QUESTION: When having a housewarming party, can you ask for money instead of gifts?
ANSWER: Congratulations on your new home and it's very nice to hear you're having a housewarming party. When it comes to gifts you should should never ASK for anything anything at all. Any revelation of gift preferences should be revealed in the context of an ANSWER instead.
So what this means, is you should not put any gift preferences at all within the invitation you are distributing to your guests. Now if individuals do happen to ask you what would like ( and they usually do) you can ANSWER and share with them your preferences. You can state that "you have everything you need but a gift card would be great in order to apply to renovations or upgrades to your home".
So spread the word verbally, allow your family and close friends to assist in doing the same. I hope this helps!
Be well. Live well
Elaine