Christmas Tea Light Holders: 7 Ways to Light Your Home

Nothing changes the feel of a room at Christmas like candlelight. Turn the big light off, light a few tea lights, and the same room you've sat in all year suddenly looks like somewhere you'd want to stay. It's the cheapest, quickest and most forgiving bit of Christmas decorating there is, and it works whether your style is vintage, rustic or traditional.

Here are seven ways to use Christmas tea light holders around the house, with ideas from our Christmas candles and tea light holders collection.

1. A row of glass tea light holders along the mantelpiece

The mantelpiece is the obvious place to start, and the trick is repetition. Three or five holders in a line, evenly spaced, looks considered; a jumble of odd ones looks like the drawer got emptied. Frosted and etched glass is the safest choice, because the pattern only shows once the candle is lit and the glass glows from inside.

If you want the row to match without being identical, our Winter Forest tea light holders come in six frosted designs that sit happily side by side, and the glass reindeer holders in the same collection slot in at either end. Keep the candles themselves plain white or ivory so the glass does the talking.

2. Tea light houses and a little lit-up village

House-shaped tea light holders are the ones people stop and look at. A single ceramic house on a windowsill is lovely; three or four in different sizes, with the light coming through the windows, becomes a village. Put them on a wooden board or a tray so they read as one scene, and tuck a sprig of greenery or a pine cone between them.

They're especially good on a hall table or a deep windowsill, where they're seen from outside as well as in. If you'd rather not have a flame near children or curtains, the same houses take a battery tea light and look just as good; our Christmas houses and villages collection has both kinds.

3. A candlelit Christmas table centrepiece

For the table you want the light low, so it flatters faces rather than shining in them. Tea lights do that naturally. Group them down the middle on a long tray or board, with foliage, berries and a few pine cones laid between, and leave gaps so people can still pass the gravy.

Clear or antique-finish glass is the one to use here: it throws little flecks of light across the tablecloth and looks like it's been in the family for years. A set of three matching holders is enough for a small table; on a long one, two sets with greenery between. Everything for the table is in our Christmas table decorations collection, and it all goes straight back in its box on Boxing Day.

4. Red glass for a traditional Christmas glow

If your Christmas is red and green and always has been, red glass tea light holders are the ones to buy. Lit, they give off a warm rosy light that nothing else quite matches, and they look right beside holly, tartan and a real tree. A pair of red glass reindeer either end of the mantel, or a cluster of snowflake-etched holders on the sideboard, is enough.

Mix them with plain mercury glass or ivory pillar candles rather than more red, so the colour stays a highlight rather than taking over the room. You'll find the whole red and gold range in our traditional Christmas candles and tea lights.

5. Lanterns for the hallway, porch and doorstep

A lantern is a tea light holder that's allowed outside. One on the doorstep, one on the hall table and you've lit the way in before anyone has taken their coat off. Metal and glass lanterns with a snowflake or star cut-out throw a pattern on the wall behind them, which is half the charm.

Inside, a lantern on the floor beside the fireplace or at the foot of the stairs fills the awkward low corners that fairy lights never reach. Outside, use a battery tea light so the wind doesn't win. Sizes and finishes are all in our Christmas lanterns collection.

6. Flameless candles where a real flame won't do

Some places want candlelight but can't have a candle: a bookshelf, a child's room, a windowsill with curtains, a table that gets knocked. Battery LED candles have come a long way from the flat orange glow of a few years ago. The good ones have a real wax shell and a flickering flame, and from across the room you can't tell.

They also go where tea lights can't: inside a glass cloche, up a staircase, in the bathroom. Put them on a timer and the house lights itself at dusk every evening until Twelfth Night. Our LED and flameless candles cover everything from single tea lights to glass-cased pillars.

7. Tea light holders you'll use all year

The best Christmas tea light holders aren't really Christmas tea light holders at all. A mercury glass votive, a plain frosted holder, a wooden tray of glass cups: these come out in December and simply stay out, because they look just as good in February with a sprig of eucalyptus as they did with holly.

So when you're choosing, buy one or two that shout Christmas and the rest that merely glow. Our everyday shabby chic tea light and candle holders are the ones we reach for when the decorations go back in the loft.

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Everything in this guide is in stock now, and the collection grows through the season.

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Frequently asked questions

How many tea lights do I need for a mantelpiece?

Three or five, in matching holders, evenly spaced. Odd numbers look more natural than even ones, and keeping the holders the same stops the mantel looking cluttered. On a long mantelpiece, a row of five with greenery between them is plenty; on a short one, a pair at each end with a lantern or a sign in the middle.

Are tea lights safe to leave burning?

Never unattended, never near curtains or the tree, and always in a holder on a heat-proof surface. A standard tea light burns for around four hours. For anywhere you can't keep an eye on, or anywhere children and pets can reach, use a battery LED tea light; the better ones flicker convincingly and most glass holders take them.

Can I use tea light holders outside?

Lanterns with a lid and glass sides, yes, with a battery tea light so the wind doesn't blow the flame out or the rain get in. Open glass holders are best kept to a sheltered porch. Bring metal lanterns in after Christmas so they don't rust over winter.

What's the difference between a tea light and a votive?

A tea light is the small candle in a metal or plastic cup, about four centimetres across. A votive is slightly taller and has no cup, so it needs a holder that catches the melted wax. Most of the holders in this guide take either; if a product says "tea light holder" it will fit a standard tea light.