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How To Make Tea Light Candles At Home

How to make tea light candles at home in only four steps. You’ll be surprised how little you need to make tea lights! 

This year I’ve learned how easy and inexpensive tea light candles can be at home. You’ll love this DIY twist on an ordinary home decor staple! 

Classic bright white, round, and unscented, these homemade tea lights are exactly sized to fit any tea light candle holder. Group them together to dress the dinner table or set the mood around the bathtub with candlelight. No matter how you use them, you’ll quickly see how they work perfectly to create a warm, glowy atmosphere in any space. 

I know when you learn how to make tea light candles at home too, you won’t reach for storebought tea lights again because they are so easy-to-make! 

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Related To: Easy Homemade Candles

What do I need to make tea lights? 

You’ll be surprised how little you need to make tea light candles at home! For example, you don’t need dozens of containers. Yep, you can skip the metal or plastic cups most commercial tea lights come in. Instead, you can use one silicone mold. This one is sold as a silicone mold for mini muffins, but I discovered it creates the same dimension as tea lights. And it is much more affordable than candle molds.

I love that I can use it, again and again, to make as many tea lights as my heart desires! 

And if that isn’t practical enough, did you know you can reuse a candle jar as a tea light candle holder? Yep, remove the wax and clean out the jar. Then pop a little tea light in, and it’s back to being a candle! That’s exactly what I did with these gorgeous jars!! 

I don’t know about you, but I always feel so accomplished when I find ways to reuse things for zero waste living. Just like how I reuse coffee mugs to make coffee mug candles and fabric scraps to make lavender linen sachets and DIY beeswax wraps. 

Plus, you’ll save money by making sixteen tea light candles with the same amount of wax it would take to make one standard eight-ounce candle! 

What wax do you use to make tea lights?

Well, most tea lights are made from paraffin wax that creates unpleasant smoke and lasts for only an hour to an hour and a half. With some testing, I learned how to make tea light candles with organic coconut oil and white beeswax pastilles that have a burn time of 4 to 6 hours.

If you’re interested in candle making, you’ll appreciate this printable candle burn time chart for 14 candle sizes and my five essential tips to make a candle last longer.

Print out this Candle Burn Time Chart and more candle-making resources from the Simple Living Library. 

You can also get the same results with a blend of coconut oil and yellow beeswax pastilles that I shared in this candle tutorial.  Either way, you’ll have homemade tea light candles that don’t emit any smelly soot with the use of natural ingredients and 100% cotton wicks for a clean burn.

Related To: Candle Wax Types

How To Make Tea Light Candles At Home

So, if you were wondering if you can make your own tea lights? You’ll soon be surprised that making tea light candles at home is quite simple. In only four steps, you’ll have made more than a dozen tea light candles! 

Supplies for Tea Light Candles:

1 ½ inch silicone mold

1/2 lb white beeswax pastilles

12 tea light candle wicks (1 ½ inch)

12 glue dots

¼ cup coconut oil

This recipe makes 16 to 18 tea light candles, depending on how full you fill each cup of the mold. 

Instructions to Make Tea Light Candles:

Before you begin, it is helpful to line your work area with parchment paper to catch any drips or over pours. 

1. First, press the metal tab of a tea light candle wick into a glue dot while still on the roll. (Trust me, this is much easier than prying a glue dot off and then trying to apply it to the metal tab of the cotton wick.) Carefully pull the wick and glue dot from the roll and place it into the center base of one cup in the silicone mold. Repeat until you have prepped 16 or more. 

2. Use a kitchen scale to measure half a pound of white beeswax pastilles. Pour the wax into a candle melting pitcher and place it inside a saucepan filled with about 2 inches of water. Using the double boiler method, heat on low heat with a gentle simmer at most. Do not heat the wax above 170°F, as this may brown the wax. – Keep an eye on it with a quick infrared thermometer or a candle thermometer.

3.  Stir slowly, yet often with a wooden skewer. (You can toss it or compost after because the wax is hard to clean up.) Remove the pitcher from the heat immediately after melting. Scoop ¼ cup of coconut oil into the melted wax and stir until blended. 

4. The best temperature to pour beeswax is 150-160°F. Carefully pour the wax into each cavity of the mold. I recommend using a funnel or a narrow pouring pitcher like this one to help avoid spills. Allow the wax to cool and harden for a few hours before removing it from the mold. 

Beeswax Clean-Up Tips:

To clean up beeswax, place your candle pitcher back in the saucepan of water and allow the wax coating the pitcher to melt a little. Then remove it from the double boiler and wipe the wax out with an old cloth or paper towel. (Never pour hot wax down the drain!!) 

WANT A PRINTABLE TUTORIAL? 

This year I’ve made dozens of tea lights. I’ve used quite a bit myself and stashed a box or two full in my linen closet for the holidays. They make the perfect inexpensive handmade gift for Christmas. And I know they’ll be beautiful incorporated with my holiday decorations. 

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Pin these four steps to make tea light candles at home! Tag #lifenreflection on Instagram to share your candle making with me.