When one of our clients buys a home in Nashville, we look for closing gifts that suit their individual personality and their new home, and we try to work with Nashville companies, to keep things local.
One brand we have always hard time resisting here: Paddywax, a Nashville-based candle company whose fragrances immediately make a new home feel home-y, and whose designs immediately make a mantel or a bookshelf look extra stylish.
Another cool thing worth knowing about Paddywax: These days in Nashville, they’re not just giving a man/woman a candle, but teaching us how to candle, too.
How that’s working, specifically: The Candle Bar, a Paddywax-led “experiential retail store” concept that just opened its second location in East Nashville. (The first, launched last year, is in Berry Hill.)
How The Candle Bar works
You can just stop and shop at The Candle Bar — they have shelves stocked with all kinds of home goods, from artisan-made pillows and hand towels to mugs and cutting boards. But the “experiential” part of the store is what really makes it special.
When you book a candle-pouring session, Candle Bar staff members work with you and your fellow attendees, start to finish, as you choose components and measure and pour your own candle.
They offer dozens of Paddywax-refined scents — fresh ones like bamboo and green tea, spicy ones like tobacco and patchouli — and dozens of vessels to pour into, from glass to concrete, many of which are meant to be reused as mugs, vases and jars.
It’s a delicate process, carefully measuring your mixed essential oils into your melted blend of soy wax, but it isn’t difficult — making brownies is more complicated, really.
And the end result: You have a personalized Paddywax candle that looks and smells just how you want it, and you’ve spent a little time learning about the process of hand-pouring candles, while hanging with friends.
Why it makes a solid bachelorette activity
Since Nashville’s now apparently the “Queen of the Bachelorette Parties,” we thought this suggestion might be a useful one: A Candle Bar session feels like a lower-key, more creative and locally focused way to fill some bachelorette-weekend hours than a lot of the more common downtown options.
If you’re looking for an excuse to raise a glass with your fellow bridesmaids and the bride-to-be: You’re set there too, since The Candle Bar is BYOB-friendly.
And a bonus, especially if you have some housewarming gifts to gather for later: All candle-pouring participants get 20 percent off shop purchases, too.
Visit The Candle Bar
Learn more at thecandlebar.co, and book a session at either of their two locations: 901 Woodland St. (on the alley side) in East Nashville, and 2934 Sidco Dr. #140, in Berry Hill.
If you head by, please tag us (@acrestate) in any of your Instagram photos — we’d love to see what you create.
No bachelorette plans in the works, but gearing up for some Nashville househunting? We’d love to help. Check out some Nashville homes on the market now, and reach ACRE here.