Products

1. Do you offer subscriptions/monthly boxes or refills?

We do not offer subscriptions on our products, monthly boxes, or candle of the month options, nor do we have any plans to begin a service like that.  There is also no refill service available.

2. Do you have wooden bowl/dough bowl candles?

Our candles are in amber glass jars with wooden lids and crackling wooden wicks that have been certified for candle use. We currently have no plans to expand our selection to wooden/dough bowl containers as they are an added fire hazard. 

3. Do you sell raw ingredients?

Hive & Home is an artisanal crafter and retailer, not a craft store. We do not sell our beeswax, wicks, or any other raw supplies or materials in their original form. We do not sell cotton wicks, as we use wooden wicks in our candles. Also, there are no plans to use anything other than wooden wicks. We enjoy the ambiance a bit too much to let them go.

4. Where is your honey?

It's only Tyler and Kaitie currently, and we are just two people who work other jobs. We've just gotten our two hives running in 2024, but our bees won't have a proper honey production until at least 2025. Our priority is on homewares related to sustainability or beeswax, and not honey production. We would love to direct you to the plethora of other beekeepers in the region who can provide you with locally produced honey though. You can check out the NE Indiana Beekeepers Association for more information and a list of local beekeepers.

5. I have a problem/question about my gift card. Can you help me?

We'd love to answer any questions about our gift cards. Please reach out to us directly on our Contact Us page, and we can help you as soon as we can.

Beeswax

1. How long should my candle last?

The great part of this question is that it entirely depends on you. Our candles, when burned correctly, can burn around 40 - 45 hours. Beeswax has a higher burn temp, which means that it will burn longer than other kinds of waxes. We've tested our products, and if you trim your wick before every use and let the wax pool reach the as close to the edge of the jar as you can (at least 3 hours every time you burn it), then it should last around this length of time. 

2. My candle keeps tunneling or sooting. How can I fix that?

To prevent tunneling and sooting, trim your wick before every burn and allow it to burn to the edge of the jar every time. When your candle has to burn through extra wick, it can create extra soot and doesn't burn the wax efficiently. As your candle burns closer to the bottom of the jar (but please don't let your candles burn to the bottom of the jar), it will burn hotter from the excess heat trapped in the jar. Some tunneling will correct itself as you burn your candle but if you find that it seems to be too much, these things should help rectify these common issues.

3. Does beeswax purify the air or release negative ions?

While we'd love to believe that beeswax has that capability, we pride ourselves on not spreading misinformation or false information. There have been no studies to support these claims, though many beeswax suppliers, candle makers, etc. would love to tell you otherwise. 

4. What is special about beeswax candles?

Beeswax candles burn at a higher temperature than soy or paraffin. This means that, while it is more expensive than other waxes, they last longer. Furthermore, it's a naturally occurring wax. Paraffin candles are petroleum, which is crude oil or fossil fuels. Beeswax is a natural and renewable resource, which is a core mission of our business. All around, this means that beeswax is not only better for the environment, it's also better for your wallet in terms of how frequently you buy candles from us since they burn for longer. It ultimately saves you money.

5. How to tell if it's real beeswax?

Pure beeswax candles are pretty easy to spot! Over time, the natural oils in beeswax produce a white powder called bloom. You can easily wipe it off, though it doesn't interfere with how the candles burn. Not all of our beeswax candles may produce this though, as we have added fragrance oils to the candles, which occasionally inhibits the bloom growth.

Shipping

1. How fast will my order ship out?

Though it's a two person operation at this point, we're proud of how quickly we can get your order out the door. Usually, your package is at the post office the same day or following business day. 

If you've put in a pre-order, this could take a minimum of two weeks. Our candles require that time to properly cure, and then added shipping times on top of that.

2. How quickly should my order arrive?

This all depends on where in the US your order is going and the time of year. During most of the year, your order should arrive within 2 to 4 days if you live in the Midwest. If you live on the West or East coast, then expect your order to arrive within 5 to 7 business days. If you live in Hawaii, Alaska, or any other non-inland locations of the US that we deliver to, this could take longer than the standard 5 to 7 business days. During the holidays when shipping demands are higher, expect this to take an extra 3 to 4 days.

3. Do you have carbon neutral shipping?

At this point, our shipping isn't carbon neutral. It's something we are actively looking into and hope to offer in the near future for a greener solution to standard shipping. But, carbon neutral shipping simply means that you pay to offset the shipping carbon creates, and we're working to keep costs down on an already expensive product. We hope to offer it without needing to raise our prices, so this will take some time while we figure this out.

4. Can I get a refund or return packages if my order is damaged?

Unfortunately, we don't offer refunds or returns on packages damaged during shipping. We only offer returns, refunds, or replacements for products that qualify as a manufacturer issue of if you're unhappy with your order. This is on a case by case situation, so make sure to check out our policies page for more information about what qualifies. Otherwise, reach out to us at myhiveandhome@gmail.com to ask about specific questions.

5. My package never arrived. Do you offer replacements or refunds?

Unfortunately, this can happen. Please wait a business day or two after the delivery date before you reach out to us. Occasionally, USPS orders will be marked as delivered and will arrive a day or two later or might have been delivered to the wrong address. If your order still hasn't arrived, then we will file a claim. This can take up to a week before they respond. In the event that your package is truly lost to the void, then we offer a refund or a replacement to your order. At this point, we may send it through FedEx and request that you sign for your order to ensure that it has reached you.

6. I don't love my product. Can I swap it for a different scent or get a refund?

We want to make sure that you absolutely love your product. As long as the product isn't more than halfway used, or damaged in any way, we would love to send you a different scented candle or refund your product. We may request proof of the state of the candle before we refund or send a new product. Reach out to us at myhiveandhome@gmail.com to begin the process.

Green Practices

1. How is your packaging sustainable?

All of our packaging is recyclable, reusable, compostable, or biodegradable to some degree. We strive to use clean, green packaging to help you help our planet. Hive & Home also sources our packaging from businesses that we vet. For instance, our seed paper thank you cards come from Greenfield Paper Company and the hex comb, padded envelopes, and kraft paper we use for void fill or padding is from EcoEnclose. 

2. How are your fragrances green?

We source our fragrances from a variety of suppliers that adhere to California's laws and requirements, including Prop 65. California leads the way in many green endeavors, and the majority of businesses in the beauty and scented home décor industries are based out of California and use the same or similar fragrances. We purchase from places that make it the rule, not the exception, to offer cleaner alternatives. Though we don't use only essential oils in our candles, we can guarantee you the highest quality of fragrance oils, which were lab created by experts to burn safely in your home, whether you have pets or children.

3. Do you use essential oils for your fragrances?

Beeswax is a beautiful yet tricky wax to use. Because of its higher burn temp and other qualities that make it great, it doesn't hold fragrance as well as other types of wax. In order to still get a great cold and hot throw without using an excessive, and therefore not sustainable, amount of fragrance oil, we decided to use synthetic fragrance. Essential oils are also incredibly expensive and aren't always ethically sourced. This would raise the price of our products and risk diminishing something that's important to us, which is an ethical product. This makes our product still affordable, consistent with the fragrance, and ultimately less harmful or wasteful than if we used essential oils.

4. Is beeswax vegan friendly?

We hate to say it, but our candles aren't vegan friendly. Beeswax has many excellent qualities, but that isn't one of them. Hive & Home chose to use pure beeswax for a variety of reasons, one of them being that it is still a sustainable option for candle wax despite that it comes from animals. There were many things that went into this decision, but the short of it is that beeswax burns at a higher temperature, which means it lasts longer, doesn't drip, and burns cleanest. This means that your money lasts longer, is less messy, and isn't as harmful to you and your pets and household members. 

5. Where does your beeswax come from?

Since we've chosen to focus our hives on honey production, we source our beeswax from a variety of local providers. We also do this because beeswax can be inconsistent, and in order to provide you with a product that works the same nearly every time and still ethically source it from local producers, we've chosen not to use beeswax from our own hives.

 

We love to hear from you! If you have any other questions that we haven't answered here, please reach out to us. We might just add it to the list.