The Great Cheap, Safe Fireworks Hunt

Declan_2

To be honest, if you are looking to buy from supermarkets etc you might have left your firework shopping too late. Usually by this time, either the shops stop selling or they have sold out.
However, Lidl is what I'd recommend. If you tell me what your budget is I'll give you some ideas of what you could buy. I always buy from Lidl - I'm never disappointed.
Morrisons had some good offers, but please note not all their fireworks were good.
Unsure about other shops. I wouldn't buy from Asda this year - the prices are ridiculous and the fireworks look naff. If you read through a couple of pages on this forum you might be able to get some other good ideas.

Regards.

SnowWhiterThanWhite

Popped into Lidl & Sainsburys - both apparently sold out?

Had to go to Bookers and buy as getting desperate - although they certainly weren't cheap :rolleyes:

frootbat

Another big recommendation for Lidl fireworks.

We let ours off this evening, very very impressed we spent £25 and bought a pack of Blue Apollo (?) rockets for £9.99 - very powerful, LOUD bang, big burst.

Also bought a Black Nebula selection box for £14.99, lots in there, rockets, 2 small cakes, roman candles, fountains lots of noise, crackles, bangs, good bursts.

Highly recommended.

gemmacarolyn

Morrisons are still selling today, if anyone is still looking for fireworks! I haven't been there myself, but was there in the week and a staff member said they would be selling until today.

AnthonyUK

BorisTheSpider wrote: »

Perhaps you should check this:
http://www.pyrosociety.org.uk/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=2161&view=findpost&p=28211

Had this box on Halloween at a Halloween party;most of the contents were good performers, apart from the Black Hole wheel which didn't go off completely and ended long before it should have done. The Black Hole wheel should produce over 1 minute's worth of colour if it goes off properly.:T

Money_Troll

I know this is posted after the "silly Season" but it is worth noting that cheaper fireworks are not always better.

I got a 4.99 selection at Lidl (to test a firing system) and i know you only get what you pay for but it was a box of fountains each of which lasted about 10 seconds!

I did a display where I had fountains for a fiver each and they lasted nearly a minute each and were a darn site better! (ok you get what you pay for and we spent nearly 2,000 on the display).

Look around, if you have stores near you that sell fireworks all year, the staff here will try to give you value for money and also good advice as they know what they are selling rather than the supermarkets whose staff will tell you what it says on the label when you ask what it does.

Some of the supermarket stuff isnt bad, but alot of the BOGOF stuff is about priced correclty for the 2 items (ie expensive for 1 item)

Money_Troll

gurty wrote: »

PLEASE READ THE LABEL OF YOUR FIREWORK !!!

There are two types (Categorys) of firework that the public can legally purchase:

1 GARDEN. These have a safe distance to stand of at least FIVE meters away.

2 DISPLAY. These have a safe distance to stand of TWENTY FIVE meters away.

PLEASE PLEASE make sure you read the label. (if it's not there it's illegal)

Don't let anybody be yet another sad statistic.

IF IN DOUBT STAND AT LEAST 25 METERS AWAY FROM ANY FIREWORK !!!!

incorrect, there are 4 categories of Fireworks. basically they are
Cat 1 Indoor (mainly used in theatres)
Cat 2 Garden
Cat 3 Display
Cat 4 Professional (ie if you go to a display this is what you see) These are not available to the general public, only professional firers!

Cat 2 as stated generally have a safe distance of minimum of 5 metres, some are 10 or 20
Cat 3 is currently a minimum of 25 Meters, some are 50 metres.


Bear in mind, that this distance is all around the firework, not just people to firework! (this includes other peoples houses - they dont want your fireworks in their window!)

please see this link: http://www.pegasuspyrotechnics.co.uk/catalogue/index.php?main_page=page&id=16

AnthonyUK

Money_Troll wrote: »

incorrect, there are 4 categories of Fireworks. basically they are
Cat 1 Indoor (mainly used in theatres)
Cat 2 Garden
Cat 3 Display
Cat 4 Professional (ie if you go to a display this is what you see) These are not available to the general public, only professional firers!

Cat 2 as stated generally have a safe distance of minimum of 5 metres, some are 10 or 20
Cat 3 is currently a minimum of 25 Meters, some are 50 metres.


Bear in mind, that this distance is all around the firework, not just people to firework! (this includes other peoples houses - they dont want your fireworks in their window!)

please see this link: http://www.pegasuspyrotechnics.co.uk/catalogue/index.php?main_page=page&id=16

Er wrong you are;

Cat 1 indoor fireworks consist of party poppers/throwdowns ie funsnaps/crackersnaps/confettipoppers/table party bombs/novelty matches which bang or crack when you strike them/serpents/indoor hand held and non-hand-held sparklers/flares/smoke tablets etc and are safe provided you stand 1m or more away.

Cat 2 garden fireworks are the small retail outdoor fireworks that many smaller retailers sell which do not cause harm to persons standing 5m or more away and the fuse fitted should allow the person(s) lighting them to retire to 5m distance. Sparklers that are designed to be held should not cause injury to the person holding them by emission of sparks or ejection of hot slag(you often get this with coloured and crackling sparklers).

Cat 3 display fireworks are the larger retail fireworks sold in the bigger shops and stores which are intended for big spacious gardens and open spaces which do not cause harm to spectators standing at least 25m away and the persons firing them would be expected to wear suitable personal protection(I ALWAYS wear a hard hat with built in eardefenders and clearvisor when I fire these just in case anything goes wrong or misfires,also from the bigger Cat3 25m display fireworks especially aerial ones and mines you get debris falling all around you and it could cause burns hence the need for personal protective equipment when firing Cat3 25m retail display fireworks).

and Cat4 fireworks are devices for professional use and/or are incomplete which are used in public displays and are not intended for sale to/use by the general public.

There is a new european standard EN14035 that one company is working to which gives an 8m safety distance for category 2 garden fireworks over the BS7114 recommended distance of 5m as said;Absolute Fireworks in Scotland is the first ever company in the UK to work to this brand new consumer standard for retail consumer fireworks. The current BS7114 standard does NOT specify a 10 or 20m safety distance from garden fireworks NOR does it specify a 50m safety distance from display fireworks at all BUT the failing of BS7114 is that inherently tame gentle fireworks which fall outside 5m for viewing say 6m but fall far less than 25m for safe viewing automatically get a cat3 25m rating which means gentle tame items have to be viewed too far away which is pointless. A pack of 4in conefountains can be given a Cat3 25m rating and a box of small fireworks can be given a Cat3 25m rating with the result being too tame to view that far away!!!:rotfl:

amavadia

Had the Blue Apollo Rockets and Haleys Comet cake from Lidl... AMAZING!

the rockets were amazing value at 9.99 for 5, and they were good enough to use for a public display. Same with the cake, it was brilliant. Goes very high and lasts for a good amount of time!

Also bought the Black Nebula selection box for 14.99, however, this was a totally different story! absolute waste of money. The box seems heavy, but when you pick the fireworks up individually, they feel like the boxes are empty. the fountains last for all of 5 seconds. I suppose it would be good if you have young children, but most definately not for me.

In future will stick to the individual cakes which are well worth the money.

pKaTz

are there any places still selling fireworks?
need some for a function this month