A delightful game everyone can play - from the littlest kid to the oldest grandparent
Our family has played the candle game at every holiday meal for at least a century. Lighting the candles together and watching them burn provides a few minutes of engagement and togetherness during what can be hectic celebrations. Everyone jokes and teases across the table as some peoples’ candles burn low and others hang fast.
Everyone loves to play it — people always ask us how they can get the candlesticks for themselves, which is why we started our shop.
How to Play
Each player gets a candle holder, into which has been placed a simple birthday candle. Everyone lights their candle at the same time from a central candle or lighter (or multiple lighters for a large group.) Then everyone places their lit candle in a preferred spot and - for the next 4-5 minutes - watches the race. The winner is the person whose candle goes out last, as determined by the puff of smoke when it extinguishes.
Our family rules allow for the building of shelters or other techniques that do not touch the candle or the holder, but you can feel free to make your own rules aside from the sacred rule that you can’t do anything that would extinguish someone else’s candle.
The prize is up to you. Our family tradition is that the winner gets their wish. (Just like when you blow out your birthday candles.) But we’ve seen prizes include a crisp $5, a lotto ticket, everyone chipping in $1 and the winner gets the pot, even the right to name the next baby born in the family (though that one has never proved enforceable). Customize your prize to fit your group's personality!
See the game in action
A Century-Old Family Tradition
We are the granddaughters (Cherry, Amy, and Audrey) and great granddaughters (Christie and Cindy) of Leslie and Audrey Horstmann. Cherry, Amy and Audrey remember playing the candle game every holiday at their grandparents' home, with an elegantly set table and a very formal meal. The tradition passed down to the Horstmanns' daughter Joy and her husband Dick Hoyt, who eventually had more candlesticks made so their daughters and grandchildren could have their own sets. In years of searching, we have never learned the origin of the game, but we suspect the Horstmann family brought it with them from Germany when they immigrated to America. (If anyone else has played this game in your family, we'd LOVE to hear what you know about its origins.)
As we have continued the more than 100-year-old tradition in our own families, it is always played at our formal holiday dinner table just as it was at the Horstmanns'. But we've also expanded it into new territory. Some of us pass around the candlesticks at a cocktail party and invite guests to light the candles where they're standing. Some of us play only at holidays, others at every dinner party. The options are endless but the game will be enjoyed by all who play it. We hope it becomes a part of your traditions, however and whenever you celebrate them!
Candle Tips
The candle holders are designed to work with standard birthday candles that can be found in any grocery store, but we’ve found that every batch of candles can work a little differently. Here are some tips for inserting the candles:
- Softer candles work better than harder ones
- We recommend using another candle to melt the base of each birthday candle slightly before inserting into the candlestick. Check out this video to see how.
- As the birthday candles melt, there will be wax drippings that will accumulate in or on the base of each candle holder. These can easily be cleaned by scraping off the wax (a strong toothpick or jewelry tool works really well), or you can dip your holder in warm-to-hot water and melt the wax off.
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Candle Holders are sold in sets of 4 and come packaged in a game box. Candles not included.
Safety Tips
Because the game involves burning small candles, we’d like to remind you of a few safety tips to follow:
- Never leave burning candles unattended.
- The goal of the game is to watch every candle until the last one extinguishes itself, so make sure they are all out by the end of the game.
- Only place the candle holder on a level, fire-resistant surface.
- It works great to play at the dining table but you can play it elsewhere as long as everyone has a safe place to put their candle holder.
- Do not burn candles near other flammable items.
- If you decide to allow players to build shelters, make sure that they stay well away from the flame and are not made of flammable material.
- Be careful of dripping wax.
- Wax will drip as the candles melt, but it hardens and cools quickly. Make sure the candle holders are placed on a surface that won’t be marred by a little melted wax, and don’t touch the wax while it’s hot.
- Children should be closely supervised by an adult while playing the candle game. The game is fun for people of all ages but kids should be closely watched so they don’t touch the candles, knock them over, or otherwise create havoc.
- Keep your pets away while the game is in progress.
- Make sure your dog doesn’t knock the table or your cat climb up and swish its tail to knock over a burning candle.