With Advent beginning on December 1st, it’s time for my annual reminder to get prepared! 🕯️
If you’re looking to order Advent candles for your wreath, there are some lovely options below! The dear nuns at The Cloister Shoppe have beautifully crafted candles ready to ship, and they tend to sell out quickly as the season draws near. You can also check out the 100% Beeswax Advent Candles in Lavender and Rose from Forestville Candle Company, hand-poured by two talented college students. These are also available in Deep Violet and Rose!
Be sure to scroll to the bottom for a special giveaway!
100% Beeswax Advent Candles from The Cloister Shoppe
For many years, our family has been ordering the exquisite 100% Beeswax hand-poured tapers created by the talented Dominican Nuns at The Cloister Shoppe. These candles have been the centerpiece of our Advent wreath, casting a warm and comforting glow as we gather for dinner each night throughout the Advent season. The craftsmanship and love put into each taper make these candles a cherished part of our yearly celebrations.
*Also pictured above is my 2024 Fiat Liturgical Planner – you can get the 2025 one for 40% OFF with coupon code EARLYBIRD40 through tomorrow – 11/11/24!
In these pictures, you can see Joseph and Mary making their journey down our Advent Path. About seven years ago I decided to create a path down the center of our table for Advent, using our Jesse Tree ornaments for each day of the season. The first year was a simple countdown path made from doilies, but the following year, I incorporated our wooden Jesse Tree Ornaments from Jesse Tree Treasures.
The Our Lady of Guadalupe Candle in the center is from Clear Creek Abbey. (Also available from Amazon.) While I’ve yet to bring myself to burn it, it adds a lovely and meaningful touch to our Advent decorations
More Favorites from The Cloister Shoppe
Each year, I make an effort to plan in advance and order additional candles to be blessed on Candlemas (February 2). This ensures that we have them ready for the new liturgical year and the upcoming Advent season. Here are some I have purchased over the years:
- Tumbler Jar Candles – The Cloister Shoppe makes amazing Jar Candles. In the past I’ve ordered extras of the Three Wisemen Candle (perfect for Epiphany!) to give as gifts.
- Christmas Tree Creche Candle – I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to actually burn this beautiful candle!
- Beeswax Candles – You can’t go wrong with any of these! I replace our Advent Candles with Beeswax Candles for the Christmas season.
- Bayberry Christmas Eve Candle Gift Box – There is an old colonial tradition of burning a bayberry candle on Christmas Eve. I started with the Gift Box and have purchased replacement candles.
- St. Nick’s Goat Milk Soap – I first featured this in my Seven Fun Finds for Advent back in 2014. This year they have it available in red! Love it!
- Peppermint Foot Creme – Love, love, love this stuff!
Click here to visit the Cloister Christmas Shoppe!
Advent Taper Candles from Forestville Candle Company
You can also find gorgeous 100% Beeswax Advent Candles—hand-poured in Lavender and Rose by two talented Catholic college students, Abbey and Anna, over at Forestville Candle Company! 🌲 These candles are also available in Deep Violet and Rose, perfect for adding that traditional Advent touch.
Abbey and Anna sent me a couple of sample sets, and I absolutely love them! Their craftsmanship and attention to detail really shine through.
I mentioned the book All About Advent and Christmas: Sharing the Seasons of Hope and Wonder With Children (also available at Amazon) in last year’s New Finds for Advent section of my annual gift guide. Highly recommend!
Advent Candle Crafting for Children
Our children have also really enjoyed crafting their own candles using the 100% Beeswax Advent Candle Kit from Illuminated Ink. This hands-on Advent project is a wonderful way for children to actively participate in preparing for the Advent season.
You can also order the Advent Candles kit from Holy Heroes along with An Advent Hope. They also carry All About Advent and Christmas if you’d like to get all three from one place!
Save 10% with coupon code GORDON
Advent Wreaths Around Our Home
In our home, we like to set up two Advent wreaths during this special season.
The taper Advent Candles find their place in an Advent Wreath on our dining room table, where we light them each night during dinner, creating a warm and beautiful atmosphere.
Additionally, we have a larger wreath adorning the coffee table in our living room. This one is lit during our family rosary each evening, and we leave it aglow while unwrapping and reading from our cherished annual Advent Book Basket.
I still miss the pillar candles I used to buy from the Benedictine Monks when they were still making them. Currently, I opt for these 3×3 candles in purple and pink. (You can find more Advent Wreath-related posts here.)
There was one particularly ambitious year when I even hung our Advent Wreath like the Von Trapp family! 🕯️🎶
Advent Wreath Socks and Sweatshirts
Speaking of Advent wreaths, don’t miss out on the delightful Advent Wreath Socks from Socks Religious – they’re so much fun! I loved using mine the past couple Advents and look forward to taking them out again next month. I also have my eyes on this fun Advent Sweatshirt!
Wooden Advent Wreath Giveaway!
Advent is right around the corner, and while the Double-sided Advent to Christmas Wooden Wreath Set from Shining Light Dolls is sadly out of stock this year, I have one to give away to a lucky winner! 🎉
To enter, leave a comment sharing your favorite Advent tradition or a new Advent resource you’re excited to try this season and then claim your entry using the rafflecopter box below!
Click here if you are on the home page to get to comment box: Leave a Comment
If you have any issues please contact me and I can assist with getting you entered in the drawing. Domestic/US Shipping is included. International residents are welcome to enter but would be responsible for any additional shipping costs. Giveaway ends November 19, 2024 at 11:59PM PST and winner will be announced on November 20th in this post.
ENTER THE GIVEAWAY AT RAFFLECOPTER HERE or EMBEDED BELOW:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I posted a review of this sweet Wooden Advent Wreath for Children last year here.
You can also save 10% on other toys at Shining Light Dolls with coupon code: SHOWEROFROSESBLOG
“It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.” — Pope Benedict XVI
For more Advent Planning:
We love singing songs in preparation each night at dinner as we light our advent candles
We celebrate OL of Guadalupe with Mexican food, and we use your O Antiphon ideas. God bless your family, Jessica!
My favorite Advent tradition is definitely the Jesse tree. It’s fairly new to our family but I have come to love it. I feel like it really prepares our hearts for Christmas.
We do a sacrifice manger
I love the tradition of the Advent Wreath and special prayers to go with it!
We love lighting our wreath every night and reading a. Ew Christmas book each day!
The Jesse tree is one of my favorites, especially because I made our ornaments. But we love the O Antiphons and St. Nicholas too.
One of our favorite Advent traditions is attending the Rorate Caeli Mass. While we celebrate lots of feasts in December, our daughters really enjoy dressing up, wearing candle crowns and eating sweet rolls for the feast of St.Lucy. Our family is excited to try the Jesse Tree this year.
Thanks for all your wonderful resources.
My favorite Advent tradition is the Advent prayer services held each week at my school. The entire student body attends and each week a different group of students plans and assists in the service, ending with our last one with a retelling of Los Posada by our Spanish teacher and her advanced level students.
I love lighting our Advent candles and praying with my family, unwrapping and reading Christmas books, and celebrating all the beautiful feast days!
This Advent will be extra special and very different since our family will be traveling to Australia for 3 weeks in December to visit family!
We love our Jesse Tree Advent tradition. We place those ornaments on a small fake tree. The day before Christmas we get a real tree to decorate on Christmas day.
Dear Jessica, our favourite tradition during Avent time is our wall resolutions for each day before Christmas. Last year, I did a beautiful wall decor little homes, each home has a door to open and the resolution is written in it. The children loved it so much that I will take it for a second year.
We also use to make our wreath with beeswax candle and fir tree.
Thanks for all of your sharings
I everything about Advent, but these past few years I’ve especially loved our Jesse Tree!
Our favorite Advent traditions are the O Antiphons and Feast of St. Nicholas! Love this liturgical season!
I love the idea of the wooden ornaments. We have always done paper ones, but I think we might try to make the shift this year. Thank you for all the resources!
Thank you for having so many Advent resources available already! It will be here before you know it! Your blog is my go to resource for all things liturgical! Thank you for sharing your family traditions!!!
Our favorite advent tradition is the Jesse tree! We also love celebrating Saint Nicholas day and Saint Lucy’s day.
Always had a real tree branch for our Jesse Tree growing up. Mom made the homemade ornaments. Still can picture them today.
We put an Advent wreath on our table, light the proper candles for the proper week and say the prayers for each week before our meals. Actually was mini wreaths around each candle that we gathered together to make one larger wreath.
Since cats came into the house, for safety, we use flameless candles. My great friend crocheted a large beautiful wreath with spaces to set the Advent candles on. We now set it up in our entertainment center with closed glass doors ( cats) and do the proper weekly prayers.
I am a Sacristen and am one of those responsible for setting up the Advent wreath at Church and getting it all ready for Advent. Our is a large black iron wreath on a tall stand. We had the wreath redone last year to replace the older one that was falling apart.
Thank you for the reminder to order Advent candles. I would be a disaster every year if not for your reminder, Jessica.
We are trying wrapping the Advent books this year.
I’m looking forward to having a prayerful Advent. We typically use the resources from Holy Heroes or Catholic Sprouts. It really feels like we’re journeying with Joseph and Mary during Advent until we get to Christmas. My kids especially love the Advent wreath. They love getting to blow out the candles and light a new color each Sunday.
We enjoy using a Jesee tree, the kids put straw in OurLord’s manger when they do sacrifices and we wrap and open a Christmas book a day….all ideas from Shower of Roses! Thank you!
I have loved our Jesse Tree stained-glass-window coloring project from Dumb Ox! It turns out really beautiful and impactful for being low effort.
We love singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel before dinner, and doing our Spiritual Christmas Crib.
Love all the ideas and items you put out!
We love singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel before meals, and making our Spiritual Christmas Crib!
Love all the ideas and items you put out!!
We do the Advent Calendars every yer and The Jesse Tree.
Happy Advent
I always find something on your seasonal posts, thank you for doing the research!
Too cute!
We bought our first home this year and are excited to establish new traditions with our little family —two boys age 3 and 4 mos. We will be doing a special St Nicholas day with, oranges and gold coins in shoes. Putting up the Christmas lights on St Lucy’s feast day and decorating a Jesse tree leading up to Christmas. Thank you for so many wonderful ideas and the assurance it’s 20+ years in the making. I would love to do it all— baby steps!
Beautiful!! Thank you
So beautiful! I love your ideas!
You always inspire me to do better at liturgical living at home! Thank you for your blog. And thank you also for Catholic Cuisine blog too. I reference that site frequently.
Great gift idea for my grandson!
We absolutely love the Jesse tree and St Andrew novena during Advent.
You always have so many lovely ideas!! ❤️. I’d love to learn more about the Jesse tree this year and to do the Spiritual Christmas Crib. 🥰
We do Mary on the Mantle with a beautiful handmade doll from the Little Rose Shop and it’s such a fun thing my kids look forward to every year! 💜💜💓💜 St. Nicholas also brings my kids an ornament on his feast day that represents something that happened that year- weather a sport or a favorite adventure. We are creating a sort of time capsule of their childhood with ornaments. I love unpacking them each year and hanging then up. 🥰
I’m so excited to start a Jesse Tree this year! And I’d love to do Mary on the Mantle, I still need to sit down and create ideas for every day!😅
Thank you for the wonderful resources!
We have an Advent wreath and we celebrate St. Nicholas on his feast day by putting out shoes near the door. That is a family tradition from my grandmother (Welsh) that I continue with my children.
Thank you!
I just ordered the advent candle
kit from holy heroes to try for the first time!
I enjoy our Advent wreath every year and look forward to learning about the Jesse tree this year!
I really like the Mary and Joseph on a journey. I definitely want to incorporate that into our Advent traditions this year.
Ever since the kids were little we have done a Jesse Tree. The oldest is almost 30, so, we have done this many years 🙂
There are so many special Advent traditions! Some of our favorites are Lighting our Advent wreath and singing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel with our Advent wreath prayers, celebrating St. Nicholas’ day with St. Nicholas cookies, and celebrating the O’Antiphons.
Your O’Antiphon and gift ideas have blessed my family for many years. 🙂 Thank you, Jessica!
May you all have a blessed Advent!
Kids enjoy extinguishing the Advent wreath during Advent. I’m looking forward to seeing how our littles like the Shining Light Dolls Jesse tree book and magnetic tree.
I am preparing a little advent burlap gift bag for each day of Advent for our little grandchildren… each day has a different enclosure… little chocolates, holy cards, acts of kindness suggestions, coins, etc.
I would like to enter the drawing, but these raffle things never work for me. I’m not sure why.
I’ll enter you manually now. I still don’t know why it doesn’t work for some people. I’m sorry about that!
We love our Jesse tree, celebrating Saint Nicholas day and singing at the dinner table. And Christmas pjs
We love the O Antiphons. On those nights, before dinner, the children turn out the lights and we chant the antiphon by the light of the Advent candles and keep the lights low all through dinner and evening. It’s a perfect way to anticipate Christmas.
My favorite Advent tradition is the O Antiphons. My children are big fans of getting little gifts on the Feast of St. Nicholas. It’s so difficult to focus on Advent with Christmas trees popping up earlier and earlier each year, so we have to be extra diligent in keeping Advent alive in our homes.
We have a shepherd that can be found in new spots each day and brings personal letters to helps us observe and keep Advent until he is found at the Christmas Crib on December 25th.
We have a shepherd that comes out on 1st Sunday of Advent and can be found in new spots each day with a personal letter to help us along our way in observing and keeping Advent until he is found at the Christmas Crib admiring baby Jesus on Dec. 25th.
One of my favorites is observing the O Antiphons, Jesse Tree, St. Nicholas Day, OLOG gathering with friends, Advent Wreath and just before leaving the house for Midnight Mass we finally plug in all the lights inside and outside of the house and process outside placing our light-up baby Jesus in the outdoor nativity scene, while the men-folk strum the guitar gently as we sing “Silent Night” then hop in the car and leave to Mass. I also love placing all the baby Jesus’ in his crib in our many nativity sets around the house.
We sing o come o come Emmanuel after our blessing before dinner each evening.
Thank you for sharing these! Your posts are always so helpful!
We enjoy reading Christmas book from our basket and opening our advent nativity box that contains a piece for our nativity.