Fireworks.org – The World’s Fireworks Community › Forums › General Discussion › America 250 fireworks sales were insane this year – anyone else notice prices went nuts?
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I been doing this hobby for like 20 years and I ain’t never seen a July 4th like 2026. With the whole America 250 thing, every stand within 50 miles was sold out by July 2nd. Not just the good stuff either – they cleaned out the fountains, the sparklers, everything.
Went to my usual spot on June 28th thinking I’d get there early, and dude was like “bro we might not make it to the 4th.” 500g cakes that were $35 last year were going for $55-60 easy. Some places were straight up price gouging but people were paying it anyway.
My cousin runs a tent in Ohio said he did 3x what he did in 2025. THREE TIMES. Said he had to turn people away on the 3rd cuz he literally had nothing left to sell.
Craziest part is I heard the wholesale orders from China were up like 40% this year but it still wasn’t enough. The demand was just that crazy.
Anyone else see the same thing in their area? The 250th really brought out everybody, even people who normally never buy fireworks. Kinda curious if this carries over to New Years or if everybody blew their budget already lmao
lol man you ain’t lying. I got to my usual Phantom on June 30th and the parking lot was packed like it was black friday. The guy working there said they sold more in the first 3 days of their season than all of last July.
What killed me was the 200g cakes – those are normally the ones that sit around forever but they were GONE. Even the generic stuff with the boring labels. People were buying ANYTHING that went boom.
The price thing is real tho. I saw Excaliburs going for $120 a box in some places. Last year they were like 80 bucks. Highway robbery but hey, supply and demand i guess 🤷
Can confirm from the wholesale side. I know a guy who imports containers out of Liuyang and he told me his 2026 pre-bookings were up almost 50% vs 2025. The factories in China were running extra shifts from like February onward just to keep up.
The real bottleneck wasn’t even production – it was shipping. Containers that usually take 30 days were taking 45-50 cuz the ports were so backed up. Some retailers who ordered in March barely got their stuff by late June.
But here’s the thing – a lot of these new buyers are gonna realize they overpaid and next year might actually be cheaper if the factories over-produced to meet the 250 demand. Could be a buyer’s market in 2027.
Interesting to read this from the US side. Here in Germany the 250th anniversary didn’t really affect our market obviously lol, but we had our own thing – the EU finally harmonized some of the transport regs for Cat F2/F3 fireworks earlier this year so importing got a bit easier across borders.
But I gotta say, $120 for Excaliburs?? In Poland I can get equivalent 500g cakes for maybe 35-40 euro. You guys are getting robbed tbh. Though I guess when demand spikes like that, the market does what it does.
Curious – did the 250th affect professional display companies too or was it mainly consumer retail that went crazy?
Late to this thread but yeah the prices were nuts here in CA too. My usual guy was charging $90 for cakes I paid $60 for last year. I get that shipping costs went up but damn. Ended up just going with the TNT stand this year tbh, their pricing was actually more reasonable than the indie dealers for once.
Prices were crazy this year. I run a small seasonal stand and my wholesale costs went up like 30% compared to 2025. Had to raise my retail prices too – customers were complaining but what can you do. Part of it is America 250 hype raising demand, but shipping costs from China are definitely the bigger factor. Still sold out by July 3 though so the demand is definitely there.
I’ve been saying this for years but the real issue is the supply chain bottleneck. My uncle works in logistics and he told me the ports at LA/Long Beach were still backed up through June this year. Even if the factories in China could pump out more product, it doesn’t matter if the containers can’t get through.
What I’m wondering is if next year things will normalize. The America 250 hype won’t be there, so demand should drop, and hopefully the shipping situation stabilizes too. Could actually be a good time to stock up for Labor Day if prices come down.
But yeah the $120 Excaliburs were ridiculous lol. I paid $90 at a tent in TX and thought that was bad.
I know I’m late to this thread but I just gotta say – I was working at a seasonal tent in Texas over the 4th and holy cow. We were restocking shelves twice a day and still running out. The America 250 hype was real.
What I noticed was a LOT of first-time buyers. People coming in asking basic stuff like ‘what’s the difference between a fountain and a cake’ – which is fine, we all start somewhere. But it was insane how many people were just grabbing armfuls of whatever was on the shelf without even looking at prices.
The price gouging was real though. Our prices didn’t change much cuz the owner is pretty fair but I heard other tents near us were marking stuff up 40-50%. Gross honestly. Felt like everyone was trying to cash in.
I’m curious if the same crowd shows up for New Years. My guess is no – NYE fireworks are more of a ‘serious’ pyro thing around here. But we’ll see!
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