Last Christmas I was invited to a friend's house. Whist we were chatting she told me that she's allergic to scented candles though she love to watch candles burn. I clapped my hand to my mouth, 'Oops' I said and glanced at the yet to be unwrapped present, of a scented candle which I'd purchased for her. We were both somewhat embarrassed but it gave us something to laugh about.

This year my friend came to me. I decided to use unscented tea-lights from Sainsburys. I placed lanterns along the driveway and on the porch and just before my guests were due to arrive lit them. It made a beautiful illumination and I was able to offer immediate reassurance that they are unscented candles. She wasn't worried as we were outside but I needed to warn her as there were more indoors.

I used these fairly inexpensive tea lights in little candle holders which were dotted around the lounge and dining room. There were always adult present so the candles were always supervised and strategically placed where they would be unlikely to be knocked over.

Generally, each small circular wax piece required the wick to be prised out with my fingernails. It didn't bother me as I wasn't in a hurry. I had a calm and very well organised party. In fact, as one child arrived early, it was very handy to engage them in the little task of lifting the wick from the wax. They felt pleased to help and their efforts were rewarded by the pretty effect of the twinkling lights that they'd help me to prepare.

The lights outside stayed aflame just long enough for all the guests to arrive and neighbours have since told me how pretty the driveway looked. The tea lights burnt themselves out safely and all I had to do was retrieve the foil trays later to discard into the bin. The only problem was that I didn't have time to replace them with new lights for the departure of guests about four hours later. Lighting them outside had been a bit tricky as I had to watch out for the elements. Very luckily the rain had stopped and by sheltering the lights with our bodies they were wind protected but I was glad not to have to re-do the process again as I was tired by then.

The indoor lights remained aglow for a good three hours before I swapped the old lights in with new ones. The metal foil-like holder can melt inwards but as all the lights were in protective holders that didn't present any safety problems.

I paid around three pounds for one hundred tea lights so I'm happy with that as it made a very pretty presentation and I have many left over for future use.

The real test was if my friend would react to the candles. She stayed for the full party with not so much as a wriggle of her nose never mind a sneeze. These basic, but pretty-flamed, tea lights didn't get on her wick!