Best Holiday Candles for a Warm, Festive Home

Best Bath & Body Works Holiday Candles

Bath & Body Works' Holiday collection drops in October and routinely sells out before December. These are the perennial bestsellers that reliably come back every year and the new seasonal editions worth watching for.

• Tis the Season — apple, cinnamon, clove, and pine. The quintessential holiday candle.
• Winter — eucalyptus, mint, and a hint of pine. Clean, cool, and unexpected.
• Vanilla Bean Noel — vanilla, praline, and sugar. Sweet but not saccharine.
• Fresh Balsam — authentic fir needle and pine. The real-tree alternative.
• Twisted Peppermint — peppermint with a sweet candy cane finish. Bright and festive.
• Champagne Toast — lighter and celebratory. Perfect for New Year's.

Best Yankee Candle Holiday Picks

Yankee's large jar candles are excellent holiday choices — the extra burn time means one candle can carry you through the entire holiday season. Their holiday releases are reliable year-over-year.

• Christmas Cookie — warm vanilla and almond. A timeless holiday bakery scent.
• Balsam & Cedar — woody, earthy, and fresh. The holiday tree in candle form.
• Holiday Hearth — smoldering wood and a hint of spice. Fireplace without the fireplace.
• Christmas at the Beach — unexpected but beloved. Bright and festive rather than spice-forward.

Luxury Holiday Candles Worth Gifting or Keeping

Holiday candles at the premium tier make exceptional gifts — they arrive well-packaged, last longer, and have a complexity that mass-market options can't match. These are the ones worth buying for yourself or giving to someone with a home they take seriously.

• Diptyque Sapin — fir, cedarwood, and pine resin. The finest evergreen candle available.
• Nest New York Holiday — pomegranate, mandarin, cinnamon, and patchouli. An iconic seasonal blend.
• Jo Malone Pine & Eucalyptus — clean and bright holiday green.
• Voluspa Baltic Amber Holiday Edition — their signature amber base in festive winter packaging.
• Aesop Ptolemy — woody and resinous, with cardamom and vetiver. Sophisticated and unusual.

Holiday Candle Tips for Hosting

When hosting for Thanksgiving or Christmas, burn candles in the rooms guests will use most — entryway, living room, bathroom — but skip candles in the kitchen during cooking. Cooking aromas and candle scents fight each other. Light the kitchen candle after dinner service is done.

For parties, use diffusers or subtle reed diffusers rather than candles when guests will be moving around frequently — open doors and movement cut candle scent throw. Candles perform best in rooms where guests will linger.