When you enter the Yankee Candle Headquarters, you’ll discover all sorts of pleasing scents that will enhance the aroma of your home. But did you know that at their South Deerfield, MA flagship store you can not only explore the Yankee Candle Headquarters, but also make your own candles with your chosen mélange of fragrances and wax?
The headquarters is much more than a store where you can buy candles. You can make your own! The experiences they have available are, as you’ll see below, fun for the whole family.
Benny and I traveled down the Pike (or is it up the Pike?) to South Deerfield, home of the Yankee Candle Headquarters, looking forward to this unique candle-making experience.
Candle-Making Bar Experience
When we first arrived, our first stop was at the candle-making bar. Right next to the bar, there are about fifty candles, each with different fragrances that you can sniff. Once you pick your favorite three scents, you go back to bar and tell the barista, (or maybe it’s candle-ista?) your choices.
I told Benny that he could choose what three scents he wanted for our candle. That ended up being a mistake. He wanted to sniff every single one, and when he couldn’t make up his mind, he kept going back and forth, sniffing and re-sniffing just about all of the candles. I don’t know how I managed to smile for the second picture below, because I was getting a bit short-tempered. Thankfully, the candle-ista was very patient with us (I mean Benny).
After what seemed like an hour of watching Benny sniffing candles like a mad bear, he finally chose his three scents: cinnamon spice, mint leaf, and bergamot. The candle-ista brought us the fragrances for each of those aromas, and told us to mix the three in a small, cup-like container. She cautioned Benny to be careful; if he were to get any of the mix on his fur, he would smell like that forever. He decided to let me do the mixing. He loved his choices, but didn’t want to smell like a candle for the rest of his life.
After mixing, the candle-ista took the mixture back. She told us that we could return in about an hour for our candle. I told Benny she had to work her candle magic. He seemed to buy my story. When we returned, we had a professional-looking and aromatic candle. Of course, Benny took all of the credit.
Make Your Own Jar Candle
While we were waiting for the candle-ista to work her magic, we moseyed over to the nearby “Make Your Own Jar Candle” experience. Artists will love this section! You take an empty, clear candle jar, and fill it with all sorts of colorful wax. You choose the order of the colored wax. The different-colored wax has various scents, so when you get home and start using your candle, all sorts of cool scents will arise.
To get the wax, you place your empty candle jar under a wax dispenser and press a green button. This was Benny’s favorite part. He loved pressing the green button. With every press, more wax came out. He just wanted to keep pressing the same green button, but I suggested that we get wax of different colors to make our candle more colorful.
When we had filled up our candle with as much wax as possible, we handed it over to a friendly employee who placed it under a heating lamp. In about 45 minutes, our candle would be ready!
Dip Your Own Critter
Our next stop at the Yankee Candle Headquarters was the Dip Your Own Critter station. I told Benny that for this part, I would have to dip him in wax. He didn’t believe me. Smart bear.
There are plenty of “critters” you can choose from. I decided on a bear. Benny thought that was a bit redundant. I complimented him on his usage of a three-syllable word and chose the bear anyway.
At the dipping station, I dipped the critter into yellow wax, and then I carefully dipped the hands and feet in brown wax. I wish I could take all the credit, but if it weren’t for the help of a friendly Yankee Candle employee, my inartistic self would have never been able to do this.
Making a Wax Hand
Up next was the wax hand station. It’s exactly what it sounds like; it’s simple but a lot of fun. You dip your hand in ice-cold water. Then you decide a position for your hand to be in for a wax mold. The warmth of the wax feels pleasant after the ice-cold water. I decided that I wanted my hand to be blue, my favorite color.
My wife Christina saw me having so much fun with this that she decided she wanted her own wax hand too! Benny decided to forgo this station; he was afraid he would fall into the wax and become a wax bear. I told him if that happened, he would match his bear-critter friend that I made. He just huffed at me.
It’s always snowing!
After our wax hand adventures, we still had a little bit of time to wait before our candles from our first two activities were ready. We used the time to stroll past Christmas village displays. The displays lead into the Bavarian Village, where, and I kid you not, it snows year round. That’s right, every four minutes on the dot!
We also ran into good ole Saint Nick, who was holding his list of good boys and girls. Guess whose name wasn’t on that list? That’s right! Benny! The bear wasn’t too happy about that. I told him it was because he took too long sniffing candles before.
After Benny had it out with Santa, we went to pick up our candles. Benny saw that there was an area where you could put any picture you want on a candle. He insisted that we do this activity; he desperately wanted his face on a candle.
Deciding on the picture I took of him at the top of South Mount Sugarloaf, he handed the candle to that station’s helper. I told her to write, “Wanted” on it, but Benny didn’t find that funny, so we changed the title to simply, “Benny’s Candle.” Having his own candle made him content, helping him completely forget the spat he had with Santa.
Either way, he’s not getting on the nice list.
For more information about the Yankee Candle Headquarters in South Deerfield, MA, check out the Yankee Candle Village website.
If you’re in the area, you should also check out the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum.
Disclosure: Benny, my wife, and I were guests of Yankee Candle. We’d like to thank them for inviting us to participate in their activities free of charge, for the lunch voucher at the Hillside Pizza Café they offered us, and for the 50% off of wax products which we may or may not have used to buy my mother’s Christmas gifts. Our opinions about the fun we had are our own.
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The Yankee Candle Headquarters is located at 25 Greenfield Rd, South Deerfield, MA
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Do you have to make reservations for any of these activities? Or is it just like walk up/first come first serve. Thanks. Great post!
No reservations needed. You wait in line to make your candles, and you pay for them at checkout. I’m glad you enjoyed the post, hope you get to visit!
Is there a store somewhere in Wi that does the hand waxing? I would love to do this with my niece and nephew. Preferably in Southern Wi
Thank you,
Kelly Fiene
Hi Kelly,
I don’t know. Wisconsin is a bit out of our range – we usually travel around New England. I suggest contacting Yankee Candle. If you do get to do this activity, you and your niece will have a great time! Thanks for stopping by the blog.