When you think of Yankee Candle you probably think of a small, aromatic store at the mall where you can always find a last-minute gift for your favorite candle aficionado. Last weekend we visited Yankee Candle Village in South Deerfield, MA, and the only similarity to the mall stores is that they both sell candles. Yankee Candle Village is a huge complex featuring dozens of themed rooms selling every type of candle, craft, and candy that you could ever want.

The complex can be a bit daunting, so once you park you will want to find a map and plan out your day. There are two main eating facilities if you want to plan your visit around a meal. Chandler Restaurant is a full-service restaurant serving up traditional New England fare. We ate here and the service and food were great! We had to wait 45 minutes for a table on a busy Saturday, but there was plenty to do to fill our time. There is also a food court with a variety of options, and there are plenty of places to eat outside if you choose to bring your own food.

The Village is a maze of rooms, one after the other after the other, and each one has a different theme to it. There is a general flow through the rooms with the crowd, but as we stated before, you may want a map to figure out where you are. There are only a couple places with registers. Even though there are many registers at each station, the lines were still long. We ended up walking back through half of the complex to avoid waiting in what looked like a 30 minute check-out line.

For the younger kids, there is a decent-sized toy store with lots of open items to play with. Santa and Mrs. Claus are right in the middle, and a station is set up to write your letter to give them if you didn’t bring one with you. Close by is the Christmas Village (adjacent to the Department 56 section) where it snows every four minutes. Our kid got a kick out of the indoor snow, which was small particles of soap.

The main candle room, in addition to every variety of fragrance and size, has several different stations to make your own candles, House Warmer jars, and even an area where you can create a candle in the shape of your hand. The line for this was very long, so we didn’t do it, but you essentially dip your hand into some liquid creating a form which is transformed into a candle.

Mom says: Candles, Pandora, Vera Bradley, and Department 56 all under one roof… what’s not to love???!!!  This is a great place to get into the Christmas spirit!

Dad says: I was impressed with the sheer magnitude of this tourist attraction, but be weary if you are sensitive to candle smells, large crowds, and 100’s of knick-knacks.

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