Plan your first fireworks show
Last reviewed 2026-10-24.
Most people buying fireworks for the first time ask the same four things. Where should I buy, and is wholesale cheaper for me? What makes a good show on a small budget? How long will it last? Can I buy and shoot these where I live? The Fireworks Bible app now answers all four in one place.
Three questions
- Your budget, anywhere from $100 to $2,000.
- Your zip code. Only the five digits leave your phone, never your location. You can leave it empty.
- How long the show should run: 5, 10 or 15 minutes.
What you get back
- A starter list of 6 to 12 fireworks Build a Show can play: a small cake to open, a run of 200, 350 and 500 gram cakes that builds, and a finale.
- The total, which never goes over your budget. Every price on the list is a store price that links to the store page it came from. A price we could not trace to a store page is never used.
- About how long the show runs. This adds up the running time the guide lists for each firework, fired back to back, so treat it as close, not exact.
- No firework twice, nothing from the 1.4G pro line, and none of the things that are better for playing around before a show, like rockets and roman candles.
- One tap puts the list into Build a Show so you can watch the whole show before you buy. Another tap puts it on a shopping list.
Stores near you, and retail or wholesale
With a zip code, the app shows the three nearest stores in the guide that carry most of your list, how far away each one is and which items it does not carry. On the full plan it also shows the total at each store and an estimate of state sales tax (local and county taxes are not included).
Where a store sells some of your list by the case and the cases fit your budget, the app puts the two side by side: one of each item at retail, or one full case of each at the store's wholesale price. A case holds several of each item, so wholesale usually buys more fireworks rather than the same ones for less. The app shows the store's own wholesale terms, word for word with the date they were checked, and never makes up a minimum order. If a store has no terms on file, it says so and tells you to ask the store.
Can I shoot tonight?
The app reads the state from your zip code on your phone and shows what that state allows: when you can set fireworks off, the minimum age, what you can buy and when stores can sell. It shows the date the summary was last reviewed and a link to the state's own law. Every store page in the app has a Show me the law link for that store's state too.
It never says yes or no for your town. Towns and counties can have stricter rules than the state, and many do, so check with your local fire department or city or county office, or with the seller, before you buy or shoot. You can read every state on our fireworks laws by state page.
Quick questions in the Guide
The Guide in the app has five quick question buttons. Each one is a filter and a sort over what the catalog really records:
- 200g or 500g? 200 and 500 gram cakes side by side, cheapest first. See 500 gram cake vs 200 gram cake.
- Low noise. Fountains whose listed effects name no crackle, whistle or report, longest first. Watch the video to be sure.
- Big finale. Finale and compound cakes, the most shots first.
- Wide fan. Cakes listed with a fan, W or V angle.
- Long lasting. Anything timed at one minute or more, longest first.
Plan your first show in the Fireworks Bible app Budget, zip code and length in, a starter show out.
For how to shape a longer show by hand, see planning a show. For how long cakes really run, see how long does a 25 shot cake last.