Drawing on our many years of experience, we have tried to
share with you all we know about how to get the best firework
display you can.
If you can’t find the answer to a particular question, or
want more detailed advice, drop us an email and we’ll do
our best to help.
For budgeting purposes your firework display budget needs to
start at around £600 plus VAT for a
five-minute display.
You may well find some companies offering displays for just
£400 for a 5 min or even 10 min display. BEWARE of these
offers - see advice on quality for more information.
Upwards from this starting point, the more you spend, the bigger
the display you will get.
A display budget can be set on the basis of so much per minute,
which can range from £100 per min to £2000 per min or
more.
Before setting a budget it is worth understanding how fixed costs, duration, quality, quantity, logistics, and your audience will affect the
budget.
To put on a firework display, any display company has to cover
a number of fixed costs first, before any money gets spent on the
actual fireworks.
These fixed costs will include things like transport, manpower
and insurance.
The fixed costs for say a £1000 budget or a £2000
budget, are virtually the same at around £500.
So the firework budget available on a £1000 budget is
£500, compared to £1500 on a £2000 budget
In other words, 2X the budget, but 3X the fireworks.
Fireworks are magical and we all want them to last
forever.
However a strange thing happens during a fireworks display
– time slows down. The amount of time you need for a
display is often a lot shorter than you would imagine.
Of course it's your show, so you can have as long as you want.
However we would always recommend packing more fireworks into a
shorter period, rather than trying to stretch out the time.
Based on 30 years of experience, here is what we would recommend
for different types of events;
Weddings, private parties, corporate events, Funerals
The ideal duration is between 5 and 7 minutes, with a max of 10
minutes. Any longer, people get bored, or cold, or both.
Bonfire night, Diwali, Chinese New Year,
Between 15 and 20 minutes, with 25 minutes being an absolute
maximum. Any longer even we start to get bored, and we love
fireworks.
Christmas Lights, New Years Eve, etc
Between 3 and 5 minutes. Any longer and you lose the moment of
celebration.
Music concerts
Select 2 or 3 numbers towards the end of your programme.
Generally speaking the bigger the budget, the more fireworks
you will have.
Question is do you go for a longer show or a bigger show?
Setting one firework off after another will obviously last longer
than setting off three at a time. Three fireworks going off
together will create a bigger effect in the sky than one
firework.
If you’re considering putting more budget into a show, we
would always recommend increasing the quantity of fireworks,
rather than the duration of the display.
Quite simply the more fireworks put up at anyone time, the more
impressive and awe-inspiring your display will be.
Finally beware of companies offering large quantities of
fireworks at low cost. There could be creative accounting at
work.
To illustrate what may happen;
1 rocket = 1 firework
But another type of firework called a cake is made up of
individual single shot fireworks fused together in a sequence.
Cakes can range from 15 shots lasting 30 seconds to 200 shots
lasting 5 seconds.
To us;
1 cake with 100 shots = 1 firework
To other firework companies;
1 cake with 100 shots = 100 fireworks
So you can see it very easy to talk up the number of fireworks if
you really want to.
Also see how quality can alter the number of fireworks you
get.
As with most things in life you get what you pay for.
The quality of fireworks used in displays varies a lot, and
unless you really know what you are buying, you won’t be
able to tell until you see the actual fireworks in the sky, by
which time its too late.
Beware of companies offering large quantities of fireworks at low
cost.
More than likely these companies can only make these offers by
using low quality, low caliber, category 3 fireworks, as opposed
to higher quality category 4 fireworks, which are professional
display fireworks.
Also the quality of the overall display design makes a huge
impact on your show.
Whatever the budget, don’t underestimate the value and
skill of display design required to take the raw materials and
create a stunning and memorable display.
Through good design and skilful craftsmanship a good firework
display company can double or treble the impact of the display
compared to other companies.
If it's at all possible have your firework display
choreographed to music. It will enhance the overall enjoyment of
your show considerably, especially if the music is special to
you.
In our opinion, choreographing a display to music shouldn’t
cost any more than designing a display without music, as the
design effort required is the same for both.
If you have your display designed to music you may need to find
extra budget for a sound system.
Most firework companies can provide the PA if required, but
normally it is cheaper to get this done by the same people doing
the sound for the rest of the event.
If you are holding a wedding or corporate event in a marquee,
then the firework music can normally be played over the disco
sound system with the sound levels turned up so it can be heard
outside the tent.
Easiest way to find out if fireworks are possible at a venue
is to ask if they have had fireworks before.
If a venue hasn’t had fireworks before, but are willing to
have them, then you need to consider where the fireworks could be
positioned.
The firing site itself can be on grass, hard standing, a rooftop,
or even a barge on water.
The audience can be inside or outside as long as they are more
than the minimum required distance from the fireworks.
Go to safety distances for more information.
In very basic terms, the fireworks firing site needs to be
positioned 50 metres from the viewing audience, with 100 meters
of sterile ground immediately behind the firing site for fall
out.
These distances may vary depending on the types of fireworks
used, and the prevailing wind.
Whatever the site, make sure your chosen fireworks company does a
site visit, and provides you with a full risk assessment and
method statement, together with a copy of their public liability
insurance.
All quotes for a firework display should cover associated
costs including design, transport, setup, firing and insurance.
Make sure they do.
Because of fixed costs we think a decent 5 minute firework
display should cost around £600 plus VAT.
Anything less, and the quality and quantity of the fireworks will
be significantly reduced, which will only mean you are
disappointed.
On the flip side, remember that once the fixed costs have been
covered, the rest of the budget goes on the actual fireworks, so
the more you put in the more you get.
High winds, low cloud or fog are the only weather conditions
that adversely effect a fireworks display.
High winds – especially blowing towards the audience will
mean a display has to be cancelled.
With low cloud or fog, a fireworks display can still be fired,
but you may not see it all.
Rain itself does not stop a display being set up or fired.
