Pyro Company - Grand Finale product reviews

My first impression, when I had the box in my hands, was "Wow, why has no-one thought of using the box as a stand before?!" I really hate single-use packaging, which is why I make a strong effort to reuse, upcycle, or at the very least recycle, any packaging I can't avoid in the first place. The fact that the box is designed to hold the fireworks in the first instance, and then be converted into a secure stand for them during firing, is something I hugely applaud.

However, when it came time to set it all up, I am really glad I decided to do so the day before, because I found a flaw, that could have been solved if the pack I got had actually contained the promised long extra fuse. Each of the cakes has an 'in' fuse - that takes the spark into the casing and starts the firing process - and an 'out' fuse - that ignites in the final stages of the burn to carry the spark on to the next cake in the sequence. But, because of the alignment of the holes you have to cut in the box to slot the cakes into, there is one cake whose out fuse won't align with the next cake's in fuse... meaning a break in the chain!

You can't just turn the cake around, because then you'll line up two in fuses and two out fuses... which just won't work at all. I was a bit stumped by this, but a moment of communing with my inner MacGyver offered me a solution - the final out fuse. With no need to fire off a final out fuse on the 6th cake, I was able to carefully pull that fuse out, and use it to bridge the gap and connect all the cakes the right way around. Not at all sure what happened in the factory that I got a dud, but there is always a solution if you look at the problem from all angles.

How did they look? Brilliant! All of the cakes sent forth their 6 balls of fire and brilliance, and both my kids enjoyed watching them fire off, lighting up the trees around us in multi-coloured splendour. While the Screaming Banshee was universally voted as the loudest and most annoying to neighbours, we all agreed that the Fire Fly was our favourite. I also think that, despite the packing glitch, the ability to create a single chain-fire display, in any order you desire, is just wonderful. I would honestly love to ass ALL cake fireworks come standard with an out fuse, to allow buyers to create chains of any length they desire. Failing that, sell a 'chain kit' which is made up of around 1m of fuse and a handful of cable ties.

Overall, this was a great pack. The early frustration did take some of the delight out of it for me, but I also enjoy engineering challenges like this so it didn't reduce the pleasure too much for me. A bit more 'quality control' at the factory wouldn't go amiss, but that is no fault of the Pyro Company at all. Would I look to buy this again next year? Quite possibly... if I could also buy more fuse! I have an idea for a web of around 24 cakes!