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.

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!

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!

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!