Sounds like a girl who is going to need the essentials more than decorative items. I'd skip the windchimes and holiday stuff.

Since she's your niece, and I assume you're planning on spending more than the price of a set of towels.... I'd go with something she can get really good use out of. A gift certificate from Lowe's, Home Depot, or Bed Bath and Beyond (include some of your 20% off coupons if you go that route), or even an Amazon gc would probably be one of the most appreciated ideas--since she can fill in the gaps after she sees what she's gotten at the party. Especially since you don't seem to know her colors or the configuration of her new home, that would seem the most sensible way to go. Other good places for gift certificates: the local bar restaurant supply (best place to get good kitchen stuff, storage containers, etc); a good grocery store; target; those places where you go and prepare a bunch of food to take home and pop in the freezer.

If you do go with the casserole? Why not fill it with one of YOUR specialties, freeze it, and give it to her with a promise of refilling it once a month (or whatever) for the next year. That would be a gift any young, busy mother would appreciate.

A fire extinguisher for the kitchen! No one ever thinks about it, but everyone might be in a position to NEED it!

Mops, brooms, outdoor furniture, bench, vacuum, white curtains, rake, shovel, hoe, hammer, robogrips/pliers, screwdrivers, drill, toolbox, water hoses, pruning shears, throw rugs, rocking chair to hold baby

My niece was in a similar position = pregnant with new house (although she kept the baby's daddy) and I bought her a gift certificate from Home Depot. The house had great bones and nothing major had to be done but it did need cosmetic updating. They bought a new foyer light with the gift certificate.

You don't say whether she's lived in her own place (rented) for a while, or whether she's moving directly out of her parent's home, or just what the situation is. If she's moving out of her parent's home, then I'm guessing that she won't have small appliances, tools, etc. Things like:

Hammer, pliers, screw drivers, etc.
Weed whacker, trimmers, and so on for yard work
Vacuum cleaner
Smoke detectors and Carbon Monoxide detectors
Coffee pot / toaster / mixer /etc
A full set of spices/seasonings along with that casserole dish and recipes.

And for some cute extras, things like vouchers for the refill casseroles that azzalea mentioned, vouchers for a few days or evenings of baby sitting, vouchers for handy-man work around the house (even things like mowing, raking, etc) would all be appreciated, I'm pretty sure!

Here are more.

trash bags, outdoor trash bag, wheelbarrow, crock pot, pillows, spare bed for visitors,washer/dryer, refrigerator, smoke alarm/co detector

Fire extinguisher is on the list. I'm in the insurance business and that was already purchased. Your right though, many people forget about them.

Depending on what you plan to spend, pay for the first six months, or a year of homeowner's insurance.

Sue

I love the voucher idea (gift-wrapped with something that reflects the voucher topics)!

Do you live within driving distance of her?

Agree with Azzalea's idea:
What if, with the casserole idea, you gave her "vouchers" for auntie/niece cooking days? On a weekend day, you could grab some of your favorite recipes or your specialties, go grocery shopping and go to her new house and cook with her? (Esp. freezables for the week ahead.)

The Lowes/Home Depot/Target/Babies R Us giftcards are great ideas, because who knows what item she'll wake up one day thinking "I really need that !"

Are you good at decorating? Volunteer to help her get the nursery together? That usually takes a bit more time, and it can be ready before her baby shower.

I'm in the camp with those who recommend tools. She'll need basics like hammer, screwdrivers (regular and phillips), wrenches. There are some all-in-one kits that contain basic necessities for the home. A gift card to a hardware type store is good to have in your back pocket.

The one thing a lot of people forget about is a ladder. One of the convertible ones so it could be used as a step ladder as well as a regular ladder. If you don't have one, you know the battery in the smoke dectector will need replacing or a light bulb in a ceiling fixture will go out.

Help her with her basic needs. She doesn't need frou-frou right now. I bet she is worrying about how she is going to afford everything she will need. Lawn care equipment is something she probably does not have too.

Gift card to a lawn service! That's what I would want, if I was in a new home, alone, with a baby.

Actually, if she's buying the house, she's going to have a fire extinguisher--pretty hard to pass the CO inspection before settlement without one. Even our inspection--which was about as barebones as they get--the inspector checked to see that we had the prescribed # of smoke/CO detectors AND a fire extinguisher. Of course, a second one for the basement/workshop area or garage is always a good idea, anyway.

A hand written note card giving her a
Shopping Spree at the "Store of her choice"
In the amount of $XX

You could offer to make a day of it, including lunch out with her.

That way, you know she can get some needed things.

Remember that often Mom and Dad have acquired duplicates or too many 'things' over the years. Dad may very well have numerous basic extra tools to get her going. Mom 'might' have numerous 'extras' to get her going as well...cookware, bakeware, linens. Just hard to say. Numerous times I have gone through my stuff weeding out extras for a young one setting up housekeeping on a shoestring.

As someone said before, "You don't say whether she's lived in her own place (rented) for a while, or whether she's moving directly out of her parent's home, or just what the situation is." Has she been on her own before or is she starting from scratch?

Starting from scratch. Has rented before, lived with boyfriends and back at mom's house. I've got the fire extinguishers, I think I'll grab some cleaning supplies and a windchime. That way she's covered from the practical side and some beauty. Thanks for all of the ideas.

I got some useful and quite a few useless gifts at my first party in this house.

Best of all, was a bottle of Baileys, and a check list with 5 honeydoes to check off.

So far, I only cashed in one.

Bill is such a sweetie and lives only 3 blocks from me.

My daughter brought me some garden rocks, you know, the decorative ones and a shower curtain. Someone brought a case of beer.

When my daughter bought her first home I got her a toolbox and some basic tools.

Moni

I gave a picture hanging kit at a shower once. Lady said she was puzzled about it - until she moved in her house and had the kit there ready to go. She said it was one of the most useful gifts she received.
Did someone say mailbox?
Maybe a laundry basket with a trip around the hardware store.
A flashlight, light bulbs, a hat with a light built in (mom loved hers), a night light - you could say something like you have always lit up my life and now I am lighting yours.

I like the rocking chair, but not until the baby's born. "Coupons' for baby-sitting? (Presume she has a job if she can buy a house.)

A "Welcome" mat? (Nice ones are $50 - $80.) Some big planters for the deck? A chaise?

Does the house have a fireplace? Some firewood?

Do you know she likes windchimes. (I don't.)

I'm surprised no one else has suggested this yet. It's what I give every new homowner: a PLUNGER!!! OK, laugh all you want, but let's face it - if you need one and don't have one, nothing else will do(do)!

Softball, your suggestion gave me a laugh. Years ago a friend's daughter was getting married. They were young and starting from scratch. At the wedding shower I gave her a laundry basket with washing powder, bleach, dryer sheets, dish soap, dish clothes, tea towels, AND a "two-egg size" black cast iron frying pan. The pan even had a picture in it of bacon and two eggs.

She not only loved it, but several of the guests said they wished they had thought of that.

I wish I had thought of a plunger.

the practical-minded Sue

Along with the plunger you could do a bathroom theme. A laundry basket filled with plunger, bath towels, toothbrush holder, soap dispenser, wastepaper basket, refill for the soap dispenser loofa, back scrubber, etc.

I am assuming they have been living in a rental and not with parents so they would have most of the necessities. It is kind of hard to think of appropriate things. They may want pretty things like pictures, lamps. Picture frames of all sizes or a big one for a collage of pictures of the baby and family.

Wind chimes would be a no no as far as I am concerned, they can cause a problem with neighbors.

I've must say - I've been given wind-chimes on a couple of occasions, and I have never hung them.

My neighbor has several, and even though she's at least 100 yards away from me, I hear them every single time I'm outside. It's windy here, so they are always dinging and clanking. I hate them!

I love the laundry basket with laundry stuff plus a plunger!

I am anti wind chimes too. To some of us, it is just more noise. I like to give an all purpose supply of tools in a little case to high school graduates heading off to dorm life or town life. My daughter received one from a neighbor, and now I give them. I started out with her suggestion to give one each to her brothers who were heading out on their own. The younger one's good friend liked it so much that we set her up with one the next spring. They come as sets of basic tools either in a snap case or tool bag.

"I think I'll grab some cleaning supplies and a windchime"

Unless you KNOW for a fact that she LOVES windchimes, pass on that.
Please.

I also dislike wind chimes. :0)

Baby sitting vouchers. Restaurant certificates. The lawn service idea is steller!!!!