*I don’t get paid for my opinions in any way; this is just me sharing stuff that I like and I think you will too.

Every year around the Christmas holidays Paddywax Candles has an open house at their factory store here in Atlanta and every year my family attends.  We eat cookies, drink cider and stock up candles.  We give some candles as gifts, but most we keep for ourselves to burn throughout the year.   We always stay at the open house far too long because not only does Paddywax sell great candles and it’s hard to shop quickly, but the company is also run by a fantastic couple, David Duncan and Gretchen Hollingsworth.  My family knows David and Gretchen socially, so we end up chatting with them forever.  I am always amazed by how they manage to run such a successful business and a successful household.  The success of the company takes extremely hard work, but on any given day I see either David or Gretchen picking their daughters up from school with one of their three dogs in tow.  The Paddywax office and factory has a busy, yet relaxed vibe–just like David and Gretchen themselves–and because their girls are often underfoot, there is always plenty of laughter and whimsy as well.  It seems like the ideal way to run a company–and a family.

During our last visit to the open house, our daughter disappeared with David and Gretchen’s girls back into the factory; with little cloth bags in hand, they were on a mission to find bits of hardened candle wax.    David took my husband and I into the factory to retrieve our daughter and show us how Paddywax Candles are made.   As David gave us a tour, he explained that Paddywax Candles is a boutique operation; the candles are made in small batches, hand-poured and hand-dyed.  I was a fan before the factory tour, but now that I have seen first-hand the detail and quality control that goes into each candle, I am even more impressed.

These are beautiful, high-quality, great-smelling candles.  If you love candles like I do, then you will love Paddywax Candles.  You can buy them online or in retail stores across the country.  If you want to know when they have the open house or other special events and deals, you can fan them on Facebook and follow @paddywaxcandles and @thecandlemaker on Twitter.

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