Our Favorite Beeswax Candle Traditions
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A few years ago when Miss Mae was in kindergarten I purchased two of these beeswax candle rolling kits. I bought them on a whim because I remembered making candles as a child and how much fun it was. I wasn't sure if Miss Mae would find it too difficult to maneuver the wax sheets but with a little help it was not difficult at all! Since then we have made and burned many, many candles and continue to make more every year. I finally restocked by buying another kit this year- it literally took us 3 years to use up the first two!
Our first time rolling candles
Since that first time making them we have spent many afternoons rolling beeswax candles and using them in our birthday ring, advent spiral, and lighting at the dinner table.
We love the European tradition of the "Birthday Ring" where candles and special ornaments are placed in a wooden ring to commemorate the previous year of the child's life. Our hand rolled beeswax candles are perfect for this because we can adjust the size of the candles to fit nice and snug.
Fairies, cats, and pumpkins decorated this birthday ring
I bought this birthday ring pictured above from Red Barn Toys on Etsy about five years ago and it has held up beautifully! I am not affiliated with them, I just love their products.
Our birthday ring a few years ago, complete with hand painted penguin peg dolls
As you can see, Miss Mae usually picks her own special mementos to display on the ring and they have ranged from penguins to fairies to geodes. It's one of my favorite birthday traditions!
Miss Mae and our 2023 Advent Spiral
We also love using the wooden advent spiral from Red Barn Toys and a few years ago I spent many hours hand rolling each candle for the spiral. Each night of advent a new candle is lit, as well as each candle from the previous nights. The closer you get to Christmas the brighter the glow. It is such a beautiful tradition! We particularly like to light the candles while we read a chapter from How Winston Delivered Christmas each night. It makes it nice and cozy!
The fifth day of advent
I do want to add the disclaimer that this is one of those traditions that I have embraced imperfectly. Some years we do it, some years we have not had the space to set it up. I’m thrilled that our new house has plenty of room on the kitchen island and I think we will manage to do it each night.
The last thing we use our beeswax candles for is to burn each night at the dinner table. This is a newer tradition since moving to the Midwest and we love it! We spent a family night rolling A LOT of candles- Miss Mae made 13- so we have plenty to burn for the rest of 2025.
Love my Trader Joe’s olive wood board and thrifted pumpkin canister
I made this star candle using these fondant cutters. They work well since they have a plunger to push the wax out after cutting it, otherwise it can get stuck pretty easily. They are the perfect size for making designs on the candles!
Miss Mae’s first candle is almost spent!
Mason jars work well for candle holders assuming you are burning safely, and they are nice and versatile. I use a lighter to briefly melt the bottom of the candle and stick it in the jar. It sticks nicely and won’t budge unless you knock it over or pull it out. But of course, never leave a candle unattended! We only burn our dinner candles when we are sitting at the table. When dinner is over we blow it out right away.
As you can see, we love everything to do with candles, and we truly love this candle rolling kit. We love that it is from a small family business, 100% beeswax, and made in the USA. We highly recommend it and plan to make candles for years to come!