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

YABU in some ways, although don't get how a bit of cake on a candle is gross?

I keep the holders, but use fresh candles each time as half burnt candles don't look nice.

Those little cake candles are so small and cheap there's no need to use them again, there's much more wasteful things you can do than buy fresh cake candles.

Bloody hell. I have a box that contains all cake topper/candle nonsense and I fish out the requisite number of candles, light them and put them back in the box once they have been taken back off the cake. When they burn too low they get binned. I tend to pick the ‘better’ ones for the kids, but no- they aren’t a single use item.

Cool, hope your children enjoy living in a wasteland!

I use old birthday candles for lighting fragranced candles. You can always melt them down to make new candles or firelighters. I keep meaning to make firelighters out of pine cones and melted wax

And to be honest, are you not using the little plastic flower holders? I don't put wax candles into a cake.

i keep them. they are really useful to use in spells and manifesting rituals!

haha yes I stopped matching number of candles to age by about 18yo. So you've done well.

I'm glad I don't like cakes much anyway, now that I know some of them will come with candles fished out of garbage bins..

That's the spirit. You tell climate change it doesn't exist. Your grandkids will thank you for it.

I know someone just like you. He went a bit quiet since some fires got a bit close to his house recently. Until the whole 'its the governments everywhere are paying people to set the fires so people are forced to buy fake food from next year All part of 'the agenda'. Or something started up.

You'll be thinking about water a lot more like the rest of us in your lifetime. Even if you take it for granted now.

Climate change doesn't give a toss if you believe in it or not.

OMG is this post for real? I mean this is an enjoyable and lighthearted thread (I especially like the mystery missing cocktail sticks – we have two boxes for some unknown reason) but this?

@Mooselander please have a rethink. Yes, recycling doesn't really do that much and what we should do is not fly and be vegan. But to blatantly say what you post here is either deliberately goady or the words of someone who genuinely needs to educate themselves on this issue.

We're team re-use. This year we even managed 3 uses (me, DP, best friend) out of some 40 candles as they hardly melted at all and burnt so briefly. Can't say any kids etc have ever commented on our tatty candles.

For those wanting age in candles- my son has suggested we use binary

Just to clarify @G5000 I have never fished candles out of the bin.

Those who say "where would I keep them/I would lose them" – I have a big plastic box with candles, candle holders, Christmas cake decs, big ribbon, cupcake papers, icing smoother (! from my mum) and similar bits. I would keep my cookie cutters in there too but there are so many they have their own box. Never realised I was weird in this.

Always keep them - not because of the money but the waste. Also boggling at people relighting candles for other kids / siblings / family members to blow out after the birthday child (or I guess adult) has had their go... we were always told on sibling birthdays it wasn't about us, it's their special day - do you also give the siblings cards and presents so they don't feel left out?! Everyone gets a day for their own cake / party / candles, it's not for sharing!

You’re not. I have the same.

Same.

Presumably most people put the candles on the cake then light them pretty much straight away and carry the cake to the table, so how could people tell if the candles have already got burnt black wicks?

The little skinny cake candles don't last for long - once you've lit them, carried the cake in, taken a bunch of photos and blown them out, they're often halfway burnt.

hopefully they'll rebel and do things in a drastically different way!

< ETA: this was meant to be a response to @sweetpickle2's post, addressed to @Mooselander - not sure why it appeared as its own post>

My 3 dc have their birthdays all within a month of each other so I keep and reuse the same candles, but after the 3rd they are usually ready for the bin. I do keep the little holder bits though and reuse!

Don't forget the paper cases for fairy cakes that have lost the plastic tub they came in.

my oldest DD is 56 next month,I will use a 5 and 6,I certainly wouldn't put 56 candles on a cake. None of my dks are married,so I would be stuck with the numbers 2 and 5 from our silver wedding..I'm a great one for re using, not wasting, I've got a trench mac, and jacket over 40 years old,most clothes these days are charity shops and Vinted, but I've never kept candles. I did try to keep some coloured icing from the last cake I made, because it's expensive, but it went like a brick.

I guess you're the classic selfish "I'm alright, so fuck everyone else" who couldn't care less that people die from flooding every year etc
You clearly don't give a shit about the wildfires We've had in the he UK and the stretching of the fire service and danger to life... As long as you get to bea wasteful consumer, Huh?

There's no storm issues atm, but when your roof gets blown off from near hurricane winds or whatever, or you wondering why bread is super expensive because crops failed etc.... Don't complain!! 😂

Nope. Candles on cakes are disgusting. I don't want to eat cake with bits of saliva sprayed over it.

You eat all sorts of germs every single day.
Including the food you prepare. Your kitchen, utensils, cutlery, crockery, food, chairs, tables etc are not sterile you know....

But if I make a beautiful cake I don’t want to ruin it by adding scruffy tatty half used candles. Sorry not sorry.

I know, they are only lit for the time it takes to sing happy birthday plus the 20 seconds it takes to light them. Are people using them to read by?