Bonfire Night Safety Tips

Bonfire night is one of my favourite nights of the year! I love the fireworks, getting wrapped up, and the time we spend with our friends and relatives having our own bonfire parties, or visiting public displays.

As ever, the safety of our precious little ones is tantamount. Here is my quick guide to bonfire night safety!

Noise

Ear defenders are an excellent investment for babies and smaller children. The excessive noise can potentially harm their delicate eardrums, and may also upset them, so ear defenders will dull this and mitigate the risk of hearing damage.

These children’s ear defenders are £10.95 on Amazon and come in a variety of colours – click image to purchase!

Fire

With bonfire nights, comes bonfires!

It is important that your older kids are aware to stay well away from the flames. Public displays will tend to have a cordon, but private parties may not. It sounds totally obvious but supervision is so important, and it’s also worth checking that your child’s clothing is explicitly labelled as flame retardant ‘just in case’.

Stop, Drop and Roll is a very handy skill to teach your kids prior to visiting a bonfire display, on the off chance that there is an accident with a firework or another source of open flames. The video below is so educational without being booooooring.

Toddler reins are a lifesaver for parents with very curious toddlers. We’ve got ours here at Tesco for £5!

There reins are only £5 but an excellent investment – click image to purchase.

Distance from fireworks

This likely won’t apply if you’re visiting a public display as the organisers have stringent safety rules to adhere to, so you won’t be anywhere near the bonfire or fireworks themselves. However, if you attend a private party, it’s very important to ensure that all spectators stand a minimum of 8 metres away if your fireworks are classifed as ‘garden fireworks’ (category 2 fireworks), or 25 metres if they’re classified as ‘display fireworks’ (category 3), but it is strongly advisable to apply a 25 metre minimum boundary either way!

You can find more handy firework safety information here on the Firework Review site.

Sparkler Safety

I must admit, sparklers are my favourite part of bonfire night! They never fail to be a hit with the kids either, so safety is tantamount!

Make sure you have a bucket filled with cool water at hand and throw all sparklers in hot end first once they’ve fizzled out. This is because they can retain heat for a while and still cause burns.

Don’t give to under 5’s – it’s simply not safe as they’re too young to stick to the safety rules.

Keep sparklers at an arms distance away from the body, and make sure the kids know this too.

Keep all children away from each other during sparkler use to avoid burns, and teach them to stay at a distance from each other.

Dress children in tight fitting clothes, and avoid any loose/draping clothing that could catch a spark.

Firework Safety UK has more excellent safety tips here!

First Aid

It’s an excellent idea for all parents to learn child first aid. St John Ambulance gives some truly excellent advice on treating burns in children on their website.