Our tips for the funnest, awesomest Canada Day/Fourth of July family fireworks display
World record-setting fireworks in Dubai by Grucci
Canada Day and the Fourth of July are around the corner, and if your family is anything like ours you’ll be stocking up on armloads of pinwheels, glitter fountains and sparklers to create your own fireworks show at your cottage or in a park. But before you go firing them off all willy-nilly, check out our tips for creating a slicker presentation that will turn blowing stuff up into a cherished family tradition.
But first, a few words about safety. Set off your fireworks in a wide, open space, keep a bucket of sand handy to extinguish errant flames, and have everyone but the designated shooter (i.e. someone sober) seated as far away from the fireworks as humanly possible. Oh, and keep your cats and dogs inside: they have sensitive earsies and don’t like loud fireworks as much as you do. For more safety tips, check out this article (those fathers over at Geek Dad know what they’re talking about).
The sky is your canvas, and fireworks are your paint. You can have a lot of fun playing with the wide range of colours available, from pastel tones to richer, deeper hues. You can even group together fireworks in your kid’s favourite colour.
Around this time of year, we strongly suggest ending your show with a burning schoolhouse against a soundtrack of “School’s Out.” What better way to celebrate the official end of another school year and the start of two months of Saturdays?
Synch your fireworks up with a song. This video clip shows some science-types using computers to synch fireworks to music.
Too complicated? You can totally present your own stripped-down version. Choose a song with some obvious peaks and valleys, then ignite and run so that you light up the sky at your chosen tune’s hook. Picture a scenario where the grownups in charge of setting off the fireworks are running around like maniacs, much to the amusement of those looking on.
Even just playing a beautiful piece of music in the background can lend drama to your display and make the overall experience more memorable.
Suggested tracks:
“Hit Me With Your Best Shot” – Pat Benatar
“Music for the Royal Fireworks” – Handel
Rate the fireworks. Hit up your local dollar store for some mini-chalkboards or whiteboards, and pre-show make sure everyone has a writing surface and chalk or markers. After firing off each firecracker, get your panel of “judges” to scribble down a score between 0 and 10. You could even assign audience members the job of rating specific features of the fireworks: colour, size, loudness, etc. (or create rating cards listing these criteria).
Eat fireworks! Ice cream, that is. While we certainly recommend keeping fireworks far away from your face, we do recommend stuffing your face full of Pop Rocks-packed ice cream. For those who don’t know (you poor, deprived souls) Pop Rocks are the scientific wonders of the candy world that crackle and fizz when they hit your tongue. If you can’t find the specific ice cream mentioned in the article, simply adding a few packets of Pop Rocks to vanilla ice cream should deliver the mouth explosion you’re looking for.
Post-show, gather around a coloured campfire. If you have access to a fire pit, a good way to wind down the night is with a glowing campfire. But after all the eye candy you’ve just experienced, a humdrum old fire isn’t gonna cut it. Add some Campfire Blue to turn the flames blue, green and purple, and while you’re at it, pass out some coloured smoke bomb balls (a safer alternative to handling fireworks), thus serving as a last course to the visual feast of the evening. Ooh, colours.
Meet the Gruccis
You can’t talk about family and fireworks without mentioning the Gruccis. They’ve been in the fireworks biz for 160 years. They are the family behind displays for presidential inaugurations and casino grand openings. As soon as a Grucci kid can walk and talk, they are immersed in the family business, observing the rolling of paper tubes and learning by osmosis. But they are not allowed to set off their first firework until they are 18. Their family secrets have been passed down to generations of kids. We love the old world Europeaness of their family business (no disrespect intended, but we can’t help thinking of them as the Sopranos of fireworks). Check out this video of the Grucci clan speaking about their passion for pyro.
