Huntington Home Candle Advent Calendar

Last Updated on October 28, 2023

This post contains affiliate links. 

EDITOR’S NOTE 1: This post contains spoilers. 

EDITOR’S NOTE 2: Aldi sold a candle Advent calendar again in 2023 for a lower price of $29.99. 

During the 2020 Christmas season, Aldi introduced an Advent calendar candle that ended up being fairly popular. It was a somewhat large, 18-ounce, single-wick, soy blend candle that came in several scents (I purchased the peppermint bark one) and had a front label with the numbers 1-25 printed on it. The idea is that you cross off a number each day as you go through the month of December, until you get to Christmas Day, all the while burning the candle a little at a time. It wasn’t a traditional Advent calendar with little doors revealing a small gift or surprise each day, but it was novel and I liked using it.

In 2022, Aldi is again selling that Advent calendar candle, but the grocer is also offering something new: a genuine candle Advent calendar with 25 days’ worth of votive candles tucked into small drawers in a decorative box. That’s right. Aldi is selling a calendar that provides you with a new scented candle every day in December leading up to Christmas.

Aldi is selling this candle calendar under its Huntington Home brand, which is not a separate company but is the private label Aldi uses for various home goods. Other recent products under the Huntington Home label include a steam mop, velvet plush sheets, and area rugs.

The Huntington Home Candle Advent Calendar (Product Code: 707614) cost $39.99 at the time of publication. That comes out to about $1.60 per candle. Each votive candle is 2.3 ounces and has its own unique scent, with no repetitions throughout the month.

At the time of writing, I found a couple of name brand Yankee Candle Advent Calendars in that same price range or within about $5 of the Aldi calendar on Amazon, although those calendars contain tea light candles, which are smaller than the Aldi votive candles, so you won’t have as much burn time. On more of the budget end, Walmart also sells a Yankee Candle tea light calendar set for about $20 or around 83 cents per candle, or they offer a Better Homes & Gardens 12-Day Scented Candle Advent Calendar Set that contains 12 one-ounce votive candles for around $25 or about $2.08 per candle at the time of publication.

So whether the Aldi candle calendar is a good deal depends on how much of a priority name brand is to you, and whether you prefer votive candles or smaller tea light candles. Aldi candles are popular among customers and are generally pretty good, often comparable to Bath & Body Works candles, so I had no problem picking up one of these calendars to try.

This calendar is an Aldi Find, so it’s only in stores for a short time. Each store gets one shipment, and after that sells out, they’re gone until next year, if Aldi decides to bring them back next year. You can’t order Aldi products online if they aren’t in stock in your local store.

The calendar opened up. The boxes/drawers holding all of the candles are on the right.

Take note: these calendars are on the heavy side, so be careful when picking one up at the store.

The back of the box states:

The perfect way to countdown (sic) to Christmas! A luxurious collection of 25 candles from some of your Aldi favorites. Each drawer contains a different festive scent to fragrance your home throughout the entire holiday season.

When you get the calendar home, you can open it up by untying the red ribbon on one side of the box. This releases a flap so you can open the box similar to how you’d open up a book or a folding poster. On the right side of the opened calendar box are 25 small drawers (they’re more like small boxes tucked into a cardboard grid) that each contain a votive candle in a clear glass jar. The boxes are numbered 1-25 for each day in December leading to Christmas, and the numbers are not in order, so you’ll be opening drawers all over the calendar as the month progresses.

Opening day number one.

The candles do not have lids, so as soon as you open the box, you’ll smell all the scents at once. All the scents mingling together reminds me a bit of laundry detergent, which is not necessarily bad.

The back of the box with scent names and descriptions. (Click to enlarge.)

Here’s a list of all of the candle scents (in no particular order), along with a description from the back of the calendar box:

• Spiced Orange — juicy, orange, sparkling, zesty
• Mulberry & Vanilla — aromatic, musk, peony, red berries, rose, thyme, freesia
• Caramel & Ginger Cookie — cinnamon, clove, ginger, sandalwood, vanilla
• Winter Pine & Eucalyptus — aromatic, woody, pine
• Hot Toddy — apple, cake, cinnamon, raspberry
• Cherry Amaretto — almond, cherry, coconut, peach, vanilla
• Eggnog — vanilla, butter, cinnamon, musk, nutmeg, milk
• Old Fashioned — amber, cedarwood, sweet orange
• Snowdrop — cassis, cedarwood, musk, peach, peony, rhubarb, rose, watery
• Pomegranate & Sandalwood — apple, aromatic cedarwood, clove, patchouli
• Firewood — cedarwood, leather, smoky, woods
• Apricot & Oud — patchouli, peach, powdery, sandalwood, sweet vanilla
• Redcurrant & Cream — cedarwood, creamy, grapefruit, pineapple, rhubarb
• Eucalyptus — mint, musk, sandalwood, vanilla, watery, white flowers
• Green Ivy — herbal, mandarin, pine, red berries
• Amber & Winter Fir — cinnamon, clove, orange, patchouli, pine, red berries
• Clove — cinnamon, clove, lemon, sweet, vanilla
• Winter Woods — amber, cedarwood, moss, pine, sandalwood
• Freesia & Pear — bergamot, lemon, patchouli, sweet pear, rose
• Almond & Macaroon — almond, cherry, creamy musk, sweet vanilla
• Bergamot & Oud — bergamot, cedarwood, ginger, patchouli, dry amber
• Peppermint Snowdrop — peppermint musk, snowdrop, eucalyptus
• Spiced Berries — cinnamon, clove, orange, patchouli, pine red berries
• Smoke & Cedar — sandalwood, moss, wood smoke, tobacco, honey
• Winter Wishes — apple, anise, clove, vanilla, amber

Candles for days 1-4, including Mulberry & Vanilla, Caramel & Ginger Cookie, Winter Pine & Eucalyptus, and Hot Toddy.

The candles all feature white labels with different-colored printed house designs that match the houses printed on the larger box.

Candles for days 5-7, including Spiced Orange, Cherry Amaretto, and Eggnog.

This calendar contains a good mix of scents with something to please everyone. Scents range from fruity to spicy cinnamon to more musky options. If you don’t like a scent, the candles are small enough that you don’t have to burn it for long.

Burning candle number one: Mulberry & Vanilla.

I’ve lit the first three candles at different times for testing purposes, and they offer many hours of burn time. The candles for day one (Mulberry & Vanilla) and day two (Ginger & Caramel Cookie) don’t seem to throw as much scent compared to other Aldi candles, but they’re all right. The candle for day three (Winter Pine & Eucalyptus) throws more scent when lit. As I continue to burn different candle scents, I’ll update this post with any potential new developments.

The Verdict:

The Huntington Home Candle Advent Calendar features 25 different scented votive candles for each day in December leading up to and including Christmas Day. These candles smell good, with enough variety in scents to appeal to just about anyone. Scents include Almond & Macaron, Amber & Winter Fir, Caramel & Ginger Cookie, Freesia & Pear, Eggnog, Firewood, Peppermint Snowdrop, Spiced Berries, and more. The only minor complaint I have is that some of these candles don’t seem to throw as much scent as I hoped. Otherwise, they’re good for anyone who likes candles.