How to Save Money on Fireworks

What would the Fourth of July be without fireworks? The best financial move you can do is opt out of buying your own and go to watch a public display. It’s a lot less expensive, and there’s much less likelihood of anyone getting hurt. That being said, there are a lot of people who enjoy buying their own fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July. Depending on how extravagant you want to go, the cost of a home display can get quite expensive. With a little bit of planning and organization, however, you can create a wonderful home firework display which doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Here are a few ideas on how to save money on fireworks:

Know What You Want

One of the most important aspects to saving money on fireworks is to know what fireworks you like the best, and which ones you want to have for your home display. If you know exactly what you want, you can purchase just the fireworks you need. While it’s often less expensive on a per item basis to buy fireworks in bulk sets, this isn’t cost-effective if most of the fireworks in the bulk package aren’t ones that you really want. By knowing exactly what you want, and purchasing those specific fireworks, you will create the display you want without a whole lot of extras you never really needed. Once you know what you want, then if it happens a bulk package has the specific fireworks you want, it’s a bonus opportunity to purchase them for less.

Buy Bulk Last Minute

If you want a large amount of fireworks with quantity being more important than the individual fireworks, it can often be worthwhile to wait until the last minute to purchase them. Stores don’t want to be stuck with unsold stock, so they will tend to discount fireworks as the 4th of July gets closer. The problem is the choices available will likely be limited, and many of the more popular ones could be sold out. For this reason, it’s good to secure the individual fireworks you want early, and then fill out the rest of them by purchasing in bulk as the 4th of July approaches.

Shop Around

As with anything you buy these days, it pays to shop around. Certain stores may use fireworks as loss leaders to drive traffic to their store, while others will charge full retail price. Spending just a little time doing a bit of comparison shopping can save a significant amount of money. Take a look at advertisement inserts to get a good idea of the prices different stores in your area are charging for fireworks.

Firework Stands

In additions to regular retail outlets, it’s worth stopping by the fireworks stands. Since firework stands are set up as temporary retail outlets, they have lower overhead costs, which can allow them to sell some fireworks for less. These stands also may have a wider variety of fireworks which are often discounted when purchased in bulk.

Pool Together

An easy way to cut the cost of fireworks is to pool money together to purchase the items as a group. Since the display is combined together, there’s no need to buy multiples of the same exact fireworks for each family so everyone saves. If everyone chips in the same amount, you might not save money, but you’ll have a much larger display for everyone to see when families combine their home displays together. Another option is to get bigger and better fireworks for the same amount of money. No matter which method is chosen, in the end everyone watching gets more value for their money.

Neighborhood Display

Much like pooling money, having a neighborhood fireworks display is another easy and effective way to cut the cost of fireworks. In this case, each family in the neighborhood pitches in a set amount, which is used to buy all the bigger and more expensive fireworks. This allows for a display that no individual family could afford, while leaving only the smaller, less expensive individual fireworks (think sparklers) for each family to have to worry about.

Community Display

In some instances, it might be wise to skip the home fireworks display all together and instead go to a community held display. These will usually be much larger with better quality fireworks to view. In many cases, they are free to the public, and if there is a charge, it’s usually minimal compared to what you would end up paying had you purchased a home display.

Avoid Illegal Fireworks

While it can be tempting to buy cheaper, illegal fireworks, these rarely save money. Much like a cheap T-shirt that is ruined after a few wears, the lack of quality actually makes these more expensive in the long run. Illegal fireworks will often be a disappointment, and they can cause harm which will definitely not be cheap if medical attention is required.

Follow Community Guidelines

It’s important to remember to follow the guidelines your community has set for fireworks. If they have been banned in your area, then find other ways to entertain yourself over the July 4 weekend, or plan to move your display to a community where they aren’t banned. There are usually good reasons why a community has banned them (frequently due to fire hazards), and it can cost you a fair amount in penalties and fines if you decide to go through with your own show and end up being caught.

(Photo courtesy of plong)