Although lacking in the matter of official proof and academic documentation, it is not too difficult to imagine the notion of a house warming party taking root as far back as when dinosaurs still happily roamed the earth.

Picture if you will the following scenario: With a latest addition to the family, Mummy Cavewoman concludes that their current abode is simply way too small for her brood. Plus, thanks to an artistically-inclined Junior, almost every section of their cave walls are covered with childish renderings of runaway wildlife and spear-wielding men giving chase. And Mummy Cavewoman has pretty much made up her mind that she absolutely cannot, for the sake of all things sane in life, spend another sleepless night staring up at the drawing of a vicious T-Rex staring down at her from the ceiling. Thus, she begins to pester Daddy Caveman (yes, guys, that has been around since time immemorial) to search for a new dwelling place.

Come moving-in day, the family gathers round to say (and / or, grunt) their goodbyes to their current neighbours and set off for their new home, further down river. And once they are comfortably settled, who should pop in but a new neighbour, bearing a cave warming gift of freshly gathered nuts and vegetation, all the while eager to check out the size of their cave as well as the lushness of their animal fur coat beddings.

Okay, that last bit may have been a little exaggerated, but you get the drift. While that may or may not be how house warming parties first started, one thing is for sure-the house warming parties of today are wonderful opportunities for interacting with the community one has just moved into. As for the neighbours, such parties are of course the perfect setting to get to know the new family or the new couple better.

Although we are all familiar with the image of the warmly welcoming, homemade cake-bearing suburban neighbour on yet another episode of Desperate Housewives, in reality, things are no longer so sweetly simple. With looming security concerns and present day paranoia, one may not feel inclined to just pop by freely anytime. For who knows what skeletons the newcomer family may have in their freshly refurbished closets!

And if living in an impersonal apartment building right smack in the city centre, the chances of meeting one's new next door neighbours are that much slimmer unless one is prepared to stake out the communal laundry room daily. Or unless one counts accidental eavesdropping of their midnight arguments as ‘meeting the new couple'!

As such, what better option is there than to wait patiently for the invitation (which, granted, may or may not be forthcoming) to the house warming party?

And when one receives an invitation to such a do, social convention and mother-approved good manners would have it that one brings along a gift as well. Now, this could prove to be a little tricky, depending on how well one knows the hosts. If you should find yourself the proud recipient of an invitation to the house warming party of a close friend you have known for ages, your choice of a gift would of course differ decidedly from that of an invitation to drop in for an evening of cheese, crackers, coffee and conversation with the couple who just moved in down the street.

Personal knowledge of your hosts' likes and dislikes would certainly make the task of selecting perfect house warming gifts that much easier. For instance, you would know for a fact that your host has an aversion to all things rustic or lacy and thus, stay away from picking up that otherwise lovely folk art deco piece for their new home.

But even if you have only just made the acquaintance of your hosts, all is not lost. Given the wide assortment of such gifts available on the market today, you can still stand a chance of hitting on the right formula, if you choose wisely. Therefore, provided you steer clear of anything too outlandish or outrageous, your house warming gift ought to draw a sincere ‘thank you' or two. And if that means having to drop the dropping-his-pants garden gnome off your list, so be it!

Most of the time, you will not go too far off the mark by choosing something hugely popular with all and sundry, such as house warming gift baskets. These easily beat iffy, high-maintenance gifts such as potted plants and cacti. Also, it is always a better idea to go with food items rather than intricate or exotic art pieces that may or may not fit in with the rest of the interior decoration scheme. Most retailers and e-tailers have a fine selection of housewarming gift baskets that consist of easy favourite edible treats along with novelty items such as new address announcement cards.

After all, if the hosts of many, many yesteryears gone by received freshly gathered nuts and vegetation, who are we to mess with history, yes?