Bonfire night on a budget

Tot up the cost of fireworks, sparklers, hot dogs, and a few drinks to keep you warm and bonfire night can be a costly affair.

Money saving mum of two, Kayleigh Hughes, who blogs for PromotionalCodes.org.uk has put together her tips on keeping the costs down on 5^th November.

Kayleigh loves celebrating with her family and friends, but works to keep the costs down and make every penny stretch.

Pre-planning an evening with friends and family and taking advantage of organised displays are among her tips.

And if the night is extra chilly, watching with a bowl of soup from an upstairs window is another of her top tips!

Kayleigh said: “If you’re lucky with the weather bonfire night can be great fun for the family, everywhere you turn there are fantastic fireworks lighting up the sky.

“As with everything though, it can set you back a few pounds. Fireworks are really expensive – your cash really doesn’t stretch far when you start shelling out.

“It’s always worth finding out if there are good organised displays close to where you live, and if not, splitting the cost and doing something at home with friends and family.”

Here are a few handy tips from Kayleigh, on how to have a great bonfire night without breaking the bank.

Finding an organised display

My parent’s house is just a few minutes away from a big hotel called Belton Woods and every year they do a big massive firework display. It’s always a bit pricey to get in but with my parents’ house on a hill you get a perfect view of the fireworks.

As a kid my dad and I would sit in the upstairs window with hats and scarfs on and mugs of soups and watch the display – all the fun with no cold and no cost.

In my town, the local fire brigade for as long as I can remember, have always held a Bonfire night bonfire and fireworks display. Over the years it got bigger and now there’s hot food and drink stalls, sweet treats and doughnuts and a few other things. It’s always free to get in with the only cost being food if you choose to have any.

Check out your local area and see if anyone if arranging an event.

Fireworks at home

You can also make it a social occasion. Fireworks can be expensive but if you make it a social evening you can all spread the costs. Decide who’s bringing what and if everyone brings something – for example, one brings burgers, another salad, some else brings drinks – then everyone can enjoy a great bonfire night without the cost.

This is something we have done before with friends and family. As we hosted we bought the fireworks but then everyone else was more than happy to bring something and we had a fab night.

If you are doing fireworks at home it goes without saying, please be careful. You can’t take chances when it comes to bonfires and fireworks. Don’t forget to check any bonfires for animals before lighting them, hedgehogs love nothing more than a pile of comfy warm leaves and twigs so have a poke around before lighting to make sure no critters have moved in.

From the comfort of your warm house

If you want to stay out of the cold altogether then heat up some soup, pick a spot by the window and sit back and enjoy all the fireworks going off around you.