Light A Yankee Candle For Good Luck In 2011

Burning a Bayberry candle
From tip to socket
Puts luck in the home and
Gold in the pocket.

This year for my office gifts, I passed out more than just a trinket. I really gave my friends and coworkers my wishes for good luck in the coming year. You see, tradition holds that if you are given a Bayberry candle as a gift from a friend, and you burn that candle on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve you'll receive good luck, good health, and much wealth in the coming year.

Each year the chandlers in the candlemaking museum of our South Deerfield MA flagship store dip thousands of bayberry candles by hand, just the way it used to be done in colonial America. Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility just down the road apiece uses our decades of candlemaking expertise to craft not only Bayberry tapers but also our best-selling Holiday Bayberry™ scented candle line. Those candles are our beacons of light, welcoming the new year with hope, anticipation, and glowing wishes for all!

Happy New Year!

Top 10 Last Minute Gifts for Fragrance Fanatics

Are you looking for quick and easy ways to finish your holiday shopping? Here is my list of the Top 10 Last Minute "Guaranteed To Be Loved" gifts for fragrance fanatics:

1. A Festive Yankee Candle® jar candle - Whether you are looking for something that smells like a freshly cut Christmas Tree, the magic of the North Pole™, or like you've been baking Christmas Cookies™ all day, Yankee Candle has that "smells just like the holidays" scent!
2. New 2011 Yankee Candle® jar candle - Searching for something someone can use long after the decorations are put away? Pick up one of the new 2011 scents like Fluffy Towels™, Bahama Breeze or Orange Dreamsicle!
3. Yankee Candle® gift set - No time to wrap? Yankee Candle has gift sets in every price point!
4. Candle accessories - For the best-dressed candles in town, choose candle accessories in glass, ceramic, or metal!
5. Fragranced reed diffusers - Know someone who can't light a candle? Yankee Candle fragranced reed diffusers are the perfect flame-free solution!
6. Tarts® wax potpourri - Want something truly unique? Select Tarts® in several different scents so that the recipient can create their own custom mix!
7. Bayberry Tapers - New Year's Eve tradition says that "Burning a bayberry candle from tip to socket puts luck in the home and gold in the pocket"!
8. Candle tools - For the true candle connoisseur, put together a package of useful tools like wick snips, candle snuffers, and a butane candle lighter.
9. Samplers® votive candles - No fragrance lover's stocking is completely filled until there is a votive candle in the toe!
10. Scented Gift Card - When all else fails, let them choose their own gift with a scented Yankee Candle gift card in any denomination!

Yankee Candle's Wishes for a Scent-sational Season!

‘Twas two weeks before Christmas

When throughout my abode,

I was hustling and bustling

In full gift-giving mode.

With my list at the ready

I planned my attack

To bring fragrance to all,

A scent in each sack.

My eyes how they twinkled

As my nose took a whiff;

My senses went on holiday

With each yummy sniff.
For the teacher, I chose
A Gingerbread candle;
For my husband, of course

A Mistletoe man-dle.

For each of my sisters

I thought out of the box

Stuffing Car Jars® and wick snips

Into their socks.

My best friend loves Tarts®;

Her fave: Sparkling Snow™

I gave her a dozen

Tied up with a bow.

The last gift I wrapped,

Make no mistake

Was "From Me To Me":

My Christmas Cupcake!

So from my blog to your home,
I hope my wishes are clear
For a scent-sational holiday

And a fragrant New Year!

Yankee Candle Scents of Christmases Past

For me, each holiday season is an opportunity for reflection and remembering. It's a time to bring out the special china and remember all the joyous family gatherings around the table. It's a time to unwrap the ornament I made in kindergarten and hang it next to the one made by my daughter when she was the same age. And, it's a time to fill my home with the aromas that I remember from my favorite Christmases from years gone by. North Pole™ makes me think of all the yummy goodies my mother would make in the days preceding Christmas. Butterball and Spritz cookies from her Swedish cookbook, fudge and candy to package up as gifts. North Pole™ has that same rich vanilla and cool mint scent as sometimes wafted from Mom's kitchen. When I light Balsam & Cedar I think of the time of my childhood when my family lived in Maine, the Pine Tree State. Walking through the woods behind our family home the gorgeous scent of balsam would surround us with each step my sisters and I would take. And Red Apple Wreath makes me think about my first "grown up" party, a tree-trimming event I threw for my sister when she moved into her first apartment. I channeled Martha Stewart by carving out apples to use as votive candle holders. Who knew that years later I would work for America's Best Loved candle company?!


Your favorite Yankee Candle fragrances are found in Yankee Candle Company retail stores and gift shops nationwide.

Yankee Candle Outlet Stores Open For Midnight Madness!

After the post-feast nap, the football games, the kitchen clean-up, and the family's departure, what will you do Thanksgiving night? If you are like many bargain hunters you might be up for a little bit of shopping madness ... Midnight Madness to be exact! An increasing number of shoppers decide to brave the wee hours and head to Outlet Centers as the calendar turns from Thanksgiving eve to Black Friday morning. Those who do reap the rewards of deeper deals and the best selection. For this year's Midnight Madness, all Yankee Candle Outlet stores will be offering INCREDIBLE deals on all large jar candles: 6 for $60, 4 for $44, or 2 for $25 (regular outlet price is $15 each)! Of course, Midnight Madness is certainly not for the faint of heart. To make the most of the midnight run you'll need to arm yourself with a list of must-have gifts, a back-up list of substitute scents, a good friend to help you navigate through the mayhem and sufficient caffeine to keep your motor going. When you get there you will find the kind of merry chaos that can only happen when people feel the thrill of the deal! It's a sure bet that if you experience Midnight Madness in a Yankee Candle Outlet store once, you'll make it an annual tradition. It's as American as Black Friday shopping itself!

Please note that some centers will open earlier than midnight so to be the first in line, call your local store for their hours. Follow these links to find the closest Yankee Candle Outlet store to you:
Premium Outlets
Tanger Outlets

Have A Holiday Mixer with Yankee® Candles!

Everyone knows that the holiday season brings with it sights, sounds, and scents! My hometown is already being dressed up with evergreen garland wrapped around each light pole and I'm thinking about which fragrance will be my signature scent of the season. In addition to my traditional favorites like Christmas Eve® and Mistletoe®, I like to mix my own recipe on occasion. I may take a little fruit, add some spice, and perhaps a touch of sweetness and voila! My home smells like my mother's did on Christmas morning! On a different day, I might combine my favorite pine (like Balsam & Cedar) with a fruit such as Macintosh and I'm reminded of strolling through Sturbridge Village or Colonial Williamsburg. These unique blends become my own custom holiday fragrances. Yankee Candle calls it Fragrance Mixology, but I call it my little secret - the finishing touch that makes an ordinary event truly extraordinary!

Think about your own favorite holiday traditions: a big holiday meal, a day to bake your favorite treats, a hike in the woods to collect pinecones and boughs? Experiment with two or three different Yankee Candle scents to produce an aroma that reminds you of this special time. If you use Tarts® wax potpourri, you can break them into pieces and add a little of each into the bowl of the warmer until you get the aroma that you like. (Be careful not to add too many pieces, you don’t want melted wax to drip out of the warmer!) If you use Samplers® votive candles, you can either use several holders throughout your entertaining space or you can buy a unique clover shaped holder for just $7.99 at www.yankeecandle.com that will allow you to burn 3 votives together. Once you're a master mixologist, you could even try blending scents with non-candle forms such as warming oils, or even using a candle in one fragrance and a reed in another. The scents will mix as they waft through the air.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Frosty Air™ + Early Sunrise™ = Winter Solstice
  
• Winter Wonderland + Buttercream® + Christmas Cupcake = Marshmallow World
• Christmas At The Beach™ + Sun & Sand + Vanilla Lime® = Christmas in Key West
  

You can see that the possibilities are endless – truly limited only by your own imagination. Have fun and let me know what custom scent you create for the holiday season!

A Trip Down Memory Lane with Yankee Candle

While some may complain that store holiday décor goes up earlier each year, I must admit that I get excited when I see that first Christmas ad on TV. It automatically takes me back to my childhood when many of those commercials quickly became items on my Santa wish list. Would that be the year I found The Sunshine Family or Baby Tender Love under the tree? Or would I finally get the Easy Bake Oven all of my friends already had? Even when they weren’t toy commercials, holiday ads would catch my attention because of their whimsy and magic. Who would forget the Norelco snowman or Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales? Enter my new favorite holiday accessory from Yankee Candle: The Night Before Christmas TV Hanging Tarts® Warmer. With two enchanting little mice sitting captivated by the holiday show on television, there is something so special about this piece. It’s more than a candle accessory – it’s a glowing memory of yesteryear that’s sure to inspire new traditions!

Yankee Candle Night Before Christmas Accessories - including this $29.99 Tarts® warmer - are available on http://www.yankeecandle.com/cgi-bin/ycbvp/retail.jsp and in Yankee Candle Company retail stores nationwide.

Yankee Candle's "Scent of Your First Boyfriend" Turns 16!

I just read that actress Kate Walsh is developing a perfume she hopes will remind you of a boyfriend. The article reminded me of a favorite Yankee Candle scent. Officially described as "an intoxicating and masculine blend of musk, patchouli, sage and mahogany cologne" Midsummer's Night® by Yankee Candle is better known to its millions of fans as the "first boyfriend scent". Since its debut in 1994 Midsummer's Night® has been there for first dates and weddings and it often provides soothing comfort for the brokenhearted. It’s one of those candle scents with an unmistakably powerful aroma. I once blogged about candles that become the “scent-track” of your life in the same way that special music can become the soundtrack of your life. Midsummer’s Night® is one of those fragrances. It is the underscore for a new romance and the trigger for memories of an old flame. And like every great romance, once you experience it you will never forget it! Happy 16^th birthday Midsummer’s Night®!

Midsummer's Night® is available in candles and home fragrance products online, in Yankee Candle Company retail stores, and other fine gift shops.

Yankee Candle's Spiced Pumpkin Story

The pumpkin has long been a popular symbol for celebrating the harvest in America ... a time to savor the bounty and beauty of nature. It's also a time to be thankful for our good fortune as we share our homes and hearths with family and friends.

It was in this spirit that the Yankee Candle Company first introduced Spiced Pumpkin candles 24 years ago. A favorite seasonal treat, its authentic, true-to-life fragrance of pumpkins baked in simmering spices of clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and sweetened with brown sugar, brings back warm, inviting autumn memories.

Today, Yankee Candle's pumpkin collection includes such yummy scents as Pumpkin Pie, Vanilla Pumpkin, and Frosted Pumpkin. But it is the original, Spiced Pumpkin, that is my personal favorite. It reminds me of Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house, the air filled with fragrance, laughter, and love. Today it's my choice for celebrating autumn traditions and building future memories with my own family.

Find your tradition at Yankee Candle stores nationwide and online.

My New Home Sweet Home

We bought a new house yesterday! Well, it's not "new" new, it's just new to us. We had the closing in the morning so when I picked up my daughter at school in the afternoon I asked her if she wanted to see our new house. She squealed and jumped up and down with excitement. So the three of us (my husband, daughter, and me) celebrated last night. We picked up a pizza and sat on the floor of our new and empty family room. As we ate, we burned a Home Sweet Home® Yankee Candle jar and let the scent fill the empty spaces with coziness and the promise of warm memories yet to come!

The perennial favorite, and Yankee Candle classic, Home Sweet Home® is on sale now in all Yankee Candle Company retail stores and online.

Yankee Candle Scents & Nonsense

Not too long ago my family and I visited the home of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Vermont. In their typical tongue-in-cheek fashion, the Ben & Jerry's marketers have decided to acknowledge the flavors that did not quite make the grade by displaying them on tombstones in a faux flavor graveyard. This got me to thinking about the Yankee Candle hits and misses over the years. What products and fragrances had real glow and which were no more than a pool of melted wax? In no one’s opinion but my own, here are the top 3 hits and misses in my Yankee Candle history:

Wax On

MacIntosh & Sage & Citrus – When introduced in 1998, MacIntosh and Sage & Citrus were enormously popular right from the first sniff. We’d had other scents that struck chords with our fans over the years, but these two were so uniquely wonderful that they led the way for other signature scents like Midsummer’s Night®, Clean Cotton®, and Mistletoe™.

Car Jars® - It’s been a decade since the launch of our candle-shaped auto fragrancers and boy has the Yankee Candle fan’s life changed since. This was our first non-candle product and since then fragrance fanatics the world over have been able to enjoy Yankee Candle scents in room sprays, potpourri, reeds, and even lip balm and anti-bac soap!

Fan Feedback – If there is one thing that changes the dynamic of everything we do, it’s hearing from and listening to all of the people who use our products. Whether we’re talking to customers face-to-face in our stores, reading what they write on facebook, or analyzing sales, our fans speak to us loud and clear!

Wax Off

Rhubarb Plum & Gooseberry Jam – These are two recent examples of when some scents can be a little too true-to-life!

Fragrant Shades of White – This out-of-the-box concept was developed on the notion that people may buy a candle if only its color didn’t clash with home décor. We poured all our best-selling fragrances in colorless wax so that if you wanted MacIntosh but detest the color red you could still enjoy the scent. Interest in these Fragrant Shades quickly faded away!

Discontinuing Storm Watch® & Fireside™ – And, I could add such other fan favorites as Eucalyptus and Patchouli. You all spoke loud and clear when these scents went away and we certainly learned an important lesson. We welcomed these favorites back into the line and you’ve welcomed them back into your homes!

Yankee Candle Fragrance Mixology

Like the best celebrity chefs, Yankee Candle fans love to mix their own recipes. They may take a little fruit, add some spice, and perhaps a touch of sweetness and voila! They get a scent unlike any other - their own custom home fragrance. At Yankee Candle we call it Fragrance Mixology, but you can call it the finishing touch that makes an ordinary event extraordinary!

To create your custom scent, think of it in terms of taste - what flavors go well together? If you have a little sour, you probably need a little sweet to balance it. The headiness of a floral might be tempered nicely by a fresh scent. Once you've thought about what might make a nice blend, it's time to shop for the fragrances! Narrow down your choice to 2 or 3 scents that sound like they’ll go well together and you can have fun experimenting. If you use Tarts® wax potpourri, you can break them into pieces and add a little of each into the bowl of the warmer until you get the aroma that you like. (Be careful not to add too many pieces, you don’t want melted wax to drip out of the warmer!) If you use Samplers® votive candles, you can either use several holders throughout your entertaining space or you can buy a unique clover shaped holder at www.yankeecandle.com that will allow you to burn 3 votives together. Once you're a master mixologist, you could even try blending scents with non-candle forms such as warming oils, or even using a candle in one fragrance and a reed in another. The scents will mix as they waft through the air.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Spiced Orange + Cranberry Chutney + Vineyard® = Autumn Harvest
• Creamy Caramel + Buttercream® + Fireside™ = Campfire Marshmallow
• Patchouli + Spiced Pumpkin = Witches' Parlor

You can see that the possibilities are endless – truly limited only by your own imagination. Have fun and let me know what custom scent you create!

New From Yankee Candle: Fragranced Figurines

I have a new way to add round-the-clock fragrance to my home and boy is it cute! No, I haven't given up on candles - not by a long shot. But there are times that I want to add scent without lighting a candle. Of course I use electric fragrancers but in my old home I don't always have a convenient outlet. That's why I was delighted to find these new fragrance diffusers from Yankee Candle®. They're pleasant to look at and pleasantly scented, adding seasonal charm wherever they are. The key is in the unglazed porcelain stem and leaf at the top of the pumpkin and apple. When you fill the vessel with MacIntosh or Spiced Pumpkin fragrance, the oil wicks up the porcelain and wafts through the room.
My home feels so warm and inviting even when the house has been empty because these darling little figurines are working overtime!

At Yankee Candle It's the Season for Leaf Peeping & Fall Festivals

All of a sudden it's fall. Saturday was one of those remarkably beautiful September days where you could feel that the change of season is coming. The air temperature was just cool enough for a sweater and yet the sun still felt warm on my face. Here in Western Massachusetts, it's the time of year when the hills are really alive. The leaves are just starting to turn and the farm stands are filled to overflowing with big round pumpkins, cornstalks and delightful scarecrows. It's no wonder that so many of our favorite Yankee Candle fragrances are inspired by this time of year! My favorite (as mentioned in previous blog posts) is Spiced Pumpkin, but other scents such as Autumn Leaves™ and our signature MacIntosh really strike a chord as well.
Whether you are in a cooler climate or whether your seasonality is a bit more subtle, Yankee Candle helps to transform your home to a quaint New England autumn inn just by lighting a candle!

Savor The Last Days of Summer with Fireside™ by Yankee Candle

I just finished reading an article posted to Seacoastonline about the tradition of signaling summer's end with a bonfire on the beach. The article brought forth a flood of memories. As a transplant to Massachusetts, I quickly learned that you really can't consider yourself a citizen of the Bay State unless you've spent some time on The Cape (Cape Cod to the rest of the world). Although getting on and off the Cape can be a daunting task - many a weekend is extended in an attempt to avoid the ever-present traffic - the rewards of spending time in one of the quaint towns or on the National Seashore are as fulfilling as the drive is frustrating. I remember on our first trip to Truro, my husband and I were enchanted by the collections of people who remained on the beach long after the sun had set, each group encircling a glowing and crackling campfire in the sand. The simplicity of enjoying a day so much that you don't want it to ever end and the comfort of good friends and warm firelight illuminating a starry night, are images I won't forget. This weekend, as Labor Day signifies the last of the carefree summer days and Hurricane Earl is setting his sites on the eastern seaboard, I'll be inland in Western Massachusetts. But I'll light my Yankee Fireside™ candle, and have my own salute to the summer that was, imagining that crackling wood fire in the salt mist air. Happy Labor Day Weekend, everyone!

Yankee Candle Flagship Festival September 25-26

Have you ever wondered just how Yankee Candle captures such authentic and true-to-life fragrances in our candles? Yesterday I had the privilege and pleasure to listen to some of members of our Fragrance Committee as they talked about the components of fragrance and just how different notes and accords are combined in the perfect recipe to achieve those distinctive scents. As I sat there I wished every Yankee Candle fan could be privy to the discussion and learn all about the science and art of crafting our candles. Good News! We are excited to announce our first-ever Flagship Festival at Yankee Candle South Deerfield MA and Yankee Candle Williamsburg VA. Visit our flagship stores on the weekend of September 25-26 and you can spend time with members of our Fragrance Committee and others who light the fire of our imaginations! In both stores there are opportunities for our facebook fans to get to know one another and mingle with other passionate candle connoisseurs. We'll have some exclusive special edition jar candles and you can even express your affection for Yankee Candle on video! Make plans now for our First Ever Flagship Festivals - I'm sure you'll have a wick-ed good time!

True Confessions from a Yankee Candle Fanatic

Shhh ... don't tell my husband, but I've fallen for an old flame. Every year when the days grow shorter and the air is a little cooler, memories come flooding back. I'm filled with warmth as I think of a sweet and spicy favorite friend: Yankee Candle's Spiced Pumpkin. Oh, I've tried others like Autumn Leaves™ and MacIntosh Spice. I've even had a little crush on Harvest® for a time. But none of those scents tugs at my heart the way that good ol' Spiced Pumpkin does. I don't know whether it's the spicy clove, the warm nutmeg, or the sweet brown sugar that fills my soul with a glowing happiness. Maybe it's the unmistakably authentic pumpkin scent. Whatever the reason, I just know that Spiced Pumpkin will never fail me. It will bring true-to-life fragrance to my home from the first light to the last - satisfaction guaranteed!

Evening Picnics by the Light of Yankee Candles

Summer seems to begin with a flurry of activity: the end of the school year, graduations, dance recitals, parades, weddings, travel and vacation. Beginning in August, there are a few precious weeks that end up being some of my favorite moments. Those days when summer is waning and the days are growing shorter, but the sun is still strong and the evenings still warm. The farm stands are bursting with late harvest crops and no meal is complete without freshly picked sweet corn and plump, juicy tomatoes. Because I know that these nights won't last and cold weather bringing busy schedules is just around the bend, my goal is to enjoy every moment outside. Tonight, I'll set the patio table, light Conceal® candles, and dine on sliced freshly ripened beefsteak tomatoes with mozzarella, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and served with a baguette. As the evening stars begin to twinkle we'll sip a glass of chilled Riesling and listen to the carefree play of children acting as if back to school is a long, long time from now!

Future Yankee Candle Chandlers

For her 7th birthday last year, my daughter knew just what kind of a party she wanted: Wax Works. Wax Works is the name of the hands-on DIY section of Yankee Candle flagship stores in South Deerfield MA and Williamsburg VA. At Wax Works, wannabee Yankee Candle chandlers of all ages can try their hands (literally) at making candles and other wax products. Ella and her friends gathered in the party room adjacent to the Wax Works section of the store. When the party started, each of them was able to craft their own custom-scented jar candle, dip their own hanging candles, and create their own wax hand mold! It's great because the party fun became the party favor that they could take home with them. The kids had a blast and their creations were so memorable. I'm sure we'll be booking birthday number 8 there this year!

Yankee Candle Builds Bikes for Big Brothers Big Sisters

August is a funny month to work at Yankee Candle. It's a time when we're dressed for the heat of the summer, but our stores are selling Halloween and we're thinking of Christmas. It’s like all of the fall/winter holidays merge together!

Every August shortly after unveiling our Halloween collection in the stores and on the website, our corporate offices host the retail sales team in a 3-day conference to pump everyone up for the holiday season. District Sales Managers and Store Managers travel from all across the country to South Deerfield MA in order to learn everything they can about the new candles and accessories they'll be selling during the busiest time of the year. For this year's meeting, we added a different element: team building for charity. About 100 Yankee Candle employees from several different departments joined together in what they believed to be a standard team building activity. What they didn't know was that their teamwork would have a lasting impact on them and on families in the neighboring community.

Through the help of a company called TeamBonding, Yankee Candle partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County in Massachusetts. BBBS-FC identified 26 children from the area who were in need of bicycles and YC put together teams to build bikes for them. While we were laboring over the mechanics of the bikes and testing them for safety, the kids were making their own candles in our store! At the end of the event, the sales teams brought the fruits of their labor to the excited children and their families! I don’t know who received the greater gift, the kids or those of us who made the bikes for them. I do know that when Christmas came to Yankee Candle it was on a hot August day that I’ll never forget!

Yankee Candle: The Mystery of Yankee Manor

Yankee Candle's 2010 Halloween Collection Debuts Nationwide 8/7

In our annual tradition, Yankee Candle launches the Halloween collection - complete with this year's edition of the famous Boney Bunch - with a preview party on Saturday August 7th. Contact your local Yankee Candle Company retail store for details or shop online www.yankeecandle.com

Boney Bunch 2010
August 7, 2010
Coming to a Yankee Candle Company store near you!

Yankee Candle Makes Ordinary Days Extraordinary!

For the past year or so the marketing theme for the Walt Disney Parks has been "What Will You Celebrate?" Their notion is that every day there is a reason to celebrate. Whether small or large, traditional or unique, there are ordinary moments that should be made notable. I think there is something to be said for celebrating everyday life. Today my husband started a new job, having been with his former company for 16 years. Tonight, my daughter and I will help him celebrate this moment with a candlelit dinner on our patio. In fact, although this night will have special significance, we like to celebrate every warm summer evening in the same fashion. We always share the best part of our day with each other. The memories created during our alfresco dinners keep us warm throughout New England’s often harsh winter months. Tonight, try to turn your ordinary evening into an extraordinary one. The celebration doesn’t have to be elaborate; just light your favorite Yankee® scent, turn off electronic devices, and share a moment with a loved one. The next time you light that candle, I’m sure the memories of your extraordinary night will come rushing back and you’ll be looking for more reasons to celebrate the ordinary!

Hit the Beach With Yankee Candle!

Maybe it's because our company is based in New England which is so rich with seafaring traditions, but Yankee Candle candlemakers seem to be unusually inspired by the ocean. With fragrances ranging from Beach Walk™ to Ocean Blossom™ to Sea Harbor to Coconut Bay™ our nautical scents run through nearly every fragrance family. Last year we even debuted our Festive scent Christmas at the Beach™! It seems there is a seaside scent for every season, and there is no better one to fragrance this time of the year than our old friend Seaside Holiday™. Back for a limited time as one of our Rare Treasures, Seaside Holiday™ is described as a calming blend of ocean air, salt mist roses, beach plum, and sea grass. First introduced nearly a decade ago, this is one of those truly timeless candles that is as much at home in a cottage on the shore as it is in a trendy city brownstone.

A Scented Memory

Some people remember their first day on the job because they were excited or nervous or overwhelmed. I remember my first day on the job because of the way it smelled. February 16 1993 I arrived to my new job at the Yankee Candle Company and the air was filled with a mix of whatever they were making that day. I remember it being a strong floral - maybe Country Heather - with a sweet French Vanilla twist. To this day that scent will return and it will carry me back to that moment in time. The sense of smell is amazing that way. I remember in those early years when candles were poured where our store's Candle Emporium is today, I went home smelling like the fragrance that was being made. It was a good day if the scent was something like Sage & Citrus or the refreshing MacIntosh. Look out when an overpowering citronella was being made (thank goodness we now have Conceal® to ward off mosquitoes in a much more pleasant way)! On a Midsummer's Night® day, people at the local grocery store assumed I was wearing my boyfriend's clothes. When Spiced Pumpkin was on the menu I always felt like there would be something yummy waiting for me when I got home. Our factory is just down the road apiece from where it was back then and new technology allows us to keep much more of that precious scent in the wax rather than allowing it to waft away in the air. When the atmosphere is just right, though, and our candlemakers are crafting certain scents, I get a whiff of something wonderfully familiar and I feel that same first day of work excitement again. Yankee Candle, thanks for the memories!

Yankee Candle Flagship Is a Candle Wonderland!

Far more than just a candle shop, the Yankee Candle Flagship Store in South Deerfield, MA is known as the "Mothership" to the company’s 160,000 facebook fans. For almost 30 years, candle enthusiasts have planned annual visits and weekend getaways to the site that began as a hard-working factory. Now home to 400,000 candles in more than 200 different fragrances, the flagship store is a unique, entertaining world of New England charm, fairy tale fantasies, and hands-on, interactive candlemaking that's fun for every age. With indoor snow showers each and every day, summertime is a great time to visit this candle wonderland!

Traveling through New England in the month of July? Be sure to visit the Yankee Candle Flagship Store from July 21-24 to be part of a very special event. The store will be taping a video and including as many candle fans as possible. Show up any of those mornings between 8-8:30 a.m. to participate in the video and receive a complimentary shopping discount for the store.
For more information, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=139651812718374&ref=nf

Yankee Candle's Top Tips for Using Candles Outside

This weekend, like many American families, we had a backyard barbecue. For ambiance, I decided to use the Mango Peach Salsa candle that I'd placed on our patio table several weeks ago. Only problem? I couldn't light it. The wick just seemed to spark a bit and then it wouldn't light at all. Suddenly I remembered the previous weekend's storm - rainwater had gotten into the candle! You see, water and candles just don't mix. Water can get into the melted wax where it becomes trapped when the wax hardens. Sometimes you can see this as a water bubble just below the surface of the wax. Often a wick won't relight once it's been drenched in water. If it does, the wax can actually splatter as it starts to melt and hits that pool of water. To get the most out of outdoor candlelight, follow these top tips:

1. Keep lit candle away from flammable material such as foliage and grass.
2. A shade or Illuma-lid® jar topper will help keep the candle from blowing out if it's windy.
3. Extinguish the flame when you are no longer outside to observe the candle.
4. Bring your candle in or replace its lid to prevent water from getting on the wick or in the wax.

Yankee Candle Serves Up a Slice of Americana

When I close my eyes and smell Yankee Candle's new Apple Pie fragrance, I am immediately brought to another place and time. It's Nana's kitchen and I'm about 8 years old. My Nana, who just turned a youthful 97-years-old made the very best apple pie that I have ever tasted. The crust was flaky and my favorite part was when the juices from the apples mixed with sugar and spices and oozed out of the corners and crevices. How our master candle makers and fragrancers captured Nana's pie, I will never know. The only thing that's sure is that lighting this candle will always make me feel warm and happy - just like being in Nana's kitchen!

Yankee Candle® Fund-Raising Helps Build Playgrounds

A classmate of my 8-year-old niece is in a wheelchair so when she was enrolling in the elementary school the PTO needed to find a way to make the playground handicapped accessible. They turned to Yankee Candle® Fund-Raising. In selling Yankee® candles, the group was able to achieve their goal and raise what they needed to modify the equipment, making it a safe play space for all children. This fund-raiser has been so successful for them, in fact, that they've now completed their 5th year selling Yankee® candles!

"The Yankee Candle® Fund-Raiser was the most effortless and profitable fund-raiser we have had and we look forward to our next Yankee Candle® sale scheduled for this fall."
– South Boston, MA

Yankee Candle's Sparkling Lemon Adds The Spark To My Day!

Ever wonder why so many cleaning products are made with a "lemon-fresh" scent? According to some, it may very well be because that distinctive citrus scent can make even the most mundane task seem fun and easy! The fragrance of lemons is one of four aromas that are are identifiable with positive energy. Smelling lemon is said to boost your mood and increase your stamina. No wonder why I'm always energized when I'm burning a Sparkling Lemon candle! What other fragrances are good mood enhancers? Well, if you need a "perk" me up, try smelling a Cafe Au Lait candle as even just the scent of coffee can awaken you almost as much as grabbing a cappuccino from your favorite cafe. And, if you're preparing for an important job interview, be sure to chew a peppermint candy - a scent linked to better accuracy in tasks - and light a Cinnamon Stick candle to help you concentrate on landing the position.

Make a Change With a Jar of Change

An e-mail that we received this week was really thought-provoking. The message was sent from Diane, a person who has been using Yankee® candles for years but has had difficulty finding ways to re-use her empty jars. That is, until she read a book called Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright. Mr. Wright’s book relates a tradition of collecting a year’s worth of spare change in an empty jar and then anonymously gifting it to someone in need. Diane was inspired by this book and found that large Yankee Candle jars are the perfect vessel to collect the spare change. She began giving away jars of change last year and plans to continue to do so in the years ahead. Diane hopes that these anonymous jars of change will change a person’s life. In reading Diane’s message, I too was inspired. I plan to start my own jar of change and with it I hope to teach my daughter the great gift found in giving to others.

Candles for Dads

Working with candles everyday, I am often reminded that the first person to ever share with me his love for scented candles was my father. Growing up it was often a joke that when we went to Virginia's Pottery Factory as a family, my mother would browse for pots while my father loaded the trunk with candles of varying shapes and forms to bring back home. (This was, of course, in the 70's before Yankee Candle® came into my life!) In fact, my sisters and I knew that Dad was waxing nostalgic when he would light all the candles on the porch and turn on the radio to the oldies station. It's no surprise then that while others may think of candles for the women in their lives, I turn to them just as often for my Dad. So, what is an appropriate candle for a man? Of course it depends on the person and his taste in scents. Several weeks ago my father celebrated his birthday and I gave him a Conceal® mosquito blocking candle to use when he's outside gardening. As a retired Naval officer, he loved the Stars & Stripes™ candle I gave him for Memorial Day. And with Father's Day quickly approaching I'm looking to something like Sea Harbor™ or Sun & Sand® so that we can reminisce about our fun days at the beach!

How to Create Your Own Custom Yankee Candle® Scent

A favorite activity among candle fans is creating their own custom blend with Tarts® wax potpourri. Dubbed Fragrance Mixology™ by the Yankee Candle Company, this kind of DIY home fragrance is two parts art and one part science. It's sort of Iron Chef meets Bill Nye the Science Guy! For the artistic part, mixologists need to know which fragrances would make a great blend. Would you try mixing Coconut Bay™ and Midsummer's Night®? What about Honeydew Melon and Storm Watch®? Just as different foods will bring out different tastes when combined, different scents will also bring out the best (or the worst) in each other. Once you decide on the combo, you need to determine how much of each fragrance to combine. That's the science part. Do you make each part equal, or would you rather have more of one scent shine through? Through trial and error, mixologists will come up with just the right recipe and then don their artistic cap again to craft the perfect - and perfectly clever - name for their creation.

Fragrance mixologist extraordinaire Leigh Silas Hanrihan catalogued all of the recipes tried in the test kitchens of Yankee Candle® fans around the world and posted them on this website:

http://candlemixarchive.weebly.com/ .

The next time you want to provide just the right fragrance for your home, have fun developing your own custom blend!

Scenting The Way To College Life

'Tis the season for graduations! We went to one graduation party last weekend and have two others to attend this weekend! It seems like just yesterday that they graduated from kindergarten and now they're packing their bags heading to the halls of higher learning. One of my favorite ways to prepare someone for life in a dorm is to give them a box of lifesavers. Not the fruity candy kind, but the kind that you can really turn to when the road gets kind of rough. I buy a plastic tote and fill it with things like microwave popcorn for late-night studies, breakfast bars for early morning classes, a dictionary because spellcheck doesn't catch everything, ear plugs for snoring roommates, a roll of quarters for the laundry, and a gift card to a local grocery store. And, of course, I include the e-scentials for dorm life: flameless fragrance! Things like Yankee Candle® Electric fragrancers and reed diffusers in a favorite scent really turn a stale dorm room into a little home away from home. Add in Good Air™ room sprays to eliminate the stench of overcooked microwave popcorn (among other unpleasant odors) and your co-ed will be the envy of the floor! I finish the box with personal care products for young people who like to light the candle at both ends: vitamins and anti-bacterial hand sanitizer. While life will always take an unexpected turn, at least you know your student can open a little box of love and care and think of you!

Yankee Candle Fragrance Boosts Your Scent Appeal!

I first realized the emotional appeal of Yankee Candle fragrances when I was house hunting. When my husband and I were newly married and living in a small apartment, one of our favorite pasttimes was scouring the neighborhood for real estate open houses. We loved visiting houses of all types and styles and dreaming about our "some day" home. In those days my favorite houses were the ones that not only looked pretty, but they smelled good too. There was something about a fragrant home that made it feel happy and loved. Inevitably I would find that the source of the scent was a lit Yankee® candle in the kitchen or living room. The warm, friendly aromas of Home Sweet Home® or MacIntosh would fill the air and the house would take on a completely different feel.

On their blog "Real Estate Advice, Answers, and More" Nothnagle Real Estate references the impact of a home's scent on its market value. They write, "there is a direct connection between smell and people's moods so light fragrances can help create 'scent appeal' when used properly in the home ... A light floral fragrance can put people in a more pleasant mood while citrus scents tend to have an energizing effect. Vanilla is often found to be comforting and relaxing." And they further recommend that, "a small reed diffuser in a bathroom can keep the room smelling clean while not overpowering the space."

It makes sense, doesn't it? To make a house a home, you add curb appeal to the outside so why not add scent appeal to the inside?

Yankee® Candles Glow With Style

Last week, super model and business woman Tyra Banks asked her Twitter followers if they light candles. She tweeted that although she loves candles she very rarely lights them and she wondered if there were others like her. Almost immediately many of her followers responded with their own tweets proclaiming their addiction not just to candles, but to Yankee® candles! And, just as strongly, they talked about their love for lighting candles. Yankee Candle fans know that the beauty of a scented candle is not just the cold fragrance that you get when you lift the lid of the jar, but it is also in the glow and the warming of the fragrance. When the scent is warmed, the fragrance will intensify and it will spread throughout the area. Beyond the fragrance, the glow from a lit candle adds ambiance like no other light can. A lit candle joins music and accessories in really defining your personal style. I say, don't hold back Tyra - let your candles glow!

Yankee Candle Helps You Show Your Stars & Stripes™ This Memorial Day!

The unofficial kick-off to the summer season is Memorial Day Weekend and if the weather is good, we'll drape the porch with bunting, hang out Ol' Glory, and light the up the grill. The great Memorial Day backyard barbecue is as American as, well, Yankee Candle!

This year, I will be proud to add a special edition Stars & Stripes™ Yankee® candle as part of my celebration. Appropriately fragranced with our famous Home Sweet Home® scent, the candle has a beautiful image of the waving flag.

Celebrating America is nothing new for our Massachusetts-based company. From annual gifts within our community, helping schools and non-profits raise needed funds through Yankee Candle® Fund-raising, and supporting our troops with exclusive products sold in all military exchanges including the Coast Guard, Marines and Veterans Canteen Services, Yankee Candle believes in being good corporate citizens. In 2009 we joined forces with AAFES in an event that touched many of our hearts. To commemorate the opening of bases in Germany and Korea we created “Send Me Home For the Holidays”, a campaign during which we were able to reunite two soldiers with their families at Christmas. It was deeply moving and we are eager to duplicate our efforts again this year.

Whether you plan to watch a parade, gather with family, or shop ‘til you drop, I hope your Memorial Day Weekend kicks off a summer filled with scent-sational memories!