To think you don't throw away birthday cake candles?

[catsonthebed]

Was at my SILs at the weekend celebrating a birthday. When I went to help clear up, I saw that all the candles from the birthday cake were in the bin. When I rescued them, thinking they'd been thrown away accidentally, she said she always bins them. Apparently they're 'gross' after they've been in a cake and 'who on earth cba to wash things like that?'.

Is this really a thing? I've had the same candles for years, still use some of the holders from my childhood. They get lit for a few seconds and then blown out, a handful of times every year.

YABU: Eurgh, reusing candles, that's so gross, I've got a whole life to live and it holds no time for rinsing tiny plastic candle holders, you loser

YANBU: Obviously you reuse the things, this is just another example of a profligate and wasteful world gone MAD

How big is your house that carrying the cake in and blowing them out burns half a candle?! Or are you taking wedding style photos 'now one with the mother and father of the birthday child' 'now just the men'?

Never reused candles as an adult, I remember my dad always doing it when I was little but for me it has to be fresh new candles for a cake so I have to vote throw them away. Also like to have matchy candles for the cake 😂

Op did though. Well, rescued.

You have to have them lit whilst everyone sings happy birthday though. I sometimes keep the number ones if they aren’t burnt in to the number but the skinny ones often look used. Also pushing used candles in to holders often doesn’t work well as they can be a bit loose and wobbly. I reuse most cake decorations but rarely candles

Not caring about the environment is like smoking in bed and not caring if the mattress catches on fire. Don't you realise that the environment sustains you? You are actually part of the environment? The environment going down the pan is going to affect all of us. If the bees go, for example, so does most of our food. If the bottom of the food chain goes, so does the top end.

How very sad that you feel so disconnected.

Slightly off topic but still related- I have cake toppers with the children's names and age on for each cake every birthday. I feel bad throwing these away . But I'll never need them again and I'm not going to get them out to look at them ever.. should I bin them ?

Noooooooooooo.🙄

Now those I would bin. I assume on the day you took a pic with the relevant DC? You could always take a photo as a further memento.

Is this a thing you have bought for each child each year? How many? <just being nosey now> Bit hard to see how anyone else could use them really since they have name and age.

@clary 3 dc, they each get a topper with name and age. Probably been doing it last 7 years ish, these things weren't around in younger years. They cost about £5 each. I have every one I've ever brought .. eldest DC is now 20

Ah I would want to donate at that cost tbh. You need to find people with younger DC with the same names :) I mean if they are Olivia and Jack then you're golden. If Balonz and Abcde then less so.

Me and my boyfriend have the same birthday but he’s a year older, we have numbered candles so every year I inherit his from the year before!

Its never occurred to me to bin them unless they are too short to light! How wasteful.

Depends whose birthday it is. A 7 year old, I'm buying new candles. A 47 year old I'm digging out every crummy candle I can find.

Just returned after a long day - thank you for all your thoughts on candles! I'm going to keep happily reusing mine (though not my SIL's). I love that lots of people reuse them while many others think it is grim. I'm also happy that several people really didn't like the hyperbole in my original very serious AIBU statements. I want to add 2 things

No, I did not take them out of the bin. I saw them in the bin and had a conversation about them... and then wondered if this thing I thought was a bit crazy was really a thing that people did, hence this post

Anyone who describes birthday cake candles as 'clutter' should read Michael Rosen's 'Sad Book'

I realise I said 'I did not take them out of the bin' - I did take them out, temporarily, to show her, then put them back. I won't be insisting she use them on her next birthday cake!

I chuck them in the drawer of crap then buy new ones for the next birthday which also end up in the drawer of crap. And so it goes on until someone clears out the drawer and bins them.

They burn at different speeds so a lovely cake with a load of raggedy/used candles at different levels wouldn't have the same effect

New candles for my kids everytime.

This is what would happen to me - so that’s why I always throw them away.

Candles that are shaped as numbers or worded Happy Birthday, cannot be reused again as combination of the wrong age and they look rubbish when partially melted.

When I was a kid, I remember my parents having birthday candle holders which we used for years

I wonder if this might be part of the divide - if people buy the cake or make it themselves? Perhaps cake-buyers are more likely to also buy candles each time (to put new on new) but cake-makers see the box of retained candles as one more kitchen ingredient?

Opposite is true for me. I make celebration cakes for family birthdays etc. if I've spent all week making a lovely decorated cake I am not going ruin it by sticking half burnt candles in it!

If they’re long ones and barely burned, I would use them again. More often than not they’re half the size by the time you’ve sung happy birthday and taken photos, so seems a bit pointless to keep them when they’re little more than burnt stumps.

I have never kept birthday candles and never will. I’m not a hoarder

mum always kept them in a tin and the plaster Christmas decs which gradually got taller with cement like royal icing stuck to the bottom of them! wish i still had that tin! oh yes they also kept the little holders too