DIY Sturdy Advent Candle Wreath

   It happens every year,  I search and search for Advent Taper Candles only to have the candles broken by a child the first Sunday that we light the wreath.   It drives me crazy!    So I finally decided to make my own Advent Candles from sturdy little pillar candles.   This is project is so fast and easy, I highly recommend it for anyone with small children who need semi-childproof Advent wreaths.  The kids can't break these candles....but obviously all lighted candles need to be supervised around young children.  

To make these candles you will need the following:

4 small pillar candles :  Mine came from Bed Bath and Beyond.  2"round and 4" tall.  $8.00
Plain Green Wreath (Michael's Sells them)
Purple Ribbon for Decoration
old broken Crayola crayons:   Violet and Pink
a tuna tin
a shallow pot for boiling water.
flat paint brush.

Step 1:
Put a few inches of water in the shallow pan and bring it to a boil.

Step 2

Put the clean empty tuna tin in the pan so it sits in the water.  But do NOT get water in the tin.

Step 3.  Peel the pink Crayola crayon.  Throw a few crayons in the tin to melt.  I start with Pink so I can use the same can for the Violet color.  You can add a little white to the pink crayon wax to make it less 'Barbie' color.  I didn't think to do that in time...so mine is unfortunately, 'Barbie Pink'.

Step 4  

Allow the crayon to melt and dip your brush in the wax.  Quickly stroke the wax on the candle starting with the top near the wick.   Produce even strokes one next to the other, to cover the candle as smoothly as possible.  Let your brush warm in the wax after every few strokes as wax will harden in your brush if it gets too cold.

After you finish painting the pink candle then you can throw 3 purple crayons in with the remaining pink wax.   I added a white crayon too because I wanted to lighten the dark purple crayons I was using.  

Then I just placed my candles on the wreath,  I had to bend some of the wire branches out a bit so they would more easily accomodate the pillar candle.

 

If you wanted a fancier wreath, you could use a floral wreath form that you soak in water and add fresh greenery all around the wreath.   That would be lovely....but I don't have that amount of time to invest.   This whole project probably took me a total of 30 minutes to accomplish.   It only cost me $8 because I had the wreath from the past 20 years of Advent in my house.  I happened to have the ribbon, the crayons, the brushes.  All, I had to buy was the pillar candles.   That is what I consider, a super easy DIY project!