Votives & Votive Holders

If you’re curious about votive candles, or if you perhaps want to start selling votives, this article is for you. Here, we’ll go over what exactly a votive is, and how a candle business can pick the best votive candles and holders.

What is a Votive Candle?

For all you young candle businesses wanting to expand, votives might just be the right direction to grow your product line. Of course, you’ll want to know what you’re selling first!

The speed at which any candle burns depends on the composition of the wax; votive candles are typically made from paraffin, soy wax, or beeswax. Because of their composition, votive candles set in glass holders have very low melting points.

To speak a little bit about their functionality, votives are small, slow-burning candles. They have a bell-top design to allow the wax to melt fully and evenly. The unique design here allows for the mild fragrance to distribute constantly.

If you’re asking what makes votive candles different from tealights, you’re not alone. It’s a common question, and to keep it simple, there are three main differences between votives and tealights:

1. Size.

   We’ve said before that votives are among the smaller candles, but they’re still taller and larger than tealights.

2. Longevity.

   Because of their design, votives will burn much longer than tealight candles. While a tealight will typically burn for 3–5 hours, the average votive will burn for about 10.

3. Appearance.

   Tealights are usually contained in small, circular containers, while votives are contained in glass holders that are specially made for a votive. Tealight candles certainly have their charms — being small and cost-effective, but votives win in appearance. You can really sell customers on the timeless look of a well-made votive.

Picking the Best Votives for Your Candle Business

So the next big question is — which votives are likely to sell? What kinds of votives leave customers happy with their purchase? Certainly, there’s a market for unscented votives, but as for selling scented candles, the trending scents change with the seasons.

Picking the Right Scents for Your Votive Candles

When you’re deciding on new scents to sell, you definitely need to check with your customer base and with your research, but we hope the following table on seasonal scents helps you!

SeasonExample Scents SpringApple blossom, cherry blossom,
lavender, honeysuckle, lemongrass,
jasmine, lilac, lilies, magnolias. SummerBeach, sea salt, citrus, wine, coconut,
peach, sandalwood, grass, citronella,
aloe, hay, linens, watermelon. FallPumpkin spice, apple, cinnamon,
spices, sage, eucalyptus, amber,
cedar, tobacco, brown sugar. WinterCinnamon, vanilla, peppermint,
pine, orchid, chestnut, maple,
cookie, nutmeg, juniper, birch.

The scent isn’t the only thing that makes a votive great. There’s also how well it performs!

Ensuring that Your Votive is Functional

Whether you’re making the candles yourself or using more sophisticated manufacturing techniques, the bell curve shape at the top of the candle should be made for success, ensuring all the wax liquefies when burned.

On top of that, the last thing to remember is that every great votive has a great candle holder, both for design and functionality. There are options; it could be a tall glass candle container, or something smaller. Still, there are certain design requirements to allow votive-burning to be a mess-free experience. 

Read on to learn what design is needed for a votive container, and to see our selection of the best votive holders on the market!

Glass Votive Candle Holders

The best votives on the market are paired with the best votive containers — and picking the right one is crucial! On top of making sure the presentation of your candle is perfect, you have to know that using the wrong candle container for a votive leaves a mess of wax when the candle’s melted.

The Essential Aspects of a Great Votive Container

The basics of picking the right votive holder includes finding a durable glass container. Especially for candle containers, glass is the best option; it’s sustainable, resistant to heat, and has the most appealing design compared to other materials.

Going with a recycled glass votive holder is also a big plus. Using recycled glass helps conserve our natural resources and saves energy. To make a statement about the eco-friendly values of your candle business, consider using what’s already been used and reused.

The Right Size and Shape for a Votive Container

A big rule of thumb for picking a votive container: smaller is better. If you measure the diameter of the votive candle, you can know that a glass candle container is too big if its diameter is twice that. Having a nice, small candle holder helps reduce the amount of unused wax left over when the wick has burned down.

Regarding the interior, the best votive holders are either tapered or bowl-shaped on the inside to make the melted wax flow to the center of the holder. To see the best votive holders in our selection, check out the table below:

Sell Votives with Your Candle Business

When it comes to expanding a small candle business, votives are a great option to consider. So long as you pick the right scents, make a nice design, and use a good candle container, you’re poised for success. There is, of course, the marketing aspect of your candle business as well. To learn about some essential candle marketing strategies to help grow your business, take a look at our article here.