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

I always reuse the candles. I have some of those taller gold ones that have been reused multiple times and still look good.

I do keep them if they are usable. I did chuck out several old ones from a drawer a few weeks ago though.

Yes I clean and reuse candles, I assumed everyone did. And Isn't the point of gift bags that they're reusable?? Once again, MN makes me feel like I'm living in a different world.

I have always saved and reused. So wasteful to throw away after one use.

"I don’t care about the environment."

So you don't care about the weather? Or the air you breathe? Or the water you drink?

I hope you don't have children, because you are saying you don't care about their future.

I find it strange the number of people who think used candles don’t look right on a cake. Once you light them they look exactly the same as lit new candles! (Provided they are not too stubby.)

Wouldn't occur to me to keep them
They're not expensive, just chuck them and buy new ones

I don’t bin them. I can usually get at least two birthdays of of a pack before they are too short. Binning after one use is just wasteful!

This is me. Can't bring myself to throw them away, but never actually reuse them... I have some I very occasionally reuse because they're a bit bigger but generally I just have a tub of sad used once candles...
The ones I hate most are number candles - because you could be holding on to those for a decade...

I've got a 2. Only 18months until I can reuse it for 12. I just need to find a matching 1. Then reuse for 21. 😆

I'm from a family of candle keepers.

I keep them and don't even wash them! 😱unless of course they are particularly 'caked' in buttercream or something. I love getting the old ones out and thinking of all the happy moments those little candles have witnessed! Some candles last decades! Also my neighbour once called round knowing I would have candles, on her daughters birthday as the shop had shut (small village one shop, it was a Sunday) and I was able to give her a little tub full of a variety of sizes and colours, she was very appreciative.

I save them and reuse them in a nice tin. I keep it with the birthday banner I also save and re-use every time. It's similar to stashing Christmas decorations and getting them out every year, my kids love the familiarity of the same things coming out as it marks the celebration with something that then becomes tradition.

It's really not a big deal / lots of clutter in any way. I just put the number of candles on needed and they always look nice once lit. Honestly don't know why you'd buy new ones every time, what a waste.

We buy candles to match the cake/theme, my kids have a different theme every year and they also have a number candle so we can't really reuse, eg green minecraft candles aren't going to match my daughters unicorn cake are they? I don't actually bin the candles (apart from the number shaped one) but I never actually reuse them so we have a bag full of partially used candles! My husband said to me the other day "for godsake will you bin that bag of candles, you're never going to use them!!" We usually relight them several times too so siblings can blow them out too so they aren't just lit once usually!

When the planet is a wasteland overrun with 99p shite that will be boring 🙄

I imagine the candle re-users are saying ‘hurry up and blow them out so they don’t burn down! I want them for your sister’s birthday in 9 months’.

I just looked. You can buy 12 candles and holders from Tesco for the one whole pound.

Some things are simply not worth penny pinching over.

And is it just us that would get the birthday child to blow out their candles, then immediately relight them for other children who wanted a turn? We liked birthday cakes as spat on as possible, clearly.

Growing up I can never remember having new candles on a cake. The same ones would come out year after year. And a lot of the little holders had bits missing from them. At the tike I just thought it was normal. However for my DC I almost always bought new, largely because I could never remember where Id put the old ones!

Wouldn't occur to me to chuck them. Just put them in a bag and use again.

My child can barely remember what he had for dinner last night, he's certainly not going to remember which candles were on his cake last year.

What a load of nonsense. And yes, I do have children.

You probably just haven't noticed that they're being reused..... Nobody does here. Literally not one comment in 30+ years.

I re- use them.

What a weird flex.

Okay, as long as you aren't one of the people complaining about the extreme hot weather, flooding, stronger storms. That's cool.

Definitely always throw them away. They’re half burnt and all different lengths after one use. I’m not holding on to wonky teeny candles for years.

What exactly do you think the environment is?