Making the wick tick

The serene lighting of a candle burning with a pleasant aroma to it, is the perfect setting for a beautiful Christmas lunch or dinner.

Candles have been an integral part of Christmas festivities, be it for the table-setting or for home decor; to gift to a special someone or to pamper oneself, during the holiday season.

Apart from the usual red and green ones, there are plenty of options available across the City this season.

Christmas brings sweet thoughts to one’s mind and playing on these lines, are the dessert and speciality candles from Meehrr Handcrafted Candles.

Rameet Kaur, the owner, who also conducts candle-making workshops, says that the fragrance for the season is apple-cinnamon. “This is the season for sweet treats, thus the theme. My candles are made from natural wax, which make them as eco-friendly as possible.”

She says, “Most of my collections are pudding candles and cupcake-themed ones. They look more edible and yummy and one can light them and enjoy the seasonal warmth.” She says that pudding candles are priced from Rs 300 to Rs 500 and the cupcake ones are priced at Rs 250 each and Rs 490 for a pair.

Christmas tree candles in gold and silver and pillar candles in varied colour tones are popular during this season, says Vikas, manager of ‘The Candle Shop’ , Kamaraj Road.
“From Christmas trees to snowflake-shaped candles, snowman to Santa and reindeer candles, we have it all,” he says.

He adds that there are also decoration sets which have small props on them. "These decoration sets have small Christmas trees or decorative additions to the candles.”

He says that tealight Christmas candles with snowflake, reindeer, mistletoe and Christmas tree patterns printed or embellished on them, also sell well during this season. The classic choices always remain candles in red, white, green, gold and silver. “These are the base colours for the season,” he adds.

Aromatic and uniquely-shaped candles are much sought-after at this time of the year. Chandrashekar Gowder, proprietor, Sree Gowripriya Enterprises, JP Nagar, says that candles popular now are Christmas tree candles and ‘aroma rose ball candles’.

“The candles are round in shape but have small button rose patterns embellished on them. Multi-coloured candles and those in varied geometrical shapes like cone, square, cylindrical and ball-shaped sell like hotcakes.’ He adds that the most sold colour combinations are ‘red and gold’, ‘red and green’ and silver combinations.

“We have around 120 varieties of candles with us. The smallest we have is an aromatic cylindrical one-and-a-half inch by two inch candle, worth Rs 45. We also make customised candles and the biggest we have now is the four inch by 18 inch piece, worth Rs 3,000.”

He says that floating candles are also bought for gifting purposes during the festive season.

Traditional style candles like centrepieces in true Christmas colours of red and gold are popular among Bengalureans. Sindhu Rakesh from Sapthagiri Party Shop, Wilson Garden, says that a pack of two candles with a gold coloured stand is one of the most popular choice among customers.

   “This has a pine-cone theme which is painted in gold and glitter and people buy it for their Christmas table or for a centrepiece in other rooms. It is a set with two three-inch candles and with the stand, it stands four-inch tall.” She says that the colours have a very Christmasy feel to them.

Sarah James, a homemaker, says that a variety of candles are available in Santa Claus shapes, Christmas tree shapes, reindeer theme and snowflake theme, in the small lanes of Shivajinagar, Commercial Street and Raja Market.

“Apart from decorations, I bought many globe candles which have little gold powdered dots on them in different aromas. There are different candles in aromas like ginger, honey, watermelon, key lime and classic smells like lavender and rose, available this season. They are perfect gifts for dear and near ones and are appreciated by all.”