Along with the past year has come a lot of time spent at home, and that means time spent doing at-home activities like discovering new hobbies. DIY projects are some of the best hobbies out there because they’re typically easy to pick up, and result in something useful you can keep or gift away to friends and family. Paint by numbers is one of our favorites here at Spy, as are Bonsai tree maintenance, terrarium building, and other hobbies designed to peak the interest of men. Working with your hands and being creative is one of the best ways to relieve stress and anxiety, and get your mind off of work or other distractions. What if your DIY project could result in something that could further reduce your stress? Like, say, a candle? These candle making kits provide that exact opportunity.
Candles are relaxing in and of themselves. They’re right alongside a bubble bath, lavender essential oils and calming spa music with objects designed to help you unwind no matter what you’re got going on. They also make excellent gifts for your mom, girlfriend or any other woman in your life. If you’re a crafter who needs a new focus for your tinkering skills, or you’re not quite ready to let go of the “quarantine hobby” phase of life — these kits might be your next venture.
What’s In a Candle Making Kit?
Candle making kits are mostly comprised of a few main tools, and then they expand to include different scents, colors and other decorative elements from there. They normally contain some form of wax, most often soy, as well as a canister for melting it in. They also come with wicks, stirring sticks, jars for the candles themselves and a thermometer for keeping track of the temperature.
From there, many more extensive kits will come with colored dyes for making your candle a certain color, essential oils for mixing scents, decorative jars and other fun supplies. The type of kit you want will depend on your purpose behind making the candle. Beginner just starting off who wants a craft project? Start with a basic kit filled with all the necessary supplies. Zealous gift giver who wants to make something special for a few people in their life? Go with one that includes colors and scents as part of the package. No matter what you want from your candle making experience, you’ll find it in one of the kits below.
1. DilaBee Complete DIY Candle Making Kit
BEST OVERALL
This candle making kit comes with everything you need to make four beautiful candles. The kit includes four different fragrances — clean cotton, lavender, coconut lime and cinnamon vanilla — as well as four dye blocks, four 8oz. soy wax bags, a melting pot, a thermometer, round and square candle tins depending on your preference, cotton wicks, glue dots and stir sticks. It comes with full instructions that make it easy for beginners to master the process, and the kit is designed to produce high-quality, expensive-looking candles your friends and family will be impressed by.
Buy: DilaBee Complete DIY Candle Making Kit $39.99
2. Hearts & Crafts Soy Wax Candle Making Kit
RUNNER UP
This candle making kit is made with all-natural wax made of plant-based alternatives that burn cleanly and smoothly, just like the expensive candles from the store. The wax in their kit has a melting point of 120 degrees F so your entire space is filled with subtle fragrance over time. The kit contains wicks as well as centering devices so planting them is as easy as possible. Each wick also comes pre-waxed so you get a nice burn. This kit doesn’t come with its own containers for the candles, but this gives you flexibility to decide what size and look your candles will have.
Buy: Hearts and Crafts Soy Candle Making Kit $27.99
3. Blue Aurra DIY Candle Making Kit
QUALITY PICK
This is another great candle making kit from the brand Blue Aurra that includes supplies for three soy wax candles. The kit comes with dye blocks for blue candles specifically, essential oils, round candle jars with metal tops, a thermometer, stirring sticks and more. The entire set is curated for quality and a fun, seamless experience. The scents included are cinnamon, ocean and lavender so you’ve got variety, and the candles come donned with decorative labels so they’ll be gift ready as soon as you’re done.
Buy: Blue Aurra DIY Candle Making Kit $39.99
4. DINGPAI Candle Making Kit
SIMPLEST MATERIALS
This candle making kit strips it down to basics and makes the process very simple, so it’s great if you’re a beginner or don’t need all the bells and whistles. It comes with a large pouring pot for the wax, candle wicks, wick stickers, wicks holders, all-natural soy wax and a stirring spoon. All the materials are food-grade and the spoon is 304 stainless steel so you know your tools are safe. The kit is super easy to use, and since the pot is up to food-grade standards you can also use it to melt chocolate, cheese or in other DIY projects that involve food.
Buy: DINGPAI Candle Making Kit $19.99
5. Nature’s Blossom Candle Making Kit
BEST FOR LARGE CANDLES
If you like round, large, short candles like the ones fancy boutiques sell this is the candle making kit for you. It comes with three short, stout tin jars in decorative colors that are perfect for making your own candles exactly like what you can buy in the store. In the kit you’ve got 1.5 pounds of vegetable soy wax as well as three different scents to choose from — lavender, lemon and chamomile. You have six different cotton wicks, as the candles are wide enough to put two wicks in each, as well as wick stabilizers so you can place them exactly. With the look of the candles, soothing scents and quality of the wax, you’ll be making store-worthy candles in no time.
Buy: Nature's Blossom Candle Making Kit $45.99
6. Scandinavian Candle Co. Luxury Candle Making Kit
BEST SPLURGE
This is a more luxe candle making kit with a higher price tag but plenty of supplies for making six excellent mini candles in gold-coated tins. The essential oils sound delicious — lime basil & mandarin as well as wood sage & sea salt — and the kit comes with all the supplies you need so you can easily start from stage one. The soy has a creamy finish once poured and you can use the decorative, professional labels to give your candles a boutique finish. This is a great starter kit or treat for a craft enthusiast.
Buy: Scandinavian Candle Co. Luxury Candle Making Kit $59.99
7. Siblings Scent No 01 Candle Kit
BEST SCENT
This boutique candle kit brand makes excellent scents, including this one that’s comprised of hints of Bergamot, White Rose and Oakmoss. Their kits come with a 10 oz bag of their all-natural, scented and environmentally-friendly coconut blend wax that’s also non-toxic and free of parabens. The cotton wick is lead-free, and you get a wooden wick holder so you can position the wick properly. One thing to note is the kit doesn’t come with a vessel for the candle itself because they want you to reuse one from an old candle, further saving natural resources.
Buy: Siblings Scent No 01 Candle Kit $24.00
8. DELLABELLA Candle Making Kit
SUITABLE FOR ALL LEVELS
This is a great candle making kit for nearly all levels and interests. It’s got everything you need to make a bunch of creative, artistic-looking candles including square and circle-shaped orbs. It comes with two pounds of natural soy wax made of eco-friendly materials, candle molds, essential oils, colors, and tools for creating patterns in the wax as well. The kit also comes with a melting jug for getting the wax to just the right temperature, a digital thermometer for keeping track of temperature, plenty of wicks, carving tools, centering devices and more. This is a fairly large kit, so if you’re not totally sure if you’re interested in candle making yet I might go with something simpler. It does come at a very affordable price.
Buy: Dellabella Candle Making Kit $39.88
9. Everything Nice Candle Kit
BEST FOR GIFTING
If, rather than gifting a candle you made to someone, you’d rather gift the kit itself this is the one to give. First of all, it looks beautiful, and it comes with a beautiful copper aura vessel for a candle with a maple wood lid. It comes with Kakadu plum + amber fragrance oil as well as 11oz. of natural wax for pouring the candle. It also comes with a wooden wick, a wick sticker, a wick clip and a bamboo mixing spoon. This kit only makes one candle, so it’s perfect for gifting to a crafty friend who’s interested in trying it out.
Buy: The Wooden Wick Co. Everything Nice Candle Kit $45.95
10. Wax & Wick Candle Making Kit
BEST FOR MINI CANDLES
This candle making kit is perfect for making miniature candles, as it comes with small amber jars and silver lids to match. The kit is simple, and comes with enough natural soy wax for both candles, two different scented oils, two amber glass jars, three wicks, gift tags and kraft labels so you can write out the details of the gift. The kit also comes with a guide for walking you through the process. One thing it does not come with is the melting jug for getting the wax to just the right temperature, so you’ll have to supply your own method of melting the included wax.
Buy: Wax & Wick Candle Making Kit $37.46
11. Etienne Alair Candle Making Kit LOTS OF COLOR CHOICES
This candle making kit from Etienne Air comes with high-quality soy wax, four different essential oils for fragrance and a whopping 16 different dye blocks for coloring your candles exactly how you want them. This is an extensive set that includes everything you need to make four different 8 oz. candles in either square or rounded tins. You’ve got step-by-step instructions in your kit as well as everything you need to melt and pour the wax as well as set the wicks properly. There are 52 different pieces in this kit, so make sure you’ve got enough space to store it, and the color blocks are designed for mix and match use so you can create entirely unique colors for your candles.
Buy: Etienne Air Candle Making Kit $49.99
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