Combined Engagement/Housewarming gift etiquette?

Hi All, We have recently become engaged after 11yrs together and also purchased our first home with plans to do a combined engagement/housewarming. Our new apartment is small and we have purchased all the things we could possibly desire and all we really want is peoples company and at most libations. That's it! We are not secretly hoping to get gifts or money, we just want to celebrate with friends and family. However, we have already been getting questions about what gifts we want so my thinking was that if people really want to give us a gift that I would gently suggest a pot plant as I desire to make my large balcony into a green oasis and currently have zero plants. If people still decide to buy us a traditional gift, that is of course lovely and but not expected. My question, is this a polite thing to do and how would one go about doing it? We have lots of family and friends with limited means and I want them to be exited to celebrate with us and not have to worry about gifts