Blowing out candles on the birthday cake and making a wish is a time-honored tradition, and it's just as important for adults who are growing older as it is for children. Handmade birthday candles are a real treat — I've described some variations on these earlier but you can devise your own as well. And after the little candles are blown out and removed for serving the cake, how festive it is to have made some other candles with which to adorn the birthday table.

Another idea for a birthday party is cupcake candles (see Chapter 17, “Novelty Candles”). These little wax cakes aren't for eating, but you can make them look like the real thing.

Cone-shaped candles can be made to look just like party hats, especially using the method for making chunk candles (see p. 178 in Chapter 9). You can stick some colorful tinsel around the top to complete the effect. (Be sure to remove the tinsel before lighting the candle: it's only window dressing.)

Making a candle for the birthday person's sign of the zodiac is especially thoughtful. A simple large pillar is best. Although there are no hard and fast rules, each of the signs of the zodiac is related to specific colors. Here's a list:

Wax glue is a soft, sticky wax that is available in solid form for attaching pieces of wax together and also to stick decorations to candles. Use it to glue a small zodiacal symbol (make sure it is nonflammable) to the candle, incise the symbol with a knife, or just paint on the name of the sign. (Also see Chapter 13, “Surface Techniques for Decorating Candles.”)