Bonfire Night – Fun and Safety
Bonfire night can be real fun but there’s also an element of safety to consider. Obviously the safest thing you can do is to go to an organised event. This could be one local or further afield such as at a theme park. But this is not always practical especially with young children, maybe a small affair at home.
The Fire
When building a bonfire you really have to consider the location. Make sure it is away from trees and buildings, in a location which is open but not too windy. Geoffrey Counsell was charged with failing to ensure the safety of others after he ran a firework display at Taunton’s Rugby Club grounds, which was adjacent to the M5 motorway. It is believed that a large cloud of smoke from the firework display blew across to the motorway resulting in the death of 7 people, and further injuring 51 others. It is also important to check that no animals have made themselves at home in the fire before lighting. Make sure everyone stands well back from a fire – even at the organised event last year we found that the distance we were from the fire extremely hot. Saying that, make sure you wrap up warm, as it is cold in November especially when you move away from the fire. You may want to avoid it if you suffer with asthma; if not maybe not stand so close and remember to take your inhaler.

Very simple: 3 brown painted toilet roll holders, glued together, and red, orange and yellow scraps of tissue paper glued to the top
Fireworks
When putting on a firework display consider any pets that may be upset. If you have a dog, then take them for a long walk before the event. Make sure that you have bought safe fireworks – look for ones marked with the British Standard Number. Remember to wear gloves when lighting fireworks. If you are having a small garden party use a taper to light the fire (usually provided with the fireworks), these do not produce a flame but rather a gentle glow. Do not use cigarettes, lighters, candles, or other fireworks to light a firework. Again stand well back from where the fireworks are being lit. Never throw a firework, it is dangerous and you can be fined up to £5,000. Never go back to a lit firework – have a bucket of water at hand. Do not light fireworks after 11pm (apparently this is illegal – not sure what happens New Year or if that is an exception).
Sparklers
Sparklers are not recommended for children under 5 years old. They can reach temperatures of up to 1600 degrees centigrade and are even more deadly when more than one is combined together. Make sure children are wearing gloves and keep them at arms-length. A child should only hold one sparkler at a time and they should be disregarded in a bucket of water.
Oct 29, 2013 @ 15:44:31
Love the look of the matchsticks, you’ve reminded me I have a box in the house
Oct 29, 2013 @ 15:48:33
Very good advice!! Love the loo roll holder fire – fab idea to make!!x
Oct 29, 2013 @ 16:02:23
Great ideas and advice x
Oct 29, 2013 @ 17:11:58
Love the matchsticks idea! Not a huge fan of fireworks night to be honest – so many stupid people with fire and gun powder – accidents waiting to happen!
Oct 29, 2013 @ 17:48:11
I love your ideas, they’re so cute. Especially, the fire looks amazing x
Oct 29, 2013 @ 17:52:42
Wow! Some fabulous ideas here, thanks so much for sharing, that’ll make our Bonfire night a lot easier to plan and organise
Oct 29, 2013 @ 18:16:28
Edible matchmaker sparklers? Genius pure genius!
Oct 29, 2013 @ 18:29:06
I can’t wait the bonfire night is so closeQ oh dear time passes too fast indeed!
Oct 29, 2013 @ 20:44:39
I’m not a fan of fireworks either…very stressful with children. I love the edible sparkler idea though. x
Oct 29, 2013 @ 20:45:41
I know it is stupid but sparklers still scare me a bit!
Oct 29, 2013 @ 21:15:43
Que rico Curly wurly, I love marzipan!
Oct 29, 2013 @ 23:24:44
lovely ideas, I love bonfire night! Will have to start on the fireworks related crafts with my lot soon, we still seem to be doing a lot of halloween stuff so far. I am quite scared of sparklers, as you say they do get so hot – I havent dared to let any of my lot have them as yet!!
Oct 30, 2013 @ 22:36:26
Hmm, yummy, yummy matchsticks! Mich x
Explosive Facts & Tips Infographic | Life surrounded by Blues
Oct 30, 2013 @ 23:18:51
[…] on from my previous post on Bonfire night Fun and Safety I thought you may be interested in this infographic from the charity ArmyCadets.com. It would […]
Oct 31, 2013 @ 08:27:00
Lots of great advice there. It’s one tradition that we don’t recreate living abroad, especially here as there are tight restrictions on when you can let fireworks off. I do miss it though! 🙂
Oct 31, 2013 @ 08:51:07
These are great ideas! If the holiday hadn’t pushed Nov 5 out if term time I would use these for a Bonfire Night theme in the classroom…love the Matchsticks *drools*
Oct 31, 2013 @ 18:42:35
Love the idea of Matchmaker sparklers, just brilliant. Great advice too 🙂
Nov 01, 2013 @ 18:29:20
I just love the curly wurly bonfire, it looks so scrummy! The matchmaker sparklers are genius too, I’ll be looking for matchmakers when I’m in town tomorrow!
I’d love it if you’d link this up at Fun Food Friday over on the Eats Amazing Blog 🙂
(http://eatsamazing.co.uk/tag/fun-food-friday)
Halloween Holidays | Life surrounded by Blues
Nov 02, 2013 @ 09:43:10
[…] It’s been a busy old week which started off with me being really ill, this meant that I was not able to do much on Monday. Tuesday we put to good use my youngest’s visual aid book, trying to recreate the school day as close as possible (we even put in a milk break and some fruit for break). This seemed to work well, although I use his ICT picture to relate to computer games, and the clever soul kept moving it to be the next thing to do! We started to think about the fun and safety involved with Bonfire night. […]
Nov 04, 2013 @ 11:20:12
Some excellent advice here – we are lucky that there are always lots of amazing fireworks around where we live so we can watch them from the comfort of indoors. Our poor cat doesn’t appreciate them much though.
Love the foodie ideas too – can’t wait to try some of them :o)
Nov 04, 2013 @ 16:43:12
Them matchsticks look fabulous, so simple yet so effective.
Nov 05, 2013 @ 06:51:16
Amazing idea .. Loving the toilet roll re use
Nov 05, 2013 @ 09:53:25
Some wise words and I like the alternatives you’ve come up with especially the matchstick sparklers.