I am not convinced about the glow sticks. I am with Daddy Clay, in that if the thing can't injure my child, my child isn't interested. My son would love to hit himself with one...

Kidding aside, where I used to live in Canada (where the 4th of July is on the 1st of July), fireworks by normal people are banned. Summer is usually dry, and the powers that be dislike trying to put our raging wild fires due to people being irresponsible, and I imagine there are less missing fingers the next day too. But, those same powers know you like watching sparkly things and explosions, so they provide a big firework show (free), run by experts. Many radio stations even play music that matches the firework show.

I prefer this compromise, in that we still get "light go boom boom" and no one needs to go to the hospital.

Happy 4th of July Guys!

Great piece, informative, good ideas. I like the "glow in the dark" things. Great alternative for fireworks.

There are some great ideas. The Law doesn't allow personal fireworks displays here in VA, either. But we do have some impressive shows.

I remember shooting bottle rockets and putting M-80s in cans. There were a few numb fingers that I can remember, but no serious injuries. Now that I have my own kid, I'm seeing things a little differently. Thanks for these ideas.

I was litterally less than 10 feet away when a kid I knew blew his hand off with semi-legal fireworks. I really hate them now. I live in a state where practically everything is legal and our neighbors are shooting off all kinds of things for 4 days straight. My husband thinks they're 'cool!'. I think some men are hell bent on self distruction.

I like your firework alternative ideas!