It’s about this time of year my OCDness goes slightly mental, I am a control freak but add in fireworks and bonfires and I do massively cringe at what is one of the most dangerous times of the year.
For me I would ban all fireworks and bonfire parties unless they were professionally hosted at planned events, however with no such restrictions in place it really is the time of year to make sure if you are going to host your own bonfire or fireworks party you really do need to make sure you know how to keep yourself and your guests as safe as can be as with something involving fire that travels at up to 150 mph!
It was really great to see that one of my childhood favourite and one of Joshua’s current favourite characters is supporting the be safe this bonfire night campaign in conjunction with East Sussex Fire & Rescue with their top tips to keeping safe videos that can all be found HERE
Sometimes refreshing ourselves on the things we can do to help make something safe can really help us get into the mindset properly, an example of the Fireman Sam video tip is below:
Fireman Sam’s Top Tips Bonfire
Do’s and Don’ts
- Site bonfire well away from houses, garages, sheds, fences, overhead cables, trees and always keep away from fireworks.
- Build the bonfire stack so that it is stable and never light with flammable liquids.
- Keep everyone away from the fire, especially children who must be supervised at all times, and pets are best kept indoors.
- In case of an emergency, keep buckets of water, the garden hose or a fire extinguisher ready.
- Pour water on the embers before leaving.
Firework Dos and Don’ts
- Keep fireworks in a closed metal box and take them out one at a time.
- Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on each firework. Read them by torchlight – NEVER a naked flame.
- Light fireworks at arm’s length using a safety firework lighter or fuse wick. NEVER go back to a lit firework.
- Always wear gloves when handling sparklers and hold at arm’s length. Once finished, put in a bucket of water.
- Never give sparklers to children under 5.
For me ensuring you have a safe place to hold a bonfire/fireworks party is paramount. Not every garden is safe, with over hanging trees or cables and space in garden a premium having a large enough area really is something you need but yet many folk underestimate the space needed to safely house a bonfire or to let off fireworks!
So what can you do for bonfire night if your garden is to small and you don’t want visit an organised display?
Why not have a bonfire night themed evening at home instead?
We are planning a bonfire themed night along with going out to an event and are planning some of the wonderfully brilliant crafts from the fantastic Jen from Mum In The Madhouse below …
However staying in or going out bonfire night themed foods sound like a certain winner for us, with a hubs with a bottomless belly and a son the same way to feeding the family normally is a boring affair to I’m thinking why not introduce some bonfire themed food essentials like lovely Hijacked by Twins who made some wonderful Parkin that is one of my most favourite eats for the season .. or what about some brilliantly fun edible sparklers that could get all the family involved with making?
What ever you have planned this year in the form of a bonfire and or fireworks please do keep safe and warm and remember to take some time to think it through … one mistake could be very costly.
Great advice and even better that Fireman Sam has passed it on. I like organised displays and (shhh) we are off to Legoland for the fireworks again this year.
I used to adore Fireman Sam as a child – good to see he is still about, great tips 🙂 x
I am really looking forward to bonfire night this year. We have avoided it as Sebby was too young but I think he is ready for it now
We always go to a big organised event and I never let my kids have sparklers, they terrify me x
We don’t have bonfire night in France and it’s one of the only British festivals I miss. I love how silly it is celebrating a plot to blow up parliament! But you’re right, safety is important of course.
Fireworks are such a worry, I won’t buy them as we have pets that get too fretful as it is and an son with autism so we have a little look out of the window at the fireworks and that’s it. Great tip and useful video from Fireman Sam.
Love the firework crafts, that is more our thing……and bonfire food too 🙂
I love fireworks and always look at them in amazement. We give the boys sparklers with the ends poked through a paper cup and always try to reinforce the saftey information, just like Fireman Sam. Thank you for linking to me
Jen what a genius tip with the paper cups and sparklers! love it!
Pleasure to link, thanks for giving us some inspiration 🙂
Sadly my local fireworks have been cancelled due to safety issues!
Great tips! Bonfire night always makes me nervous so we always go to the school display which is really good.
I’m like you, would definitely rather it was only professional ones allowed. Bah humbug 😉 Love the idea of themed food though, will try that! x
sparklers are terrifying! It seems mad that we let our kids hold something so hot! I think we’ll go to an organised display this year x
i must admit i do cringe with sparklers .. its the one thing that really does have my heart in my mouth
Good advice! It’s great to see they’re getting the message out to younger children, although I did smile. My brother is a firefighter and when he did a talk at his son’s school and asked who you should phone if there’s a fire, they all said Fireman Sam! Nobody knew to ring 999!
lol oh bless them! now we need to get them to know 999 then! lol
oh its the one time fo the year where i absolutely love the show but with little ones the noise puts us of going to events so we end up getting psarklers and catherine wheels and enjoy hotdogs and toffee apples, x