Gifts for Soda Lovers | Hand-Poured Can Candles

Not everybody drinks. Gifts for soda lovers usually stop at a case of the stuff, which lasts a week and then it is gone. These do not. Every candle here starts as a real pop can, cut and sanded by hand in our shop outside Buffalo, then filled with American soy wax poured to smell like whatever was in the can. Dr Pepper smells like Dr Pepper. Root beer smells like root beer. You do not pick a scent on these, because the scent is the point.

Here are the ten that sell the most, and who each one is for.

Gifts for soda lovers who have everything

1. Dr Pepper candle

Our best seller by a distance, on the website and on Etsy both. Dr Pepper drinkers are famously committed to it, which is what makes the gift work at all. The maroon can gets recognized from the other side of a room. It smells like the soda rather than like a generic cherry vanilla candle, and that difference is the whole reason people buy a second one.

Dr Pepper soda can candle, $20

2. Mountain Dew Baja Blast candle

The most searched thing we make. Baja Blast has a following closer to a fandom than a preference, and there is no version of this sitting on a shelf in a store. Good for a college student, or for anyone with a very specific Taco Bell order. The teal can does not look like anything else in a room.

Baja Blast soda can candle, $20

3. Michael Jackson 2018 Pepsi candle

The sleeper on this list. The 2018 Michael Jackson Pepsi can is one of the most searched items in our shop and most people have no idea it exists as a candle. This is a music gift more than a soda gift. If you are buying for a collector, or for somebody who grew up on those Pepsi commercials, this is the can.

Michael Jackson Pepsi can candle, $20

Gifts for the diet soda drinker

4. Diet Coke candle

Diet Coke is a habit more than a drink, and the people who drink it know exactly how many they have had today. The silver and red can sits well on a desk. This is a solid pick for a coworker or a boss, where a beer can might read as too familiar. It is our second best selling soda on the website.

Diet Coke soda can candle, $20

5. Diet Mountain Dew candle

Diet Dew has a smaller following than the regular, and a more committed one. People who drink it do not switch to anything else. The pale green can looks like nothing else on a shelf. This works for someone at a desk job who keeps one going all afternoon, and it is the kind of gift that says you were paying attention.

Diet Mountain Dew soda can candle, $20

6. Diet Dr Pepper candle

For the person who wants the Dr Pepper flavor without the sugar and has been fielding jokes about it for years. The can is close enough to the original that it reads at a glance. Good pick if you are buying for somebody who already owns the regular one, since the two look right sitting next to each other.

Diet Dr Pepper soda can candle, $20

Soda gifts under $20 for someone who does not drink alcohol

7. Coca-Cola candle

The safe choice, and there is nothing wrong with that. Coke is the can everybody recognizes, which makes it right when you do not know the person all that well. It suits a housewarming, or a gift exchange where you drew a name out of a hat. The red carries a room better than you would expect from something this small.

Coca-Cola soda can candle, $20

8. Mountain Dew candle

The original, and still one of our steadier sellers. Mountain Dew works as a gift for someone in their twenties, and equally for someone in their fifties who never stopped drinking it. The green can with the red script is the version most people picture. If you are buying for a gamer, this is usually the right can before Baja Blast.

Mountain Dew soda can candle, $20

9. A&W Root Beer candle

Root beer gets the strongest reaction when it is lit, because the scent sits further from what people expect a candle to smell like. The brown and orange can looks older than the rest of the shelf, in a good way. Buy this for a grandparent, or for anyone who wants a soda candle that does not smell like cola.

A&W Root Beer soda can candle, $20

10. Cherry Coke candle

For the person who orders Cherry Coke on purpose rather than because it was the only thing in the machine. Cherry sits closer to what people already expect from a candle, so this is the least risky of the soda scents if you are unsure about the recipient. The can has more color than plain Coke and reads well next to it if they own both.

Cherry Coke soda can candle, $20

There are a lot more of these than fit on one page. Sprite, Fanta, Crush, 7 Up, Sunkist and the rest of the soda pop can candle collection are all poured the same way.

Questions we get before people buy

What do you get a soda lover who has everything?

The can they actually drink. That sounds obvious, and it is the part people get wrong. A Dr Pepper person does not want a Coke candle. Match the brand exactly and the gift works on its own, without needing a card to explain it.

Are these a good gift for someone who does not drink alcohol?

They are one of the few gifts in this category that are. Most novelty gifts for adults route through beer or liquor, which leaves out a lot of people. A soda can candle gives you the same joke and the same shelf presence with none of that.

Do the soda candles actually smell like the soda?

Yes, and that is the reason they sell. Every soda can candle is poured to match what was in the can, so the scent is fixed rather than chosen. Root beer smells like root beer. Dr Pepper smells like Dr Pepper. If you want to pick your own scent instead, that option lives on the beer can candles.

Is there a soda gift under $20?

Every soda can candle on this page is $20, and that is the finished gift rather than a starting point. Two of them together still comes in under most gift exchange limits.

Are the cans real?

Yes. Every one is a real can, cut and sanded by hand in our shop in Elma, New York, just outside Buffalo. We fill them with American soy wax. The label on the outside is the label that came on the can.