Do you like fireworks/fireworks shows?

I feel emotionally ready to see a fireworks show, but this year it won't be possible to go see one.

I am hoping that next year I'll be ready to see a fireworks show with my friends and grandparents by my side.

This year I've been getting a lot of glimpses of lone fireworks from people shooting off at the beach, and it's exciting. My cat isn't bothered at all, but the noise isn't very loud.

It's taken a lot of work to get over certain fire fears, but now I feel like I can give the fireworks show another go and hopefully enjoy it.

How do you feel about fireworks and fireworks shows? I used to really love it.

I don't care for them because they can scare animals. They are pretty & enjoy from a distance. Luckily my farm is rural & fireworks are across town but the noise can scare horses, dogs, cats, & even the wild animals around here when shot off locally. Have heard of horses getting scared by the sound & breaking through a fence & being killed when they ran through it

I get annoyed when people are all like BaN FiRewOrKs it hUrts thE AnIMALS. But I mean, its one day let people have fun. Not to mention these same people also go to the shows themselves. On the other hand, if they are shooting them off the entire month then that gets tiresome. The best show I ever saw was from my driveway in 2020. My neighbors at the end of my block were shooting off tons of them for over an hour. It was such a great breif distraction from Covid and all the unknowns in the world that year.

My small town (500 max) can only afford to officially celebrate one holiday, so they chose the 4th of July. You know the big party the hobbits throw for Bilbo in Lord of the Rings? Food, family, friends, Gandalf's fireworks? That's the atmosphere if you go. All the locals will come, set up lawn chairs, picnic blankets or put down the tailgate, buy food from what's essentially a community BBQ, listen to music, play games and eventually settle in for a fireworks display (Featuring unused Christmas fireworks. Plenty of reds and greens.) that brings people in from larger surrounding towns. I get the appeal.

That appeal soured for me to a large degree when I literally had to dig my dog out with a shovel because she wedged herself underneath a raised porch trying to hide and couldn't get out. Another year, she just took off. I didn't see her for a week. We lived three miles from the fireworks at the time. I can't imagine how animals closer reacted.

I have little interest in fireworks shows anymore. I don't know enough people still in my hometown to be able to meet up and catch up with anybody and, honestly, if you've seen one pretty-colored explosion, you've seen them all. It can be sensory overload after a while.

I have mixed feelings about fireworks. I enjoy the way they look from a distance, but don't like the noise up close. Watching the city's show from a distance is pretty without the noise of the explosions.

MD, you might find it annoying that some of us complain the fireworks scare our animals. As Eskie pointed out some animals get so scared they hurt themselves trying to get away. And for some of us it's not one day of fireworks. I have trashy neighbors who will set off fireworks the entire weekend. They were setting off stuff at 10:30 last night. It will get crazy enough around here tomorrow that I will have to sedate my dog to keep him from hurting himself. Hurting himself aside, it pains me to see him become a quivering pile of pure terror.
In addition to critters being afraid of the noise, folks with PTSD are triggered by fireworks. I'm not proposing banning fireworks. I know a lot of people enjoy the shows. I just wish people would have consideration for others who might not like the shows or be frightened by them.

Thats why I said in my post doing it for one night on the Fourth is ok but any other night is a bit too much. Our old neighbors would shoot them off all throughout July and it was annoying

One time a firecracker woke me up in the middle of July and scared the crap out of me. I was not happy.

I like fireworks shows, but there’s a huge difference between the professional condoned shows and the erratic illegal fireworks by neighbors. Most of the time as Liz points out they are going off for days and nights preceding and following the actual day. Mostly they are just noisemakers. Here, last night there was about an hour and a half of booms load enough that I could hear it. Fortunately my cat is oblivious to noise that’s outside of the house. But it’s vexing and illegal. If it was confined to one place and day people wouldn’t complain so much. It’s the reckless disregard of others setting off fireworks for days that is aggravating and so dangerous for animals. . If people kept it to one day at sundown it would be far easier to cope with for both animals and people with ptsd. Then there’s the fire risk. In todays climate that’s no small threat.

Because I suffer from an extreme startle response and panic attacks, I am personally not a great fan of loud fireworks. Ear plugs and white noise generally block only a certain range of sound frequencies so they are not ideal for me although they do help for which I am grateful.

One problem for me personally is that some of my neighbors use them in a, how do you say, aggressive way, almost as though they intend them to startle others.

I don't know what level of conscious malice is involved if any. Not sure they are even aware of GAD and panic disorder would care.

I certainly enjoy firework displays and don't want to be the neighborhood party pooper. I think maybe it would be helpful to me if loud fireworks were restricted to the Fourth of July holiday and not allowed to go on for a month. Laws tend to be made from majorities and I am definitely in the minority here.

The fact that I suffer anxiety disorder and live in wooden house doesn't help either.

With Liz and Nammu. I haven't been to a professional fireworks show in almost 12 years. Way too jaded and cynical to "go through the motions" for any holiday now, as I hate holidays. And last thing I want to do is celebrate this country which is in the toilet.

It's true animals suffer a lot and a friend of mine comforts kitty till the noise stops (which can go on for hours). New Year's Eve is even worse, he'll be up most of the night then.

Because of everything going on in the world, I startle more easily now. (I even had to politely ask my next door neighbor not to let the wind SLAM the door as it makes me jump, literally! Thankfully he cooperated.)

I dread tomorrow night as I know it will be noisy. The firecrackers often last longer than just a few minutes. I'll have to purposely go to bed later since I know I won't be able to sleep at my usual time, around 9. Earplugs don't block them completely cause they are so loud. They started setting them off on Friday, although sporadically. They will increase tomorrow.

Nammu has a point about the climate too. In this hot, dry climate I'm in, the last thing we need is fireworks/crackers near dry brush.

They also fire guns into the air here, although it's more common on NYE. (Like we need more bullets flying around! Idiots!!!!! ) Overall I dread tomorrow like I do every year, and I'll be relieved when it's over. Just a lot of noise. Like Liz and Nammu said, if it was just ONE night it'd be more tolerable....for humans and animals alike who are not fond of them.

Aurelius is right in that if you've seen one show, you've seen them all. Sensory overload is right, especially at night when it's hard enough for me to unwind and get to sleep.

One of the yahoo neighbors is setting stuff off. Poor Beeg is a shaking mess.

I haven't heard any from my neighbors so far. I hope they don't set any off and just leave it to the professionals.

I support professionally done fireworks for a special occasion like 4th of July of similar big holidays in a specially designated area away from residential neighborhoods.

Random fireworks by random people on random days, no thanks. Those I don’t support. Unsafe and trashy

Liz the new neighbors are going to town again tonight, the fireworks have been going off for over an hour now. Last night was just 30 minutes, but oh it’s getting on my nerves 😳

If you asked me I'd say I am "over" fireworks, yet I'd probably have a decent time if I went to a professionally-done fireworks show because they are cool. Anyway, I'm not necessarily into lighting them off myself (I never do that).

I forgot to say this is why August is my favorite month. It's hotter than h e l l around here at that time, but NO HOLIDAYS.

I get to have my firework show after all!

Tonight after work my neighbors and I are having a BBQ, then we'll set up chairs on the porch and my neighbors say the whole skyline will be full of fireworks from people shooting off at the beach that we get to see from the comfort of home! They said it won't be terribly loud and not as intense as the real show. I'm really excited. And if I get nervous my neighbors will be there to comfort me, they said.

I'm not even concerned about my cat. For days now fireworks have been going off, and last night a real show was going off behind us and it didn't phase him. I am so blessed with the happiest kitty.

The noon news is on, a family lost their home because of fireworks 💥 caught on fire, the family, their dog and breaded dragon made it out but the home is a total loss. And an 18 yr old blew his face off. So the reality of non-professionals messing with fireworks.

I'm afraid to listen to the news now. What's a breaded dragon?!

Every holiday weekend or holiday, there seems to be some kind of tragedy happening, whether over fireworks or shootings like of yet another unarmed black man in Ohio.

Fireworks are definitely dangerous is one doesn't know what they are doing. And that seems to be the case almost all the time.

Oh, sorry, bearded dragon, some kind of lizard. Haha breaded dragon sounds like something they’d serve at a renaissance festival

Lark, kudos to you that you are ready for fireworks tonight. I hope you have fun with your neighbors at the BBQ.