Frosty Favorites: Our Top 18 Winter Candles
’Tis the season to take shelter from the elements and burn delicious-smelling candles all day long. If you’re looking for the perfect winter candle scents, we’ve done the work for you and rounded up some of our favorite candles that are perfect for the season. Whether you want to evoke a kiss under the mistletoe, fresh-baked pie, a long road trip to grandma’s or a wintry campfire, we’ve got you covered.
Here are our 18 favorite winter candles:
Holiday Candle
The winter holidays can be a tough time for some people, especially those who live far away from their family. Whether you’re counting down the days until you can fly home, or ruing the fact that you won’t be able to visit family this year, let us take you home for the holidays with this delicious candle scent. We took fresh cut pine trees, pomander balls, mom’s sugar cookies, grandma’s pies and crackling fires and combined them all in a candle that smells just like the holidays. Scent notes include oakmoss, vanilla, musk, sandalwood, wintermint, cinnamon, clove and bay.
Love Candle
Love is in the air at the end of the year, whether you’re reconnecting with your family members, falling for a new partner or getting ready for baby’s first Christmas. Even if you’re single, you still have the affections of your friends and family to count on. Celebrate both love and the holidays with this wonderful-smelling winter candle. Plus, with its 60-80 hours of typical burn time, the chances are good that this Love candle will see you all the way through Valentine’s Day, too! Scent notes include jasmine, sandalwood, rose, peony, cassis and lemon for a fragrance that’s sweet but not cloying.
Jewish Christmas
Many Jews who celebrate Hanukkah don’t observe Christmas. Instead, they make the most of their day off by going to the movies and then eating Chinese food since many other restaurants and businesses are closed on Christmas Day. Our Jewish Christmas candle calls to mind these traditions with top notes of butter and popcorn. Other scent notes include vanilla, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg for a lovely aroma that smells just as sweet as these memories.
Hanukkah Candle
While some people refer to Hanukkah as “Jewish Christmas” due to the two holidays’ proximity on the calendar, Hanukkah is a distinct holiday with its own traditions that actually date much earlier than the origins of Christmas. Modern-day Hanukkah celebrations often feature grabbing boxes of warm jelly donuts from the corner deli and serving fresh-out-of-the-frying-pan potato latkes with applesauce. Our Hanukkah candle calls these memories to mind with scents of potatoes, apples and cake. Other scent notes include vanilla and musk for a well-balanced aroma that’s both sweet and savory.
Mistletoe Candle
You don’t have to kiss someone if you both walk past our mistletoe candle, but we definitely won’t stop you if you want to. Simply light the wick and close your eyes and you’ll remember wandering through the gently falling snow, holding hands with your special someone and admiring all the holiday lights together. This candle combines base notes of sugared spruce, musk and holiday cedar with touches of cool eucalyptus, Siberian fir and mistletoe wreath. We finished off the scent profile with a hint of frosted air, holly berry and raspberries for a fragrance that smells like a romantic holiday date.
Grandma’s Kitchen Candle
No one can bake quite like Grandma can, and Christmas season is truly her time to shine. Pies, cakes, cookies, brownies, bread—you name it, Grandma can bake it, and she’ll probably make a huge batch to give away to family and strangers alike. This candle will make your home smell like her comforting, warm kitchen without the mess of getting flour everywhere. Sugar, vanilla and tonka bean combine for a sweet yet spicy scent profile. Other scent notes include cinnamon, clove, apple and butter that call to mind Grandma’s classic apple pie and sugar cookie recipes.
First Kiss Candle
The winter holidays are a popular time for couples to get together or take their relationship to the next level with a proposal. Celebrate the start of a new relationship or commemorate a new milestone in an old one with our First Kiss candle. Relive that burst of adrenaline as your lips brushed for the first time with base notes of amber, musk and tonka bean. Touches of sandalwood, patchouli, clove and camphor round out the scent profile, while hints of eucalyptus, fir needles and orange will linger with you like a good first kiss.
Pumpkin Patch Candle
Pumpkin pie is a staple dessert of the winter holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas, and pumpkin spice flavored products are available everywhere you turn. (Just to clear up the confusion, pumpkin spice refers to the spices used to flavor pumpkin pie, rather than pumpkin flavoring itself.) Instead of making a pie yourself from scratch, simply light this candle and you’ll recall the tempting aromas of pumpkin spice and pumpkin pie. Vanilla, tonka bean and sugar scents combine with ginger, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and lemon for a candle that smells almost good enough to eat. (Please don’t try that, though.)
Apple Orchard Candle
If you’re not a fan of pumpkin pie, perhaps we can tempt you with a candle that smells like apple pie instead? While prime apple picking time in the U.S. happens earlier in the fall, apples are still in season well into winter, making this delicious dessert another holiday staple. We recreated the scent of crisp apples, spiced sugar and flaky pie crust with base notes of allspice and sugar cane. Then, we added notes of red apple, pomegranate, clove buds, cinnamon sticks and pears to create a tasty scent that smells just like a pie cooling on the counter.
Dunkin’ Peppermint Mocha Candle
While you can drink peppermint mochas year-round, they just taste better during the winter months. It’s science, we checked. One of the three scents we created in collaboration with Dunkin’ Donuts, this peppermint mocha candle combines a base of sugarcane and steamed milk with notes of brewed espresso, mocha, vanilla extract and espresso bean. Hints of peppermint, dark chocolate and whipped cream finish off the scent profile just like a real mocha. Be sure to check out the other two scents–the Original Blend and Old Fashioned–which are based on Dunkin’s famed coffee and donuts, respectively.
Thank You, Mom Candle
In many families, Mom does the majority of the holiday decorating, gift buying, wrapping, card writing, cooking, baking, cleaning…the list goes on and on. Show your appreciation for all her hard work with this thoughtful candle, which has packaging that includes blank spaces for you to fill in sweet notes to Mom. You’d traditionally bring a hostess gift when you stay with a friend, so why not do the same for your Mom, who does so much for the family over the holidays? Base notes of sandalwood and musk mix with jasmine, ylang ylang, white lily and clove for a light floral scent that’s not too overpowering. Other scent notes include bergamot, lavender and sage.
Road Trip Candle
The winter holidays mean piling into the car for long road trips over the river and through the woods to get to grandma’s house. Even if you didn’t like the long car trips as a kid, for many people, these long drives are now a source of fond memories. Relive the journey with our road trip candle and a scent profile that conjures up winding highways and playing records on full blast. Amber and musk swirl together with paper, cedarwood and jasmine, with finishing touches of lime, leather and water to evoke the scenery rushing by outside the car window.
Library Candle
Is there anything better to do on a snow day than curl up under a warm blanket with a good book? Add a roaring fire and a cup of hot chocolate and you’ve got a recipe for the perfect winter afternoon. If this sounds great to you, we suggest you check out this candle that smells like books–think antique paper pages and leather covers. Base notes of vanilla, balsam and amber mingle with cinnamon, clove, sandalwood and cedarwood. Orange and nutmeg finish off the scent profile for a delightful winter candle scent.
North Dakota Candle
Winter can be a six-month affair in North Dakota—residents will sometimes get snow as late as May—making this the perfect winter candle for the season. Thankfully, we were able to capture the spirit of a clear North Dakota winter day without the icy wind and sub-zero temperatures. Like a hike through North Dakota’s prairies and hills, this fragrance is reminiscent of spruce, light snow, clear winter air and nuanced undertones of cedarwood. A touch of clove and vanilla add a sweet background and a comforting finish, just like the open plains. Other scent notes include amber, musk, vanilla and tonka bean.
Utah Candle
While Utah is known for its extremely hot summers and Mars-like red rock vistas, it also gets some serious winter snow that’s just as beautiful as its clear summer days. Our candle recalls the snow-capped mountains of the Beehive State with the scent of fresh powder snow, spruce trees and ski lodges. Woody notes of cedar and sandalwood mix with cinnamon spice for a perfect hint of sweet after a day on the slopes. Other scent notes include amber and musk.
Wisconsin Candle
Wisconsin doesn’t just produce dairy—it’s also known for the Kringle, a danish-like pastry brought to the state by Danish immigrants. Shaped like a wreath or a rectangle, this delicious dessert is filled with fruits, nuts, cheeses and other tasty ingredients for a perfect holiday treat. We took inspiration from the kringle for this state candle, taking a base of cookie and vanilla tonka scents and adding in notes of cinnamon, peppermint, butter, cream and maple. Finally, we finished everything off with a top note of cranberry, one of the state’s major exports.
Wyoming Candle
Nothing says winter like gathering around a campfire on a cold December night to drink hot chocolate and toast s’mores. This scent profile of this wintry campfire candle brings together smoky campfires, winter air, mint and pine needles for a perfect seasonal scent. If you’ve been craving a campfire, but don’t actually have a place to light some wood on fire, this candle will help you recreate the experience safely inside your home. Just don’t try actually toasting a s’more over the wick! Other scent notes include amber, musk, cinnamon, clove, sandalwood, patchouli and cedarwood.
Canada Candle
There’s no place more wintry than the Great White North. The brutally cold, snowy winter makes it possible to play ice hockey almost year-round and the high latitude makes sightings of the Northern Lights quite common, creating truly unforgettable winters. And if you get too cold, you can dig into a warm stack of pancakes slathered in maple syrup to warm you up from the inside. We captured all these experiences in our Canada candle, combining vanilla, butter, oakmoss, fir needles and grass for an evocative fragrance. Other scent notes include eucalyptus, ocean, lily, rose, amber and musk.
Bring the season inside (minus the cold and wet) with these wintry holiday scented candles. Whether you want a sweet-smelling candle that conjures up Christmas baking or a fresh scent that smells like a day on the ski slopes, we offer the perfect winter candle for your needs.