“Sparklers and Fun Snaps came out on top."
When it comes to fireworks in the UK during Diwali, there remains a large interest, with searches for “Diwali fireworks” increasing sharply in the weeks leading up to the festival.
According to James Turver, who runs Galactic Fireworks, “Diwali fireworks” sits at around 400 UK searches a month for most of the year.
In September 2025, it rose to 433. It then surged to around 15,000 in October, when Diwali fell on October 20.
The year before, there were around 11,300 searches.
Much of this interest appears to be driven by people looking for fireworks close to where they live, as Turver told DESIblitz:
“It is also last-minute and local. ‘Diwali fireworks near me’ went from about 1,100 searches in October 2024 to nearly 2,000 in October 2025, and 93% of those searches are made on a phone.”
The highest number of UK searches come from London, followed by Leicester and Birmingham.
Turver continued: “Some of those will be people looking for a public display to watch, so I would read the city figures as interest in Diwali fireworks generally.”
But for those who do buy fireworks during Diwali, Turver revealed popular purchases:
“Sparklers and Fun Snaps came out on top.
Sparklers are hand-held and come in plain, coloured and crackling versions. Fun Snaps are small paper throw-downs that crack when they hit the ground, with no fuse and no flame.
“Rockets were next. They go up on a stick and burst high overhead.
“Fountains sit on the ground and throw up a shower of coloured sparks, with little or no bang.
“Cakes, also called barrages, were the most common bigger purchase.
“You light one fuse and it fires a sequence of shots, so a single firework gives you a display lasting anything from about 20 seconds to a couple of minutes.”
Turver explained that the buying patterns suggest colour and quieter options are important considerations:
“The Diwali range we put together leans towards colour and lower noise, because most people are letting them off in a back garden on a residential street.
“The orders show plenty of customers adding rockets and louder cakes on top of that.”
Despite Diwali’s popularity, Bonfire Night remains much bigger for the fireworks industry in the UK.
The way people search for fireworks also differs between the two celebrations, as Turver said:
“People search differently for the two. ‘Diwali fireworks’ peaked at about 15,000 searches in a month, while ‘bonfire night fireworks’ peaked at about 5,600. Most Bonfire Night shoppers just type ‘fireworks’.”
In 2026, the two events will be close together, with Bonfire Night falling on November 5 and Diwali on November 8.
Turver said: “Bonfire Night is fixed on 5 November and Diwali moves.
“Last year they were 16 days apart. This year Diwali is Sunday 8 November, three days after Bonfire Night, so both land in the same week.”
The timing also matters because the legal hours for setting off fireworks differ depending on the occasion, as Turver added:
“The law treats them differently too.
“Fireworks can be let off until 1 am on Diwali night, against midnight on Bonfire Night and 11 pm on a normal night.”
