8 Fun Alternatives to Fourth of July Firecrackers

We don’t know about you, but we here at Mandatory are kind of sick of the whole blowing-things-up tradition associated with the Fourth of July. Firecrackers are visually stunning, but they’re loud AF, upset our dogs, and keep our kids up way past our their bedtimes.

Aside from being an auditory annoyance, those sparklers, Roman candles, and rockets are dangerous. According to the Pew Research Center, “more than 45,000 people visit U.S. hospital emergency rooms for treatment of injuries on July 4 and 5 – nearly 91,000 in total.” There’s a terrifying spike (or should we say “boom”) in ER visits around the Fourth of July. And let’s be honest: there’s only one reason why.

Given all this, we got to thinking: what if, just for one year, we tried celebrating Independence Day without being utterly obnoxious? Are there any fun alternatives to explosives that could mark this most American of holidays? We took it upon ourselves to find a handful of other celebratory ideas that’ll guarantee a good time while you’re hanging out with family and friends that don’t risk losing a limb in the process. (On second thought, some of our suggestions are risky…)

Give these alternatives a try and let us know how your Fourth of July goes. If you really miss the firecrackers, you can always shatter your eardrums and lose a finger next year.

Photo: Artem Varnitsin / EyeEm (Getty Images)