one of the girls at work was going off to college we gave her a party. I got her a laundry basket and filled it with tide, dryer sheets, shout, new towels, etc. She loved it! Not exactly a well planned gift, but practical and something she could use.

A set of sheets, 4 bath towels and a bath mat - good solid thread count (the kind that don't "pill" after a couple washings) and decent towels are easy to come by at Wal-Mart and Sam's (especially Sam's.)

A small but decent set of pots and pans. My must-haves:
1 qt. saucepan
2 qt. saucepan
larger "dutch kettle (for cooking spaghetti and making soups, stews and chili),
12" skillet or larger
6-count muffin tins
a loaf pan
9 x 9 pan for brownies
9 x 12 for cakes

will take a new home-dweller far ;o)

Wow does this hit home did this a few weeks ago. All the above are great suggestions. Clean out your cabinets and add plates, tableware, plates, cups, bowls etc. Then to add to your basket, toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, bathroom cleaner etc. Yardsales are great most of the furniture came from them. But now after all that , he didn't like it and being home wasn't so bad after all and is back home.

To help the Handy man (or woman) 12 oz. claw hammer, Slip joint pliers, 2 or 3 sizes of flat blade screwdrivers and a #2 phillips.Tape measure or Yard-stick.

Best thing my mom sent me with - a bunch of frozen leftovers. When ever my burnt "dinner" was umm given to the local cats ... I could just pop one in and low and behold I was back at home and knew I could make it work.

I can relate to MsJen's suggestions, especially! When I moved out, those were the kinds of things that became "surprise" (unplanned) expenses. So when my brother got married, I put together a bridal shower gift of wastebaskets, cleaners, etc. for his now wife. Not glamorous, but necessary and often overlooked!

Another good idea: a toilet plunger. Otherwise it's going to be when you have a big house full of company that you're going to need it, totally embarassing the "guilty" party, and requiring a special trip to the store... That's what happened to us. Haven't used it since, but when you need it, you need it!

Oh wow thanks everyone. I had done this also when my daughter moved out but forgot so much but the basics stuff.. Memory must be slipping.LOL
I never thought of the phonebook with police fire ect. Spices..yes..he likes to cook for sure.But at least til next payday he will be *stopping by for a visit* and having dinner with us.
He only has a small icebox. The kind like to keep in your office or dorm for now. I'm looking for a small fullsize one for him at the resale shop next week. The left over ideas are great.
Toilet plunger..good idea.
We went to his place..wow that sounds so diffierent...to show his daddy and so daddy could check out the soundness of it. Dad said he did good job of picking this house. That made Eric very happy that Dad approves of his decision.
Got some bad new thou. He found out his rooming just lost her job and her car broke down. Thats got us alittle worried. Eric can make it on his own but it will be REALLY tight. Roomie is calling parents for help with car and promised to start looking for job next week. Keep your fingers crossed. Eric is very out spoken like me and he will tell Dana..his rooming ..the way it is.
I forgot to take pic while we were there. Busy helping him unload and sort things. LOL told you my memory is going LOL
Keep the suggestion coming and thanks again everyone.

Mary

Oh light bulbs is is one of the better suggestions...When my DH and I moved here it was our first time living away from home. We actually got everything all moved in the first day and it wasn't until we were exhausted and ready to relax that we found out there was not ONE stinking lightbulb in the whole place! Also our first "disagreement" of who was going after them! lol We both went to Walmart and ended up getting many of the things listed above. I also like the suggestion of the few basic tools Frankay mentioned. You never think about what you are going to use to hang those window coverings!
Did anyone mention a phone? LOL It was one of those things we didnt think about. We thought about the phone service but it just didn't cross our minds that we needed to actually buy one of our own! Although most young people these days do carry a cell phone...

Scissors and a can opener. Learned that the hard way. LOL!

Rhonda

Lots of good suggestions here (things I hadn't thought of, but they sure are necessary!)

If you can't afford to buy everything all at once, you could print out a "wish list" of these items, and ask him to identify the top [x number] of items he thinks he'll really, really need for starting out, and get those for him. (Personally I find it's easier to choose from items on a list instead of coming up with the list myself.) The rest will eventually take care of itself, a little at a time - as most of us can attest to *smile*.

Hi everyone. Thanks for all the great suggestions.
Terry I think I will take your suggestion of printing up a list. His roommates mom is also helping them abit so that is a great idea.
I went grocery shpping Sunday and picked up one extra of just about everything I bought. Things like sugar flour teabags..ect. No meats as they are just getting afridge today from someone he works with. With everything I got and stuff I had here in pantry he ended up with 17 walmart bags full of stuff. Most of it was food. SO that should keep them going for a bit.
He wont let me take pics til its cleaned and fixed up. Told him I wanted before and after pics. LOL Nope he said aint no way. Oh well... I can sneak down some time he is at work..lol
He even has a stackable washer dryer that was left there that the landlord says works. Just has to wire the dryer. The only real peice of furniture he needs is a square kitchen table and chairs. Keeping my eyes open for him.
Everything is falling into place for him. It just feels really weird him not here at night. He still drops off his baby Hendrix to stay with us while he is at work. He doesnt want her to be lonely...lol. She comes in and jump up on our bed and licks us til one of us say good morning to her LOL
ok...i'm rumbling here...lol.
Thanks all. I will keep you posted.

Mary

hmmm I take it that baby Hendrix is a dog? lol

Pillows, blankets, calendar, pens, paper, pencil, (yes people still do use them from time to time), ruler, tapemeasure, yardstick, level, hooks for pictures, and baskets to catch their mail.

Lani

Yep Hendrix is a dog...a Pekinese. One of our grandbabies....LOL
Here she is just waking up. Isnt she sweet?

Mary