To say I am absolutely stoked for basketball season to start again would be an understatement!!!
In the middle of the 2022-23 season I was hit with the idea to make a purple, glittery candle that gave big beam energy to celebrate what was shaping up to be an incredible season for the Sacramento Kings.
At first, I made one candle. For myself. I loved it. I doubted anyone else would be especially interested in it… but with a lot of encouragement, made a batch to sell. It did ok. Then the Kings kept doing… really well. I made more candles. I had a news feature. I started selling more. I was gifted more news features. I sold more candles - and for the first time in my 5 years of business, moved to offering a pre-sale on a product to meet demand. More news features, more sell outs, and multiple rounds of pre-sales happened all the way through the Kings’ momentous journey to the Playoffs.
And now here we are approaching the start to the 2023-24 season and I am still moved to happy tears if I think too long and hard about the 22-23 edition of the Light the Beam candle. I’ll be forever grateful to the media outlets that highlighted me (and a ton of other amazing small businesses) embracing and celebrating the Sacramento Kings’ landmark season; to the folks who had never gotten a candle from me before but took an interest in me and the candle and bought them sight unseen (and smell… un-smelled?); and of course to my returning customers that rallied behind me and got the candle too.
The outpouring of support over the Light The Beam candle was so much more to me than you might think. It now holds my record for the most I’ve ever sold of a single product. It gave me the first experience as a business owner of waking up to so many orders of a product that I sold out. It gave me happy tears more times than I can count. It gave me a lot of confidence. It made me realize - maybe I don’t have to doubt the ideas I have, and maybe other people will like them too. It’s pushed me to take more chances on the ideas I come up with. And above all it has brought me so much, pure, joy.
Ok - enough of my mushy feelings and into the details for the 23-24 edition of the Light the Beam candle! This year, you can expect the same purple, glittery magic to help you #LTB from home! And as with all my candles, they are phthalate-free, non-carcinogenic and made with soy wax for the longest, highest quality and cleanest burn. Now to the changes. This year, I wanted a slightly bigger candle. Compared to last year’s 7.2 oz candle, the 23-24 edition will feature 9 oz for a longer overall burn time. Instead of a clear glass jar, this year’s candle is poured in a white glass tumbler jar that gives a clean look while still offering a purple glow through the sides of the vessel as the candle burns. The look of the purple and black label on the white jar is inspired by a King’s jersey!
Last but certainly not least - the biggest upgrade to the Light The Beam candle is that more than one fragrance will be offered! Not to worry - every fragrance offered will still, hands down, guaranteed, contain the scent notes of basketball and winning! The late October launch of the Light the Beam candle will allow you to choose from a handful of scents. Some will be popular fragrances from my year round line. And because its super fun for me, and I want to offer some fun variety for you, throughout the season I’ll be periodically making more Light The Beam candles in more scents - most of them will be fragrances I’ve never released before.
Because I’ll never be able to say it enough, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who turned this little self-doubted idea into a joyous dream come true.