Caregiver Indulgence: Relaxing with Homemade Candles

Caregiver in Culver City CA

Relaxation is key to taking care of yourself, managing your stress, and giving yourself a much-deserved reward at the end of a long day of being a caregiver for your aging parents. By enjoying a calming, pampering routine at the end of the day, you give yourself something to look forward to, which can help you overcome you most difficult challenges throughout the day.

This caregiver indulgence is creating beautiful and relaxing homemade candles you can use to surround yourself with calming light and wonderful fragrance. Enjoy these candles while relaxing in a hot bubble bath, while sipping a glass of wine in your favorite recliner, while sitting on your front porch enjoying the weather and sounds of summer evenings, or during your other favorite relaxing routines. They are also beautiful enough to give as gifts to friends and family so they can indulge themselves as well.

Making homemade candles is as simple as melting down wax in a double boiler until it is liquid, adding any scents and colors you would like, putting a wick in your container of choice, and adding in the melted wax. This simple technique is easily customizable to create a virtually endless array of candle creations from simple to extravagantly beautiful. Let the planning and creation aspect of the candles be a part of the indulgence, enjoying the relaxing element of warming the wax, adding the fragrance, and creating the candle, as well as the sense of accomplishment from seeing the finished product. As with many other crafts, the sense of autonomy and control that come with making your own candles can help relieve tension and anxiety associated with handling the challenges of being a caregiver.

There are many different types of waxes you can use for your candles, but soy, vegetable, and beeswax provide the cleanest burn and are the most environmentally friendly. For fragrance, you can use essential oils or go for a much wider variety with candle-specific fragrance oils. This caregiver indulgence is all about creativity, so let your mind run free with ideas for fragrance combinations, embellishments, and containers. Get started by letting these ideas inspire you:

• Cup of tea. Use vanilla and chai fragrance oils and pour the wax into teacups. Glue the bottom of the teacup to the coordinating saucer for a complete look

• Cup of coffee. Layer vanilla-scented wax with coffee beans in a clear hurricane or create the complete effect with a layer of coffee-scented wax and a layer of vanilla-scented wax in a coffee mug

• Bedtime. Use lavender and eucalyptus or lavender and chamomile fragrance oils and lightly tint the wax purple for a soothing bedtime candle

• Feminine touch. Tint wax pink and fragrance it with rose, vanilla, and amber oils for a sensual, feminine candle. Mold it in votive cups or get creative with beautiful crystal candy dishes or vintage metal powder boxes

• Cupcake candles. Fragrance wax with vanilla and buttercream oils, tint pink, and pour into a silicone cupcake pan. Heat wax shavings until they are just softened and pour a small amount over the top of each wax cupcake. Use your fingers to shape this “icing” and top with sprinkles for an adorable and wonderful-smelling candle.

If you or an aging loved one needs Caregiver services in Culver City CA, call Livewell Private Care at (310) 933-4986.  Servicing Los Angeles, CA, and the surrounding areas.