Big nights, zero drama.
Fireworks are brilliant fun when they're fired properly — and firing them properly is straightforward. This is the same advice we give across the counter in Glasgow every day of the season.
The golden rules 🏆
Over-18s, always
Adult fireworks and sparklers are strictly 18+. We ID on delivery. Keep them locked away from children before the night itself.
Store them closed
Keep fireworks in a closed box somewhere cool and dry, away from anything that burns. Take one out at a time and shut the lid behind you.
Pace out the distance
Garden fireworks (F2) need 8 metres of clear space; display fireworks (F3) need 25. Walk it out in daylight — it's further than it looks.
Light at arm's length
Use a portfire, never a match or a lighter. Light the very end of the fuse, at arm's length, then walk back to your line. Don't run.
Never go back
If one doesn't go off, leave it alone for at least half an hour, then soak it in water. Never lean over it and never try to relight it.
Two buckets
One of water for sparklers and duds, one of sand or soft earth for planting barrages and rockets. Both cost pennies and save nights.
Sparklers need gloves
They burn far hotter than people expect. Gloves on, one at a time, never for under-fives, and straight into the water bucket when they're out.
Warn the neighbours
A quick word ahead of time lets people settle pets and children indoors — especially anyone elderly or nervous nearby. Our low-noise range helps too.
One sober firer
One person runs the display and stays off the drink until the finale's done. Everyone else stays behind the line and enjoys it.
Your night, step by step stick it on the fridge ↴
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Plan it in daylight Walk the garden, pick your firing spot and your audience line, and check which way the wind is going. Point everything away from people, sheds and fences.
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Set your kit out Buckets filled, portfires to hand, torch in your pocket, fireworks in a closed box well behind the firing line. Read the instructions before dark.
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Plant everything properly Rockets in tubes or soft earth, barrages weighted on flat ground, fountains staked or bricked in. Smallest items at the front, big cakes and rockets at the back.
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Brief everyone Audience behind the line, pets indoors, gloves on for sparklers, and one pair of eyes on the wee ones for the whole display.
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Fire in a running order Open with fountains, build through the barrages, finish on your biggest piece. Light, retreat, watch — then move to the next.
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Sweep up in the morning Soak the spent cases overnight and bag them for the bin. Do a daylight walk of the garden for anything that didn't fire.
Firing fireworks safely
Fireworks are brilliant fun when they're fired properly, and firing them properly is straightforward. This is the same advice we give across the counter in Glasgow every day of the season.
The golden rules
- Over-18s, always. Adult fireworks and sparklers are strictly 18+. We ID on delivery.
- Store them closed. Keep fireworks in a closed box somewhere cool and dry, away from anything that burns.
- Pace out the distance. Garden fireworks (F2) need 8 metres of clear space; display fireworks (F3) need 25.
- Light at arm's length. Use a portfire, never a match or lighter. Light the end of the fuse, then walk back. Don't run.
- Never go back. If one doesn't go off, leave it at least half an hour, then soak it in water. Never lean over it and never try to relight it.
- Two buckets. Water for sparklers and duds, sand or soft earth for planting barrages and rockets.
- Sparklers need gloves. One at a time, never for under-fives, and straight into the water bucket afterwards.
- Warn the neighbours. A quick word lets people settle pets and children indoors.
- One sober firer. One person runs the display and stays off the drink until the finale's done.
Fireworks and the law
In Scotland you can only set fireworks off between 6pm and 11pm, later on the big nights: midnight on Bonfire Night, and 1am for New Year, Diwali and Chinese New Year. Councils can also designate Firework Control Zones, where setting one off anywhere in the zone — including your own garden — is a criminal offence. Glasgow and Edinburgh both have them; check your council's list before you buy.
In England and Wales fireworks are off-limits between 11pm and 7am, with the same later finishes on Bonfire Night, New Year's Eve, Diwali and Chinese New Year.
Anywhere in the UK it is an offence to set off or throw a firework, sparklers included, in the street or any other public place. The public can buy category F2 (garden, 8 metres) and F3 (display, 25 metres); category F4 is for licensed professionals only.
This is a plain-English summary and not legal advice. The official guidance is at gov.uk for England and Wales and gov.scot for Scotland.
Not sure what suits your space? Send us the size of your garden and we'll tell you honestly what will work in it.
How to fire each kind safely
A cake, a rocket and a Catherine wheel are set up in three completely different ways. This is what each one needs, and the mistake we see most often with it.
Cakes & barrages
Flat, firm, level ground — never a table, a wall or soft sand. Weight the base with a couple of bricks or bank earth around it so it cannot tip. One fuse fires the whole sequence, so light it and walk straight back to your line.
A cake that topples fires its remaining shots sideways, at head height.
Rockets
Into a proper launch tube or rack pushed firmly into the ground. The stick is what steers it, so never shorten it, bend it or tape it to anything. Fire straight up, never angled at something.
Never a bottle. It tips as the rocket leaves and sends it flat across the garden.
Roman candles
Bury the bottom third of the tube in firm earth, or strap it to a stake driven properly in. It fires one shot at a time from the top, so it has to stay dead upright for the whole sequence.
Never hold one, whatever you have seen online. They are not handheld fireworks.
Fountains & mines
Upright on flat firm ground with the base weighted or bricked in. Keep the space directly above it clear — no washing line, no branches, no canopy.
Standing one on grass that slopes is enough to send the spray towards the crowd.
Catherine wheels
Fix it to a solid wooden post at about head height using the pin supplied. Spin it by hand before you light it: it should turn freely without wobbling.
A fence panel is not solid enough. Too tight and it will not spin; too loose and it leaves the post.
Sparklers
Gloves on, one at a time, held at arm's length and away from clothing. Three sparklers burning together get as hot as a welding torch.
Never give one to an under-five. Spent ones stay hot for minutes — straight into the water bucket.
Smoke effects
Check which way the wind is going before you light anything. Set them on the ground, well clear of anyone with breathing trouble, and keep them away from the house.
Coloured smoke stains. Keep it off render, decking, patios and good clothes.
Indoor & ice fountains
Only ever the ones marked for indoor use. Stable heat-proof surface, nothing flammable within reach, and check the ceiling clearance printed on the box.
An outdoor fountain used indoors will reach the ceiling and set off every alarm in the building.
If one doesn't go off
Never go back to a firework you have already lit. Leave it a full half hour at the absolute minimum, and when you do approach, never put any part of yourself over the top of it. Then soak it in a bucket of water and leave it where nobody can interfere with it.
Never try to relight one. If you are unsure how to get rid of it, ring the fire service for disposal advice.
Wind and rain
Wind is the thing that turns a safe distance into an unsafe one. If it is strong enough to be bending the trees, call it off — the fireworks will keep. Keep spectators upwind so fallout drifts away from them rather than over them.
A damp firework is a dud, not a slow one. Store them dry and treat a soaked one as a misfire.
Every firework we sell carries its own instructions and a safety distance printed on the box, and those win over anything on this page. Unsure about a particular piece? Ask us before the night rather than on it.
Rokit's four non-negotiables
If you remember nothing else on the night, remember these.
- Pace out the safety distance in daylight — it's further than you think.
- Bucket of water for sparklers, bucket of earth for barrages.
- Light at arm's length with a portfire, then walk away — never run.
- Never go back to a dud. Leave it half an hour, then soak it in water.
Fireworks and the law
The rules are simpler than people think — and they differ north and south of the border. Here's the plain-English version.
Scotland is stricter
In Scotland you can only set fireworks off between 6pm and 11pm, on private land — later on the big nights: midnight on Bonfire Night, 1am for New Year, Diwali and Chinese New Year.
England and Wales: 11pm to 7am
Fireworks are off-limits between 11pm and 7am. Bonfire Night runs to midnight, and New Year's Eve, Diwali and Chinese New Year run to 1am.
Private land only
Setting off or throwing any firework — sparklers included — in the street or another public place is an offence anywhere in the UK.
What you're allowed to buy
The public can buy category F2 (garden, 8 metres) and F3 (display, 25 metres). Category F4 is for licensed professionals only, and we don't sell it over the counter.
Why we're open all year
General firework sales run 15 October to 10 November, 26 to 31 December, and the three days before Diwali and Chinese New Year. Selling outside those windows needs a licence — we hold one, so you can order from us any month of the year.
If it goes wrong
Breaking the rules can mean a £90 on-the-spot fine, and for anything serious an unlimited fine in England and Wales, up to £5,000 in Scotland, and up to six months in prison either way.
Not sure what suits your space?
Send us the size of your garden and we'll tell you honestly what will work in it — and what won't. We'd rather you bought the right thing than the biggest thing.
