9 Non-Toxic Christmas Candles for a Healthy Holiday Atmosphere (Updated for 2023!)

Nothing can quite create a festive atmosphere as fast as the smell of holiday scents like pine trees or gingerbread. Smells have the power to bring back tender childhood memories as well as inspire new ones.

And if you don’t want to have Christmas cookies baking all day, every day, burning wintery candles is a great way to keep those sentimental vibes going all season long.

There’s only one problem: most conventional candles contain toxicants that can contribute to indoor air pollution and risk the health of you and your loved ones.

So when shopping for the best pine-scented candles this holiday season, skip the Yankee Candles and choose non-toxic alternatives instead. I’ve already done the research for you and picked out the best brands making non-toxic holiday candles—so read on for my recommendations for the 2023 holiday season!

Oh and if you’re interested in other non-toxic guides to the holiday season, check these out:

• Non-Toxic Christmas Trees
• Organic Gift Ideas for Everyone On Your List
• Organic Holiday Pajamas for the Whole Family
• Options for Lead-Free Christmas Lights
• Roundup of Black Friday / Cyber Season Sales from Non-Toxic Brands

Or, if you’re looking for non-toxic fall candles instead, check out this post.

This guide contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you choose to make a purchase.

Featured image credit: Fontana Candle Co.

The Best Places to Get Non-Toxic Christmas & Holiday Candles in 2023

There’s no reason to burn toxic candles anymore when there are so many great options for a clean and healthy burn. Here are our favorite brands that make non-toxic holiday candles for Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanzaa, and the entire winter season!

Fontana Candle Co.

Price: $15+
Sizes: 6 oz tin or 14 oz glass jar (+ wax melts)
Burn time: 24-48 hours
Made in:  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA
My personal favorite: Tough choice, but I think Fir Needle & Pine is my favorite of Fontana’s winter scents!

Fontana’s non-toxic holiday candles are MADE SAFE certified, which means they’ve been third-party verified to be free from a long list of potential toxins like petroleum byproducts, stabilizers, harmful dyes, and phthalates. Instead, they use natural ingredients like beeswax, coconut wax, and only natural essential oils. They’re also Leaping Bunny Certified cruelty-free.

Their winter holiday scents include Peppermint Twist, Fir Needle & Pine, Citrus Peel & Pine, Allspice Ginger & Vanilla, Frankincense & Myrrh, and Wintergreen.

You can also grab a Holiday Bestseller Bundle, which gets you a discount on a 3-pack that includes the Peppermint Twist, Citrus Peel & Pine, and Fir Needle & Pine.

You can use the code THEFILTERY15 for 15% off your order.

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Natural Sloth

Price: $17-33
Sizes: 4 or 9 oz (+ wax melts)
Burn time: 22-50 hours
Made in: Texas, USA

Natural Sloth’s candles also come with the MADE SAFE certification. They’re made with essential oils, wooden wicks, beeswax, and organic coconut oil.

Each candle is hand-poured into a reusable glass jar in small batches. 2023’s Winter scents will include Christmas Tree, Winter, and Cozy and they will be available in November!

I personally love the fact that Natural Sloth is a truly small business. The founder, Tatiana, was actually inspired to create the brand when her sweet dog, Dino, was diagnosed with cancer. 😭 In researching the potential causes of Dino’s illness, she discovered the impact of environmental toxins and started making her own candles out of safe, natural ingredients.

You can use the code THEFILTERY10 for 10% off your order.

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Basic Bee Candle Co.

Price: $10-$45
Sizes: 8 oz jars (+ wax melts)
Burn time: ~15 hours
Made in: Michigan, USA

Here’s another great small business for you. Shaina, the woman behind Basic Bees Candle Co., is on a mission to provide safe and healthy candles that even those who are extra sensitive to synthetic fragrances can enjoy.

These completely natural candles use primarily raw, local beeswax, combined with some coconut wax and lead-free cotton wicks. For fragrance, she only uses pure essential oils.

Her 2023 winter holiday scents will include Christmas Tree, Peppermint Stick, Gingerbread, and Winter Wonderland, and they are currently set to be available on October 20th.

Shaina also makes non-toxic Christmas wax melts, in case you’d rather use a wax warmer instead of an open-flame candle.

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Grow Fragrance

Price: $34
Sizes: 3.5 or 6.5 or oz.
Burn time: 21-45 hours
Made in: Durham, North Carolina, USA
My personal favorite: Palo Santo Pine

Grow Fragrance is one of my favorite brands when it comes to non-toxic Febreze alternatives, but they also have soy wax candles, too! Grow’s soy and coconut waxes are made in the USA and their lead-free cotton wick comes from Germany. Their candles come in recycled and recyclable aluminum tins, which you can place into a beautiful, minimalistic concrete vessel. Once your candle runs out, you can just buy a refill for your vessel.

Grow carries a core collection of scents year-round, but they also release seasonal collections as well. Their 2023 winter holiday scents include Palo Santo Pine, Pine Forest, Holiday Hearth, and a NEW holiday scent TBA! They’re currently scheduled to be released in early November.

Grow’s products are also Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free.

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Bee Lucia

Price: $17 – $32
Sizes: 4 or 8 oz.
Burn time: 20-40 hours
Made in: Portland, Oregon, USA
My personal favorite: I can’t choose between Loved (which is very pepperminty—smells like candy canes!) and Grounded.

Bee Lucia’s candles are made out of clean and healthy ingredients like coconut oil, beeswax, a cotton wick, and therapeutic-grade organic essential oils. Plus, they add crystals on top too, if that’s your thing!

Even though they don’t have a large ‘holiday’ collection, they do have an “Awakened” candle which smells like peppermint and is great for the winter season. Other good ones for the holiday season include “Grounded,” which has notes of cedarwood, fir, bergamot, rosemary, and cinnamon; “Healed,” which has notes of cardamom, bergamot, ginger, and clove; and “Loved,” which is peppermint with fir & Peru balsam!

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Cellar Door

Price: $16-55
Sizes: 8 or 30 oz.
Burn time: 30-60 hours
Made in: Washington, USA
My personal favorite: Pacific Northwest

This fragrance brand is “obsessed with nature and the future of our planet.” Most of their scents can be burned year-round, but they have a couple that are great for the holiday season as well, including Pacific Northwest and Ancient Cedar.

The team at Cellar Door Candles only uses natural essential oils for their fragrance, combined with beeswax and coconut wax and an unbleached cotton wick. Everything is designed in-house and hand-poured. Most of their ingredients and raw materials come from the U.S. (including from a local lavender farm!).

They also offer refill options and subscriptions to cut down on waste and save you money. In addition to their candles, you can buy reed diffusers and car air fresheners as well.

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Sanari Candle

Price: $34-46
Sizes: 8.5 or 16 oz.
Burn time: 45-80 hours
Made in: Los Angeles, California, USA
My personal favorite: Bosco

Here is yet another brand that was founded because of a cancer diagnosis—this time, it was the founder, Rebecca’s, diagnoses with breast cancer. When that happened, Rebecca dedicated herself to eliminating toxins from her home, and that included conventional scented candles that contained unsafe carcinogens and synthetic perfumes.

Sanari’s hand-poured candles are made with certified organic essential oils and a vegan coconut wax blend and a cotton wick. They have a variety of different warm scents for the winter, including Bosco (Pine, Douglas Fir, Mint), Biscotti (Vanilla, Nutmeg, Cinnamon), and Pompelmo (Douglas Fir, Chamomile, Lavender).

They’re hand-poured in small batches in Los Angeles. Plus, you can reuse the container as a wine glass or whiskey tumbler when you’re finished with the candle, making them a great gift idea! Plus, each purchase gives back to Breast Cancer Research.

You can also get a Trial Size Pack of 3 candles to try out the scents for yourself if you want to!

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Kline Honey Bee Farm

Price: $14-17
Made in: Ohio, USA
Various shapes, sizes, and burn times

If you’re looking for a different option than your traditional votive candles, check out this Etsy shop! Their candles come in super cute holiday-themed shapes, like evergreen trees, snow people, Christmas gnomes, and more.

The beeswax is sourced right from their own bees in Ohio, where they make the entire candle from start to finish! These non-toxic holiday candles are not scented (although beeswax does naturally have a slightly sweet scent to it).

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Honey Candles

Price: $10-40
Made in: Canada
Various shapes, sizes, and burn times

Honey Candles makes tea light candles, Hanukkah candles, and super cute Yule tree candles, all hand-dipped in Canada out of 100% pure, locally sourced beeswax. They’re colored using non-toxic dyes and are non-scented (again—just the light, sweet smell of the beeswax!).

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+ 2 More Ideas To Give Your Home a Warm Seasonal Smell

Scent Fill‘s Non-Toxic Christmas Plug-In Air Fresheners

Price: $4.50+
Made in: USA
My personal favorite: I’m going to have to go with the Juniper Woods!

If you would prefer not to burn something, you can check out Scent Fill’s non-toxic plug-in air fresheners. They have lots of scents to choose from, including Christmas-y ones like Fraser Fir Balsam Pine, Peppermint, Cranberry Plum, Warm Spice, and more.

You can also grab a Customizable Christmas Tree Kit, which includes 2 Christmas Tree scents and 1 Scent Fill Scented Oil Warmer. Or their Customizable Winter & Holiday Starter Kit comes with 1 Diffuser and 4 Refills. (Either of these could make a good gift idea as well!)

And trust me: these scents can really fill up a large space.

Some of Scent Fill’s scents are made with 100% natural oils, while others use synthetics (all of which are free rom toxicants like phthalates and are Prop 65 compliant)… So you can choose based on your preference!

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D.I.Y. Potpourri

I have one last idea for you: You could skip the pre-made candles and air fresheners and fill your home with your own stovetop potpourri instead!

Here’s how to do it:

• First, choose your ingredients of choice. Some wintery suggestions include:
  • Fresh Cranberries (1/2-1 cup)
  • Cinnamon sticks (2-4 sticks)
  • Whole cloves (1-2 tablespoons)
  • Orange (1 orange, quartered)
  • Vanilla extract (1 tsp)
  • Other herbs & spices such as nutmeg or rosemary
• Put your ingredients into a medium-sized pot.
• Add water so that it covers the top of the ingredients.
• Heat pot on low for a consistent simmer. (Don’t boil.)
• You can leave the pot on the back burner for hours as long as you’re home and you’re putting all safety measures in place.
• Add water to the pot every once in a while, as it evaporates.

This is an easy way to fill your home with the holiday spirit for hours using what you already have at home (or can quickly pick up at the grocery store).

Here are a few more tips to make the most of your potpourri: 

• If using produce such as oranges, you do not have to peel it. (You can even use just the peels if you have some leftover from a recipe and want to prevent some food waste!)
• Keep the lid off of the pot in order to let the fragrance fill the room.
• You can use the same batch for 1-2 days (just make sure to keep an adequate amount of water in the pot).
• You can mix and match the ingredients each time you put a new batch of potpourri on the stove until you find your favorite blend.
• You can also use the slow cooker/Crockpot instead if you’d like to, instead of the stove.
• Put a fresh batch on about 30 minutes before having guests over.

Last year, I actually made little holiday favors for my friends and family by putting the potpourri ingredients in a mason jar and then tying the directions on how to use it around the jar’s lid with some twine. (Feel free to use the directions tag I made if you feel like doing the same!)

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More Info About Non-Toxic Candles

What Are the Least Toxic Candles to Burn?

There are two main things you should look for when shopping for non-toxic candles:

1. The type of wax used
2. What is used to add fragrance to the candle

The Problem with Paraffin Wax

Most conventional candles are made out of paraffin wax, which is a petroleum-based product. It’s basically like burning fossil fuels into your home. Chemicals like benzene and toluene are released into the air as paraffin wax candles are burned. These chemicals are linked to all kinds of issues, such as cancer, respiratory issues, central nervous system dysfunction, birth defects, and more.

Better Wax: Soy, Coconut, and Beeswax Candles

The least toxic candles are made of:

• Soy wax, which is not the best option due to the chemicals used to turn the soybean into the wax, but is frequently the most cost-effective option. It’s still a plant-based, cleaner burn, especially compared to paraffin.
• Coconut wax, which is also a really great, plant-based clean burning option, but which tends to be more expensive than soy.
• Beeswax, which is usually the least toxic type of candle wax because it actually cleans the air while it burns.

If you want, you can read more about soy, coconut, and beeswax candles.

Natural vs. “Phthalate-Free” Fragrances

Candles that use certain synthetic fragrances are problematic because they can contain a host of toxicants such as phthalates. Under U.S. law, companies are actually allowed to include toxic chemicals in their products without disclosing them because they’re protected under an “industry secret” loophole. All they have to do is label the ingredient(s) as “fragrance” or “parfum,” which allows them to include a number of chemicals (there are over 3,500 of them) without listing them on the label or telling customers.

(Recent legislative changes in California are starting to change this, as brands now have to publish their full fragrance ingredients online. They can still be quite difficult to find, but it’s progress.)

That said, be sure to choose candles that use natural ingredients like essential oils and/or synthetic fragrances that are explicitly free from phthalates, parabens, and other toxic chemicals. (Look for candle companies that are willing to be transparent about their ingredients, such as Grow and Fontana.)

You should also look for candles that have lead-free cotton, hemp, and/or wood wicks.

There is one more thing to keep in mind when shopping for non-toxic candles: they don’t usually smell quite as strong as candles rely heavily on synthetic chemicals. So just a heads up that you may need to use a couple of candles if you’re trying to fill up a large room.

Wrapping Up the Best Non-Toxic Christmas Candles for 2023

This holiday season, focus on gathering together with loved ones instead of worrying about the toxic ingredients in your candles!

If we’re missing your favorite non-toxic holiday candle brand, let us know in the comments below and I’ll consider adding it to the list!