How to Survive (And Actually Enjoy) Making Your Very First Candle At “Wick And Pour”

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Listen, if you’re one of those people who think making your own candle sounds like the kind of activity that could go one of two ways — either you leave with a cute candle that smells amazing, or you discover yet another craft you’re absolutely terrible at — then great … this article is for you.

I had my first candle-making experience at Wick and Pour in NYC, and thankfully, this fell firmly into the first category for me! So when I say this activity is perfect for beginners, I do mean BEGINNERS.

I’m not a crafty bxch.

I can’t cut paper in a straight line, I feel inferior when folks bring out the glue sticks and paper plates, and I hate every activity where the instructor says, ‘there’s no wrong way to do it,’ because somehow I WILL find the wrong way. So anything that doesn’t involve putting pen to paper, makes me anxious.

And since I’ve never made a candle before, I had absolutely no idea what I was in for when I walked in. Yet, some way, somehow … I still had an amazing time! So if you’re anything like moi, and you’ve been wondering, “Is Wick and Pour worth it?” — keep reading; I got you.

So, Is “Wick And Pour” Worth It?

Absolutely! Especially if you’re looking for an easy, creative activity in NYC that doesn’t require you to actually be good at crafts.

But Wait, What Is “Wick And Pour” Really?

So … Wick and Pour is an incredibly beginner-friendly candle-making experience that walks you through creating your own custom candle from start to finish.

You get to choose your vessel, pick and mix your scents, add color and shimmer, decorate your candle and even give your creation a name before taking it home.

The entire process only takes about an hour, and because the classes are so small, you get enough attention to make the experience feel personal without someone hovering over you the entire time.

If you’re thinking about booking Wick and Pour for the very first time, there are definitely a few things you should know beforehand! So keep reading.

And if you’re here because you need to live vicariously through someone else’s experience, you should also keep reading because BOY, did we have fun!

FAQs: Everything You Need to Know Before Booking “Wick And Pour”

What is Wick and Pour? Wick and Pour is a hands-on candle-making experience in NYC where you create your own custom candle by choosing your vessel, fragrance, color and decorations.

Is Wick and Pour BYOB? Yes! Wick and Pour is BYOB-friendly, so you can bring your own drinks to enjoy while making your candle.

Can I bring my own drinks to Wick and Pour? Yes! However, the workspace is pretty small, so I’d recommend bringing something easy to manage — or pouring your drink into a closed tumbler so you don’t have an open bottle taking up precious candle-making space.

How long is Wick and Pour? The candle-making experience lasted exactly one hour. Our reservation started at 7 PM, and we were finished by 8 PM (on the dot).

Is Wick and Pour good for beginners? Absolutely! As mentioned above, I’m not crafty at all, I’m more of a writer, yet the process was incredibly easy to follow. You’re guided through each step, and the small class size means the instructor can actually pay attention and help when needed.

How much does Wick and Pour cost? Expect to spend around $50+ per person, depending on the experience you book and current pricing.

Can you take your Wick and Pour candle home the same day? Yes! After our candles were dried and set, they were packed into cute little gift bags for us to take home that night.

Can you choose your own candle scent at Wick and Pour? Yes! You can choose one fragrance or blend two together to create your own individual scent.

Is Wick and Pour good for birthdays? Definitely! I went for my birthday, and the hour-long experience made it really easy to pair candle making with dinner or drinks afterward.

Is Wick and Pour good for a date? Absolutely! You can even turn things up a notch, by choosing scents for each other, writing each other’s labels or swapping finished candles so you each have something to remember the date by.

My Wick And Pour Candle-Making Experience

Okay, story time! So … this was one of the activities I got to do during my birthday month. My friend booked the entire experience, and just told me to show up. When we first got there, we arrived a little too early for our reservation, so we were told to come back at our scheduled time.

Which, honestly? I get it. As someone who works with people all day, any down time I can get, needs to be protected like a baby! So I’m not judging.

Thankfully, there was a small Japanese market (called Ten Ichi Mart) a few steps away, so we popped in there while we waited and grabbed some snacks and drinks before heading back. Once we returned at our actual reservation time, we were welcomed inside and allowed to choose our own seats.

The space itself is adorable! It’s a small, intimate pink candle studio that felt super clean and cozy.

There were about eight of us during our session? But the smaller space made the experience feel intimate, and personal. So I couldn’t imagine doing something like this in a room of 20! I just wish they had more space for our things. Thankfully, most of us had smaller purses, but I could see this becoming a little more complicated during the winter when everyone walks in with larger bags and bulky coats.

Anywho, after we grabbed our seats, our instructor, Gabby started by explaining the candle-making process, and the first thing we got to do was choose our vessel from the wall. Then our scents.

Choosing My Candle Scents

If you remember anything about me, just know I’m a fruity-scent girl.

Candles, perfumes, lotions. I need to smell like a mango, pineapple, cherry, coconut, something sweet, but it has to be fruity! So while everyone else was smelling the different fragrance options, I immediately started looking for fruits.

I tried to smell a few different options, but of course, they didn’t really do much for me. Eventually, I found a strawberry scent and another fragrance that smelled exactly like Fruity Pebbles. And since we were allowed to combine two, I obviously mixed the strawberry and Fruity Pebbles fragrances together.

But if you’re not sure which scents work well together, your instructor is there to help. Which is especially helpful if you like multiple scents but have absolutely no clue if they’ll smell good together.

Mixing My Candle

Once you pick your fragrances, your instructor will ask you to measure them — which my little geeky self enjoyed a bit too much — before combining the scents with your candle wax.

Then you’ll add color!

Since my candle already smelled like Fruity Pebbles, I decided to fully commit to the bit and make the wax red. I also added gold shimmer to the mixture, and I cannot quite fully explain how gorgeous my candle looked while I was stirring and pouring.

The videos DO NOT do it justice.

But once you’re done pouring your wax into your vessel, you get a few minutes to pick a name.

Meet Cereal Killer 009

Now here’s where things can get a bit intense for perfectionists! It can take DAYS for me to come up with a name I actually like. I blame this on not being crafty. My brain just does not work quickly in this manner. And at Wick and Pour, I had approximately two minutes.

So yes, I pulled out ChatGPT.

I knew I wanted something inspired by Fruity Pebbles, but I also wanted the name to fit the darker vibe of the vessel. So when I saw Cereal Killer as an option, I immediately knew that was the one.

Of course, “cereal killer” isn’t anything NEW, or unique, so I decided to add one more little detail. A number. Since, nine is my favorite number, my birthday is 9/9, and this candle was part of my birthday celebration, I gave my “killer” a tag number. And so Cereal Killer 009 was born.

Decorating My Candle

The final creative step was decorating our candles with dried flowers.

This was probably the least necessary part of the experience for me, especially because we were also warned that the flowers can’t be too close to the wick because of the potential fire hazard.

But I added a few anyway because, well, they were there.

The Finished Product

The whole process moved pretty quickly, but I never felt rushed.

In fact, the small class size ended up being one of the things I appreciated most.

Our instructor payed attention to everyone throughout the process, so closely that at one point, one of the guys in our session almost got a few steps wrong. But she noticed immediately, course-corrected and got him back on track before he could mess up.

So even if you walk into Wick and Pour knowing absolutely nothing about candle making, you’re not just handed a bunch of supplies and left to figure it out.

And i think that’s the best part of this experience.

However … I do think it could be cool if Wick and Pour eventually offered a more advanced candle-making class where you learn how to heat the wax yourself and do more of the technical work involved in creating and setting a candle.

But NOT having to do any of that during your first session is also what makes this particular experience so beginner-friendly. You get to do all the fun, creative parts without worrying about the technical stuff, while a professional handles it for you.

Once our candles were ready, they were packed into cute little gift bags and we were able to take them home immediately. We were told to let them sit for at least 24 hours before burning them.

Oh, and for someone who doesn’t have a crafty bone in her body. I created one of the fruitiest candles I’ve ever smelled, and I am absolutely obsessed with it.

Escapism Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 out of 5 stars — For an hour, I got to sit in a cute pink room with my friend, smell a bunch of fragrances, mix pretty things together and worry about absolutely nothing important. That’s escapism, baby!

Experience Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 out of 5 stars — Easy, fun, beginner-friendly and something I’d genuinely pay to do again.

Tips to Survive Wick And Pour as a Beginner

The good news is that there really isn’t much you need to “survive.” This might be one of the easiest beginner activities I’ve ever tried. But there are a few things worth knowing before you go.

Don’t arrive super early. We got there ahead of our reservation and were asked to come back at our scheduled time, so give yourself enough time to arrive without rushing, but 5 mins early is plenty.

Bring a small bag if possible. There isn’t much extra space for purses, bags or coats. We made it work with a random chair, but I can definitely see bulky winter coats becoming a problem.

Forgot to BYOB? Make a pit stop nearby. There’s a small Japanese market up the block where you can grab a soda, cute bottled drink, candy or snacks before your reservation. We stopped there because we were early, but this could actually be a cute addition to a date or friend outing — pick a drink or snack you’ve never tried and taste-test it together while you wait!

Don’t overthink your scent combination. Figure out which scent family you’re naturally drawn toward and start there. The instructor can also help you determine which fragrances might pair well together.

Check out the seasonal scents. Wick and Pour changes some of its fragrance options throughout the year. I already want to go back to see what they have for fall!

If you’re drinking, consider putting it in a closed tumbler. Wick and Pour is BYOB, but the workspace is small. Instead of bringing a large bottle onto the table, pour your drink into a lidded tumbler so you can sip without sacrificing half your workspace or worrying as much about spills.

Give your candle at least 24 hours before lighting it. We were told to let ours sit for at least a full day before burning, so resist the urge to light your masterpiece as soon as you get home.

Keep your decorations away from the wick. We were specifically warned that the dried flowers shouldn’t be placed too close to the wick because they’re flammable.

Follow the burning instructions you’re given. We were given instructions for how long to burn our candles to help them burn evenly and were warned not to let them burn completely to the bottom of the vessel because of the potential fire hazard.

If your candle starts tunneling, don’t panic. One tip we learned during our session was to use aluminum foil around the candle to help the wax melt more evenly.

Save your vessel when you’re done! We were told you can freeze the finished candle to make the remaining wax easier to remove, clean the vessel and bring it back — without wax or a wick — to receive $10 off your next visit.

Your Wick And Pour Beginner Survival Kit

Okay, so technically you don’t need any of this to have fun! Wick and Pour gives you everything you need to actually make your candle. But if you want to make your candle-making date a little easier — or take care of your masterpiece once you get it home — here are a few items worth grabbing.

FYI — You can click on the items below; they’re linked!

Insulated Wine Tumbler With Lid — My NUMBER ONE pick if you’re taking advantage of the BYOB policy. Buy your bottle beforehand, pour your drink into a closed tumbler and leave the giant bottle behind. You still get to sip while you make your candle without taking up half the tiny table or having an open drink sitting next to your wax.

Candle Wick Trimmer — Once you start burning your candle at home, a wick trimmer makes it easier to keep the wick maintained between burns.

Candle Snuffer — Necessary? No. Cute while you’re burning the candle you personally made and pretending your apartment is suddenly very luxurious? Absolutely.

Long-Reach Lighter — Much easier than trying to reach down into the vessel with a tiny lighter once your candle starts getting lower.

Decorative Candle Tray — Because you spent an hour making your masterpiece. Give her somewhere cute to live!

Final Thoughts

So, is Wick and Pour worth it?

For me, absolutely.

Wick and Pour gave me exactly what I needed for my birthday this year: to spend time with someone I love, try something I’d never done before, make something that felt uniquely mine and, for one glorious hour, I didn’t have to think.

However, it’s especially great if you’re looking for an easy date-night activity, birthday idea, girls’ night or something fun to do with a friend. Of course, you could absolutely do this one solo, but I think part of what makes the experience special is sharing this experience with someone.

There are a couple of small things I’d change though. Like more room for bags and coats, and an AC that was actually working. (Ours wasn’t during our visit, so it was HOT in there.) But neither of those issues were enough to ruin the experience for me.

I also love that this isn’t necessarily a one-and-done activity. They have seasonal scents, and we were told that once our candles are finished, we can clean out our vessels and bring them back for $10 off another visit. So now, naturally, I need to know what the fall scents smell like.

If you go in expecting an easy, beginner-friendly hour of creativity, you’ll leave with a smile, possibly plans to come back for another scent, and a candle that’s completely your own.