How Much Fragrance Oil Should I Order for Diwali Candle Production?

Grams per candle, grams per run

Oil is a fraction of the candle's total weight. A 200 g candle at 8% holds 16 g of oil and 184 g of wax. A 150 g candle holds 12 g, and a 100 g candle 8 g. Multiply by the number of candles, then add an allowance for oil lost in the jug, on the thermometer and in test burns. This series uses 5%, the top of the usual 3–5% range, as a working assumption. The table does that sum for common Diwali run sizes.

These are totals across all scents. Split them by scent before ordering, because each oil is bought separately. The split should follow expected demand, not equal shares: the scent that sold best last Diwali, or the one your buyers ask for by name, gets the largest share. If this is your first Diwali, a sensible default is a larger share for the most familiar scent and equal shares for the rest. How Much Fragrance Oil Do I Need for 100 Candles?, How Much Fragrance Oil Do I Need for 500 Candles? and How Much Fragrance Oil Do I Need for 1,000 Candles? work through fixed counts outside the festive context.

Load changes the total directly. For the 320-candle plan below, the whole order moves as follows, before any reserve:

Luxury Soy Wax Chunks are rated up to 13% and Luxury Soy Wax CSI 464 up to 10%, the wax makers' stated formulation maximums. Decide the load from your test candles, not from the table. If your tests say 8%, do not order for 10% "just in case"; the extra oil will sit in a bottle.

The festive reserve

Ordinary production planning orders what the plan needs and reorders when stock runs low. Diwali breaks that rhythm. Demand is concentrated into a few weeks, many makers are buying the same festive scents at the same time, and a restock on a popular size that late cannot be guaranteed. The answer is not to overbuy everything. It is to carry a deliberate reserve on the scents that are proven, and none on the ones that are not.

The reserve percentages are working assumptions, not rules. If you have last year's sales by scent, use the gap between what you poured and what you could have sold as your reserve instead. If you sell only to a fixed order, such as a corporate client, you need the allowance but not the reserve; Fragrance Oils for Diwali Corporate Gift Candles covers that case.

A 320-candle plan, worked

Here is a four-scent Diwali plan for a small business: 320 candles of 200 g at 8%. Sandalwood is the hero, proven last year, with 120 candles and a 15% reserve. Dark Vanilla Oud is a proven second scent, 80 candles with a 10% reserve. Raat Ki Rani and Spicy Cinnamon are new this Diwali, 60 candles each, with no reserve. Each oil is bought in the cheapest in-stock mix of 100 g, 500 g and 1 kg packs that covers its total.

The plan puts 5,120 g of oil into candles and buys 6,100 g, costing ₹35,270.32. Without any reserve, the same four scents would cost ₹33,277.28, so the reserve adds ₹1,993.04, all of it on the two proven scents. For Raat Ki Rani and Spicy Cinnamon the reserve is zero, and the pack rounding alone leaves a little over. Buy Diwali Candle Fragrance Oils in Bulk explains why Dark Vanilla Oud is bought as 500 g packs and Spicy Cinnamon as two 500 g and a 100 g.

Overbuying, underbuying and leftovers

The two mistakes are not equally costly. Underbuying the hero scent costs sales in the best weeks of the year. Overbuying a new scent costs cash tied up in a bottle. Here is what the plan leaves over after the candles are poured, and how many extra candles that oil could make at 16 g each.

The spare on Sandalwood and Dark Vanilla Oud is the reserve doing its job: if the hero sells out early, there is oil for more candles without waiting for a delivery. The spare on the new scents is only pack rounding. None of it is wasted. Sandalwood, oud and florals all suit the November–February wedding season, and Fragrance Oils for Wedding Candle Making covers wedding candles. A sealed bottle stored cool and dark keeps its value for the next run.

The shopping list

Here is the full order for the 320-candle plan, with the reserve included. Wax, wicks and jars are sized to the 320 candles; wax gets the same 5% allowance and no reserve, because wax restocks are a separate question from festive scent demand.

The order totals ₹96,952.32, or ₹302.98 per planned candle including the reserve. Labour, packaging, freight and GST are extra. For a bigger fixed plan, I'm Making 500 Candles for Diwali — Which Fragrances Should I Buy and How Much Fragrance Oil Will I Need? works through 500 Diwali candles, and How Much Fragrance Oil Should I Order for a Large Candle Production Run? covers large production runs in general.

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