With Advent beginning on November 30th, just days after Thanksgiving this year and coming up so very quickly, it’s time for my annual reminder to make a few preparations, before Thanksgiving hits, and order your Advent candles if you haven’t already! 🕯️
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 from Forestville Candle Company, hand-poured by two talented college students.
Be sure to scroll to the bottom for another Wooden Advent to Christmas Wreath 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.
In these pictures, you can see Joseph and Mary making their journey down our Advent Path. Many 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.
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.
- 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 and Deep Violet and Rose by two talented Catholic college students, Abbey and Anna, over at Forestville Candle Company! 🌲
Abbey and Anna sent me a couple of sample sets last year, and we absolutely loved them! Their craftsmanship and attention to detail really shine through.
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 touch to our Advent decorations.
This year we’ll be using another set of their lovely Deep Violet and Rose Advent candles.
While you are over there, be sure to check out their Saint Candles which would make great Christmas gifts! Pictured above is Adoring Our Eucharistic Lord with Carlo Acutis and A Light to Guide from Our Lady Star of the Sea. They have many others to choose from as well!
Book pictured above: All About Advent and Christmas: Sharing the Seasons of Hope and Wonder With Children (also available here at Amazon) originally included in my 2023 New Finds for Advent section of my annual gift guide. Highly recommend!
Handmade Advent Candles by the Clear Creek Monks
I also wanted to share these Advent Candle sets that are hand-dipped by the Monks of Clear Creek… but I wasn’t quick enough to finish this post and they have already sold out! You can sign up for a reminder if they end up restocking them.
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! 🕯️🎶
Liturgical Year Calendar: Advent/Christmas 2025-2026
I love these wall posters, especially for the Advent and Christmas season!
Order this year’s from Sophia Institute Press.
Wooden Advent Wreath Giveaway!
The Double-sided Advent to Christmas Wooden Wreath Set from Shining Light Dolls is BACK IN STOCK this year!!! I also have one to give away to a lucky winner! 🎉
To enter, simply 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 Gleam box below! Rafflecopter has been discontinued this year so I’m giving this a try to see how it works.
Domestic/US Shipping is included. International residents are welcome to enter but would be responsible for shipping costs. Giveaway ends November 23, 2024 at 11:59PM PST and winner will be announced on November 24th in this post.
Click here if you are on the home page to get to comment box: Leave a Comment
Advent to Christmas Wooden Wreath SetI posted a review of this sweet Wooden Advent Wreath for Children a couple year’s ago here.
You can also save 10% on other toys at Shining Light Dolls with coupon code: SHOWEROFROSESBLOG
While you are over at Shining Light Dolls, be sure to check out all their BRAND NEW Catholic Kitchen toys! I am especially excited about the St. Lucia Buns (Lussekatter) & Swedish Glogg Wooden Play Food Set – definitely will be gifting these to our little girls on the Feast of St. Nicholas!
“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:
The Advent Season In Our Catholic Home
Opening a book each day of advent was a childhood favorite!
Beautiful!! thanks for giveaway
We had a tiny Advent tree on which we would hang little treats every day of Advent! It was so fun.
Opening Advent Calendars as a child to today as an adult.
Marion
I love all these prizes. Advent is my favorite time of the year.
Lighting the advent wreath before supper and singing “o come o come Emmanuel.” I love when the little ones start to learn the words and sing along.
We just ordered our Advent Candles from Clear Creek!
For me it’s hard to beat the lovely tradition of a family Advent Wreath!
Favorite Advent tradition is building the nativity scene little by little (trees first week, then animals, then shepherds etc.) and praying the rosary near it during Advent and Christmas time.
I love this ❤
I loved having a magnetic nativity scene on the fridge for the kids and watching how it brought their imagination to life.
Now I have grandchildren and would love to surprise them with this darling Advent Wreath.
I read as many different daily Advent book of different Saints. Beautiful and very informative.
Trying the Road to Bethlehem Advent devotional for te first time this year!
I love them all! Especially St. Nicholas Day since it feels like a “Little Christmas” in the middle of Advent!
My favorite Advent tradition is the Jesse Tree! I love reading the stories about Jesus’ ancestors in the Old Testament, while the kids color ornaments for their Jesse Tree books! (And thank you for letting us know about those adorable play kitchen items!)
Favorite Adventure tradition is lighting the advent wreath.
We love our little Advent traditions. Your blog is obviously a great inspiration. So far we’ve been doing the Jesse tree (with felt ornaments!), lots of reading (from the books you suggested)… And lots of colouring!
Advent wreath and Jesse tree are favorite traditions in our home.
This would be so cute for my Kindergarten class!
I love your Advent posts! Thank you for sharing!
We love praying the St. Andrew Novena and we really like read alouds from one of the Arnold Ytreeide books. As well as our Jesse Tree.
Our favs are St. Andrew novena and Jesse tree; thanks for sharing all this!
There are always so many options and I appreciate your ideas! We usually keep Advent pretty simple, but our favorite is the lighting of the Advent wreath, especially as my children are older (most of them are teens/young adults,) and I allow them to be the ones to light the candles.
Love your advent traditions! I look forward to your advent and christmas posts every year!
We love singing O come O come Emmanuel and hanging our out O antiphon ornaments during the last week.
I love Shining Light Doll items. I have a few and they are all top quality. I hope to win this new one for my toddler!
We are reading The Road to Bethlehem for the first time this year. We read the Road to Calvary for Lent and loved it! So excited to read the Advent meditations.
This is beautiful 🥰 thank you for the ideas and the giveaway. Have a blessed day 🌹
I always look forward to your Advent and Christmas season posts! Thank you for all of your time and effort!
Have been wanting this wooden Advent Wreath
I love all your family’s traditions!
I love reading all our advent picture books with our children each year.
There’s a book called Destination Bethlehem that I like to read together with my children during Advent.
St. Nicholas and St.Lucia Feast Days are favorite at our home during Advent. It is still hard for me, as a Byzantine Catholic, to not have 40 day lent ( starts with St.Phillip’s Feast) but Advent due to being a member of a Roman-Catholic parish. But I enjoy exploring, even with your blog, new traditions, especially while raising children in the Roman-Catholic tradition. We do also daily Advent devotions and will try some new homeschool resources from Into the deep.
Have you seen the free Philip’s Fast Eastern Rite coloring page/calendar from Quis Ut Deus Press?
https://www.quisutdeuspress.com/uploads/2/6/5/7/26571116/philips_fast_2025.pdf
They will be sharing a Latin Rite Calendar soon too!
I always love checking in with you! :o) As always, your family celebrations and adventures are inspiring.
PS – we prayed for your family recently as part of our homeschool prayers
Thank you so very much!
Oh, and one of my favorite Advent traditions recently is listening to my daughter sing in her university’s choir. She is at a Christian university, and (with her influence) many traditional Catholic songs have been included in the program!!
Opening a book each day and our wooden advent calendar.
I love all of your ideas! This will be our first prepared year for Advent. But we have always liked the St. Andrew novena & my oldest can’t wait to light the advent wreath!
We love lighting our Advent candles during our evening rosary and letting it be the only light as we pray! We also play O Come O Come Emmanuel in Latin as the designated child lights the candle.
We just ordered the Catholic Sprouts Advent books. I’m super excited to use it this year.
We prepare our hearts for the coming of the Infant Jesus with a Spiritual Christmas Crib and fill a small handmade manger with small pieces of straw for good deeds or sacrifices made. The children love supplying a soft place for our small statue of the Baby Jesus to lay on Christmas!
We love all the Advent traditions of books, prayers, wreath, songs, food………….it’s such a rich Catholic time.
We just started, last year from your recommendation, opening a reusable canvas bag with a book a day through Advent. We all love doing that together as a family!
Opening a book a day from a reusable canvas bag (thank you for the tags & idea!) as well as a Jesse Tree!
There are so many! Singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and lighting our Advent Wreath before dinner, Christkindls, reading Advent books each day, and the Jesse Tree are a few of our favorites!
I love Advent. I especially love our celebration on St. Nicholas day by your blog years ago. I make the candy cane coffee cake and everyone gets a new Advent or Christmas book. Thank you for all you do! God Bless. Heather Wilson
Lighting the advent candles each night is my favorite! Excited to add the reading of a Christmas book each day to my kids this advent!