I actually planned ahead last year and ordered extra candles to have blessed on Candlemas (Feb 2) and then have on hand for this upcoming Advent!
I really love the 100% pure beeswax Advent Candles from The Cloister Shoppe, handmade by the Dominican Nuns. They are made in limited quantities each year and only available for a limited time, so I wanted to give you all a heads up with Advent coming up at the end of next month.
The last couple years we’ve had two Advent wreaths in our home. The taper Advent Candles are placed in an Advent Wreath on our dining room table and we light them during dinner each night. We also have a larger wreath on the coffee table in the living room which we light during our family rosary each evening. We’ll be using these short pillar candles in purple and pink again this year.
The Advent Candle Kit from Illuminated Ink (pictured below) is such a fun Advent activity for children.
The Cloister Shoppe makes amazing Jar Candles. I ordered extras of the Three Wisemen Candle (prefect for Epiphany!) to give as gifts last year and everyone loved them!
I’ve also been using their jar candles throughout the year and all the various scents we have tried have been lovely. This year I’d love to order the Bayberry Tumbler Candle!
Note: They have more of the St. Nick’s Goat Milk Soap available! It was one of our Seven Fun Finds for Advent a couple years ago.
The Cloister Shoppe also has some of their Bayberry Christmas Eve Candles available again:
There is an old colonial tradition of burning a bayberry candle on Christmas Eve. Often these very special bayberry candles were given to a friend with a little couplet that says,
This bayberry candle comes from a friend
so on Christmas eve burn it down to the end.
For a bayberry candle burned to the socket,
will bring joy to the heart and gold to the pocket.
Bayberry was chosen because usually poorly burning tallow candles were used for everyday use. Bayberry was and stil is considered special because it takes nearly 18 pounds of bayberries to make 1 pound of wax!!!!
Meanwhile, in Ireland it was the custom to leave a candle in the window to welcome the Christ Child and the Holy Family on Christmas Eve. During penal times it became a means of telling priests in hiding that a Catholic family was in that home.
We have brought these two traditions together with our Bayberry Christmas Eve Candle! This is an 6″ 100% bayberry candle hand-poured here at the monastery. (Because bayberry is so brittle it is customary to add a small amount of beeswax as well.). This is NOT a bayberry scented candle but made of real bayberry wax! Each candle is packaged in a wood crate made especially for us along with a colonial-style star shaped tin candle holder signifying the Star of Bethlehem. Each gift crate is tied with a unique “Merry Christmas” bow. (Not seasons greetings or happy holidays!)
Each 6″ candle will burn for approximately 5-6 hours. Depending on the area that the candle is burned it is nearly drip free.
Comes with a little booklet describing the origins of the traditions. We encourage you to start your own tradition and burn the candle while praying the family rosary on Christmas Eve or before Midnight Mass!
Another beautiful addition they have this year is the Christmas Tree Creche Candle. I’m not sure I’d ever be able to actually burn it though!
I ordered mine, thank you, Jessica!
2016-10-21 23:19:01
Seriously, where do you find all these fun ideas! I looked into getting the candles but the shipping is outrageous… Any tips?
2016-10-22 01:37:15
Yes, the shipping is high. That is another one of the reasons I placed a large order last year, ordering enough candles for this Christmas too. It didn't increase the shipping that much more. Perhaps you could combine an order with some local friends or your family to save on shipping?
I searched and searched to try and find a quality alternative to the advent candles that a monastery in our state used to make and finally found these, even though they are tapers instead of the pillars. With shipping they are comparable to 100% Advent Beeswax candles from Amazon (which are also expensive), but I love that these are made by the nuns and it's nice to support them with an order. The nice thing is they burn very slowly, compared to the cheaper non-beeswax candles, and ours lasted all of Advent!
2016-10-22 01:53:25
I was about to ask the same question as Linsday. Sharing an order and shipping costs is probably the way to go.
2016-10-22 15:20:48
Bless you, Jessica! I just ordered our 100% beeswax Advent candles through your link. How do you spell RELIEF! Thank you, as ever, for putting together very helpful links to make celebrating the liturgical year SO. MUCH. EASIER. 🙂
2016-10-23 00:30:10
Thank you for this timely reminder !!! I ordered from the Sisters this weekend and am thrilled that the candles are already on their way. In addition to the Advent candles I got something called Wise Men . I'm hoping it smells like church after High Mass…. I may let you know. Thanks again
2016-10-24 23:01:16
Hi dear Jessica! How are you? I am fine. I already ordered my candles!!! Last year I missed them. I ended up getting some at amazon but I really love this one made by the nuns. God bless you all.
2016-10-25 20:17:26
They are already sold out of the Bayberry Christmas Even candle…I am so sad!!!! It would have made a perfect gift for my family I am visiting before Christmas. I looked for other websites that sold them but they definitely didn't seem to be packaged as nicely. Any suggestions???
Thank you for all that you do and share with us. I have been following your blog for awhile now and love all your book suggestions and ideas.
2016-10-30 23:43:43
Oh man, Jessica! I missed out on the Bayberry candle tradition but I'm thankful I was able to order our Advent candles this year. I love these candles.
2016-11-01 15:35:54
I ordered these last year and I know the shipping wasn't that high. I can't spend $27.00 on Advent candles 🙁 They are nice, though.
2016-11-10 15:15:47