Fun Pumpkin Candle Holders

When we think of candles the immediate association is always with Christmas. But to me Halloween also provides many wonderful candles and candle holders. The pumpkin is iconic and its round happy size provides ample decorative possibilities. I am not quite sure how my own collection started. I used to see them in the shops at the mall and would pick one up. If you keep your eyes peeled there are also some good ones to be had after the 31st October at half price, an investment for next year. I now have fifteen or twenty and I still intend to add more. I always say this is my last one but it never works

In this article you can find some of my favourite pumpkin candle holders that can be found on Amazon or ebay or encourage you to look in your local stores. I hope you find the item that you are looking for.

The origin of the pumpkin as a symbol of Halloween is far from certain. It is certainly associated with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow in which a headless horseman hurls a 'head' at Ichabod Crane. It is also associated with the Irish Wil o' the Wisp or strange light emanating from dark woods or waters. There is also a tale of a boy who took a discarded pumpkin from a farmer's field and carved faces on it. But how much of this came before or after the connection to Halloween there is no evidence. Suffice to say the pumpkin became central to the Halloween celebration some time after the middle of the nineteenth century.

Development in the United Kingdom has been a lot slower as this time of year was dominated by bonfire night on November 5th. But with the danger of fireworks and accidents that were happening, Halloween is now promoted as a safer celebration and you now see pumpkins in shops throughout the UK. On a personal note my experience is that the pumpkin has many attributes that make it a worthwhile candidate for a glowing head, namely the hollow centre yet robust flesh of the fruit. It is quite easy for even the most amateur to carve a decent head.

A personal review

As a husband and father I was the one assigned the duty of handing out candies on Halloween. This was not something to which I was accustomed but I dutifully bought the pumpkin and hollowed it out before adding a candle and sitting it on the front porch step. Then from 5pm to 8pm I handed out candies to all and sundry until the stash ran out.

While the role itself was fulfilling I did not feel that my own character was represented in the procedure. I wanted to add something that I enjoyed. Thus began my collection of candle holders. We already had our family routine of Christmas where the house was lit by candles instead of lights so i just extended the idea to Halloween. By a few halloweens later I had a parade of candles eerily lighting the front porch as the little tykes (and big ones) came to the door with their trick or treat.

The industry continues to come out with new varieties every year so there is a host of styles to choose from. I also recommend you check the stores after halloween when there are a lot of 50% reductions in the shops and you can really add to your collection. Happy hunting !

This is where we get into the really cute items. Who could not love this little guy. Sigh, I started building this site to show other people what is available but I end up wanting to buy it all myself. I hope you find them as enjoyable as I do. When you are writing about something you love yourself the article becomes very personal and it can go two ways. Either become very silly and people think you are a nut case or you really present an item in a way that shows it is something personal to you. I hope that I have managed to show you the latter.

One of the best Pumpkin stores in Ontario. Legg's is a great place to stop and browse all the pumpkins or visit the shop and enjoy a glass of apple cider while you search the store for souvenirs. They have an extraordinary number of pumpkins littered over the area and well worth a visit in October to get into the spirit.

Legg's is easy to find close to London in Southern Ontario on the north side on Highway 23 coming down from Listowel and Mitchell or Highway 4 from Exeter, some gorgeous farming country in this area of Ontario..

Photo By Peter Broster

For those who like metalwork there is an extensive range of rustic ornaments and candle holders to choose from. They can work equally well outside as in and are not likely to be damaged by keen trick or treaters. They are a different product where you need to buy a candle separately but they can be very effective. I have tried to find one that can be attached to a brick wall but as yet to no avail. I bought one that was made for the classic style candle like the slim ones put on a Christmas table. The headache was then finding the orange candles but I was very pleased with the overall effect.

As my children got older the pumpkins seemed to get larger. I think this was not so much a real happening as they were able to pick up larger and larger pumpkins from the field. There is a limited time where kids enthusiastically hunt for pumpkins and I am pretty sure this photo was near the end.

This is where china pumpkins came into prominence, no longer interested in the real thing we still had children coming to the door and not being party poopers we made a presentation of all the items that we had collected over the years combined with a pumpkin, bought from a shop. Sigh!

I hope this article will give you some help in deciding what to buy yourself. I know that I have enjoyed presenting it to you. In conclusion if you are like me, you will enjoy making your own private collection that I hope you will treasure and haul out every halloween. Good luck and happy hunting.

So your children have tired of picking pumpkins, there isn't anything in the market that takes your fancy but you still want to show that you are a willing participant in the festival. A lot of candles now come actually embedded in the ceramic candle holder and you simply open up and strike a match. Do watch these though, the wax has nowhere to drip so there tends to be a lot of liquid. I used to tip the liquid out but its best to put the candle out for a while and then relight when it has cooled. A no mess option for sure.