I’m always surprised how many people don’t know about the awesome opportunities that are available right near their own backyards. Whether it’s your town or the town your friends and family live in, there’s all kinds of hidden treasures in our communities. A perfect example of this, is Columbus Ohio. My mom and one of my brothers live there, and I grew up a couple of hours away in Cleveland.
Columbus is an incredible city because it’s expanded so much and become quite metropolitan in a relatively short amount time. It has an extremely vibrant arts community, great music, lots of good food, and tons of stuff to see and do. On our recent visit, we did what we always do when we travel, which is to research new things in the area and fun things to do. You can find sources online for that from simple Google searches and Yelp, to the tourism boards of most places you want to go.
While doing research on-line, I found a listing for a place called “The Candle Lab.” I looked at their website and realized that as the name intended, this was a place you could sniff through tons of different scented oils, and like a scientist in a laboratory, create your own candle with a fragrance uniquely yours. That’s cool! I told my mom about it and she loved the idea, so we all went there together to share a Moonbird adventure.
The first thing we experienced about The Candle Lab was the really friendly staff. From the moment we walked in the door, there was an air of fun, positivity, and kindness, three things that are very important to me. There were also several other customers who looked like they were having a great time, which is always a good sign. One of the staff members came over and asked us if we’d been there before. We let her know that we were new and she guided us through the entire process. No sooner had she done so, that we had our checklists and clipboards in hand and were set off on a scent-filled quest!
One of the most fun things about The Candle Lab is that you get to smell so many different kinds of scented oils with really fun names. The variety is really impressive. Cake batter was a personal favorite. 🙂 To give you an idea, here’s us standing in front of the wall of different scents you get to choose from, and there’s even more that you can’t see in this photo:
Mom, me and Jolene getting ready to make some amazing candles
I found myself wanting to try some of the more peculiar sounding scents, even though I knew I was probably going to dislike them. After all, life’s too short not to take a little risk now and again. To my surprise, one of the scents I ended up choosing for my final candle was one of those risky ones. It was so much fun to smell all these (mostly) amazing things. Once I had my list narrowed down to my top ten, they helped us whittle it down even further to what would eventually become the most glorious candle I have ever smelled.
Once you have your final choices, they sit you down at a bar as you see below, and you begin your candle alchemy.
Where the magic happens! Photo courtesy of The Candle Lab
Every step of the way, they show you what to do and how to make the most effective candle. If that weren’t all fun enough, you also get to use their army of colored markers to create your own custom label and come up with a custom name for your new soy friend. When I had my final concoction of scented oils all together, I took a long deep whiff and closed my eyes and let my imagination run. The merged scent transported me instantly to a beautiful day, walking peacefully, and enjoying the perfect breeze. I imagined looking up at the sky, and even though it was sunny outside, somehow I could see stars in the morning sky. And that became the name of my candle.
Once your oils are merged, they bring over a warm liquid candle, and you dump your mixture into it and begin to stir.
Mixing your custom candle. Photo courtesy of The Candle Lab
After certain amount of time, they’ll come over and tell you you’re done, and whisk your little invention off. If you arrive earlier in the day, you can pick up your candle(s) that same evening. If you come later in the day, you can pick them up the following day. It’s worth mentioning that this place has every base covered. They not only have a really fun environment in which to create something unique, which is in and of itself pretty awesome, but they also offer happy hours, social events, and you can book the place for large parties and more.
They even ship their candles, which came in very handy a couple of months after we were home and ours were nearing their end. I pulled up a picture of the recipe I’d made, e-mailed it over to them, paid for a few new candles, and a week later received several more more glass containers of “Stars in the Morning Sky.”
I really love to discover new places and find creative adventures like this. The Candle Lab has stores in several places so definitely check out their website. If you’re looking for a fun, creative thing to do on a random day, or you want to take a group of friends for a happy hour event, this is the place for you. It’s also worth mentioning that a few doors down from the one we went to on Grandview Avenue, there’s a really excellent chocolatier as well as a coffee and tea shop! Chocolate, coffee, tea, and custom candles… now that’s a great day, my friends.
Enjoy this little video clip:
Moonbird’s Helpful Info:
The Candle Lab
Website: www.thecandlelab.com/
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Address: 1255 Grandview Ave. Columbus, OH 43212
Phone Number: (614) 915-0777
Google Maps: Click here
Best time to visit: Anytime!
Hours: Mon – Sat: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m., Sun: 12 – 5 p.m.
Seasons: North America’s Seasons are: Spring: March, April and May, Summer: June, July and August, Autumn: September, October and November, and Winter: December, January and February.
Instagram: www.instagram.com/thecandlelab/
