Will there be a retail store for Gifts By Birdie anytime soon?
*nervous laugh* Unprecedented times, amirite? Earlier this spring, when things were feeling hopeful, we were looking at retail spaces, but we're making a strategic pivot and investing in materials instead. Why? The supply chain is a fucking mess. And if we don't have materials, we don't have candles. It sure would suck to have a retail space with no candles to sell in it. Every small business you know is affected by the supply chain, us included. We couldn't have started a candle company at a worse time, really. When we started messing around with wax last year as a...
Coming Soon: Effing Candle Co.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes are coming soon! We've been working on a lot behind the scents - our regularly-scheduled programming and pop-ups, holiday planning, and *drumroll* a REBRAND! Gifts By Birdie will become Effing Candle Co. soon-ish. As with all change, it happens in stages, slowly, and then all at once. Right now we're in the awkward "stages" phase, but the light at the end of the tunnel is lit by a wooden wick candle and we can see it. When I started Gifts By Birdie, I thought I wanted to be in the boho-chic candle space, but after a few months, I...
FAQ - Why are your candles so expensive?
I was at a popup recently and a woman walked up to my table to say: "I can get a perfectly good candle at Target for $12. Why are YOUR candles SO expensive?" I paused, took a breath, and smiled at her through my mask. "Hi, I'm Birdie. Thanks for your question. I get asked that a lot. Tell me what you know about your candle from Target." Her eyes crossed as if I'd asked her to solve an algebra question or a riddle. "I know that it's cheap and it burns just fine!" "Did it ever occur to you...
Small Business Wins And Losses
Part of the fun of being a small business owner is the ability to be nimble, reflexive, and fun. When I worked at big corporations that was not the case. Products were developed 18+ months in advance, there was a ton of red tape, and we were always worried about what the PR team thought of something. If they could only see me now, making "Josh Hawley Sucks" candles. They'd die. Anyway, back to the purpose of this blog. I had a shower thought in early April: "What if we made a candle for stoners?" We are very 420 friendly...
Earth Day Reflections
Day has us thinking about some of the choices we made when selecting materials for Gifts By Birdie. We choose coconut apricot creme wax because it burns clean, smooth, and slow so you get more bang for your buck. Longer burn times = fewer candles purchased over your lifetime. It's also biodegradable and vegan. Our fragrances are cruelty-free, paraben-free, and phthalate-free. We use a high fragrance load to give you the maximum amount of fragrance without it being overpowering. The wax gives a medium cold throw and a high hot throw. The wooden wicks are sourced sustainably. We purposely chose...
Behind-The-Scenes Of Candlemaking: Can I request a fragrance?
"You know what would be a great fragrance?" "Can you make a candle that smells like _____?" "I smelled a candle by ____ brand and loved it. Can you make it?" We get these questions a lot and the answer is YES you can always *request* a fragrance, but know that it's just that - a request. Here's some behind-the-scenes info on how we come up with new candle fragrances and why it's not always possible to give you your dream scent: I am a one-woman team. I do all of the product development, recipe testing, product creation, popups, shipping,...