How do you spend your money?

[expensive_disaster]

Hey guys. For those of you who shoot backyard shows like me, i was wondering how you spread your money throughout 200g cakes, 500g cakes, and shells. Our budget this past year was ~$1400. I was wondering if you spent $X on 200g cakes and $Y on 500g cakes, etc., or do you go for a ratio. Like X amount of 500g cakes to Y amount of 200g cakes.

Maybe i am thinking about this all the wrong way to begin with! Tell me what you do!

[AxeElf]

I don't really adhere to a formula; I just try to get a good variety of effects that complement each other. As it turned out this year, I ended up with 36 cases of 500g cakes and 36 cases of 200g cakes + fountains (27 and 8), with 3 cases of shells (plus 1 case of firecrackers and 1 case of parachutes)--but I wasn't really trying to hit that even number of 500g to 200g/fountains; it just turned out that way.

[Robbro097]

I just get what i like this year that meant way more 500s than 2s last year it was a lil more even. But next year will b less pyro more cobra mods/stereo/cameras

[Zippster]

I have my budget for my pro and then my consumer. Consumer, I shop for the main body of my show first which is 500g, I then fill in with some cases of 200g which always are doubled, tripled or off with a 500g. My budget amount.....not even my wife knows, lol.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

The only thing I account for specifically are mortars. I know I'm going to shoot "X" number of mortars for the finale, so I buy that many. I don't get wrapped around the axle with brand or style. I get cans of any type and that's it.

For everything else it has to match the songs I have picked out. Clearly there are specific points in a song to accent with a mine or slice or comets, etc. Depends on the vision you have in your head for what you want to see that will determine what you buy. Beyond the accent points, the rest is filler. So I hop on my suppliers website and I watch EVERY video of EVERY 500G and (if necessary) 200G cake to see what I like. I throw them all into a spreadsheet. Then I rank them best to worst. Then I look at the total price of my order. If it's over my budget, I start whittling down the list until I arrive at my budget. Then I start building my script and I see how everything fits with the songs I've picked. If I have extra effects at the end of filling up the songs, then cool! My show just got cheaper!! (Has yet to happen by the way!) If I run out of cakes before I'm done filling up the song, then I add cakes back to the spreadsheet and see if I can whittle down somewhere else.

Hope that helps.

[Mississippipyro]

My budget amount.....not even my wife knows, lol.
Me too lol, I try to forget it too.

[topshelfpyro]

a budget...….that's a good idea. I need to work on that.

[chriskrc]

I mostly go with canister shells and 500g cakes. I still buy 200g cakes as they have some really good ones out there and its nice to have the different levels of effect. I think it all pertains to what you want in your show.

[Jay_]

Like Rick, my script tells me what to buy so my “budget” is determined solely by my script.

I do pick up things that I have no plans to use in the show just for fun really and because it’s cheap when buying wholesale. That’s why I have like 13.5 billion leftover ball shells and canister shells.

[PyroKing31]

I ramp up slowly, but one thing I have found is a waste of money is the big hitter 500G cakes, 9 shot ones. You can build a 60G canister rack on your own thats reusable with bigger breaks. 500G cakes are way more worth it for different effects, Zippers etc and higher shot count. I will not be buying any of the low shot count cakes ever again.

[PyroGyro]

I ramp up slowly, but one thing I have found is a waste of money is the big hitter 500G cakes, 9 shot ones. You can build a 60G canister rack on your own thats reusable with bigger breaks. 500G cakes are way more worth it for different effects, Zippers etc and higher shot count. I will not be buying any of the low shot count cakes ever again.

NOABS usually shoot higher and have bigger and better breaks than 60G cannisters. In fact I use NOABS for this specific reason as they act as an umbrella for everything else beneath. Do you have examples you can point us to, like names of cakes that you're talking about, that aren't as good as 60G cans?

[PyroKing31]

I bought one called Airpower that was a 9 shot, that i did before my milkcrate of 60gs and my 60G finale all cans. Was not dramatically higher or hitting harder than the 60G shells that followed up. It was very similar and for the price paid $85 IIRC it wasnt worth it. I can put 12 60G cans in the air for way less money. The only advantage for me in those is ease of use. You just place it and fire it. Some of the shell types you get in some of those cakes are worth it. I bought a 12 shot gold willow cake that was worth it because i wanted that sustained effect. But if its just various breaks, Id rather make my own "cakes" with racks and different weight 1.75 inch shells

[PyroGyro]

I bought one called Airpower that was a 9 shot, that i did before my milkcrate of 60gs and my 60G finale all cans. Was not dramatically higher or hitting harder than the 60G shells that followed up. It was very similar and for the price paid $85 IIRC it wasnt worth it. I can put 12 60G cans in the air for way less money. The only advantage for me in those is ease of use. You just place it and fire it. Some of the shell types you get in some of those cakes are worth it. I bought a 12 shot gold willow cake that was worth it because i wanted that sustained effect. But if its just various breaks, Id rather make my own "cakes" with racks and different weight 1.75 inch shells

I checked out your Airpower 9 shot....yeah not very good. These well known 9 shots shoot higher and have bigger breaks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET_MF5QNQIw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PNJ4uPiZUA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-k4bQGDpyM


You have to shop carefully for NOABs because a lot of the time you want them is for the higher and bigger breaks, and not all NOABS are the same. Btw, if you buy wholesale you can get these NOABs for less than half the price of the Airpower one.

[PyroKing31]

I checked out your Airpower 9 shot....yeah not very good. These well known 9 shots shoot higher and have bigger breaks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET_MF5QNQIw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PNJ4uPiZUA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-k4bQGDpyM


You have to shop carefully for NOABs because a lot of the time you want them is for the higher and bigger breaks, and not all NOABS are the same. Btw, if you buy wholesale you can get these NOABs for less than half the price of the Airpower one.

Thanks for the Tip on that and teaching me a new term. NOAB. I am trying to find a wholesaler that is within my preferred driving distance or en route to somewhere i normally go. I have to go into PA for all my stuff, I was looking at Kellner's since they are on the way to Pittsburgh and I am a steelers fan that makes the voyage annually.

[Robbro097]

Thanks for the Tip on that and teaching me a new term. NOAB. I am trying to find a wholesaler that is within my preferred driving distance or en route to somewhere i normally go. I have to go into PA for all my stuff, I was looking at Kellner's since they are on the way to Pittsburgh and I am a steelers fan that makes the voyage annually.

Its about the same time from Rochester to wfboom.com (wholesale fireworks) as it is to kellners and ohio doesnt have the fireworks tax that PA does. Then to add to that depending on your budget and time of yr that u buy u can get as much as 40% off theyr listed wholesale prices gonna b really hard to beat

[AxeElf]

I got sold on NOABs this year too. I always considered them out of my price range, but once I started buying wholesale, they were more affordable, and like PyroGyro said, a good NOAB provides a huge impressive umbrella over your lower-bursting shells and cakes.

Here is some spectator-shot cell phone footage of my finale this year. Watch for how much higher and larger the burst is when the MOAB NOAB (Mother of All Bombs) kicks in--I think the BOOM of it even startled the person filming, and they have to adjust their filming angle to get it all in.

I will definitely be incorporating more NOABs from here on out.


https://drive.google.com/open?id=19oLf47k-hv10GDv-yspctZjq2EUlJln6

[chriskrc]

That was a nice finale AxeElf, you can definitely tell when MOAB kicks in. Pyro Candy is another great noab with hard hitting breaks. There are some really nice noab's you just gotta look for them.

[PyroKing31]

I got sold on NOABs this year too. I always considered them out of my price range, but once I started buying wholesale, they were more affordable, and like PyroGyro said, a good NOAB provides a huge impressive umbrella over your lower-bursting shells and cakes.

Here is some spectator-shot cell phone footage of my finale this year. Watch for how much higher and larger the burst is when the MOAB NOAB (Mother of All Bombs) kicks in--I think the BOOM of it even startled the person filming, and they have to adjust their filming angle to get it all in.

I will definitely be incorporating more NOABs from here on out.


https://drive.google.com/open?id=19oLf47k-hv10GDv-yspctZjq2EUlJln6

That is the exact video data I was looking for to show the height difference and size of break. If you recall, what were some of the other lower pieces, just general 20-30 shot 500g cakes? That was a well put together finale in my opinion.

Also will be looking at WFboom for all future purchases

[AxeElf]

That is the exact video data I was looking for to show the height difference and size of break. If you recall, what were some of the other lower pieces, just general 20-30 shot 500g cakes? That was a well put together finale in my opinion.

Thanks. Yeah, this was my first year using a firing system instead of daisy-chain fusing, and even though it was a cheap Chinese system using talon-type igniters and I had to fire all the cues manually, I was generally pretty happy with the way it played out.

Let's see, some of the breaks in there were the Brothers' "American Chief" ball shells that we were just discussing in another thread (that "ring" burst at 0:04 was one of them), the zipper cake was a "Limitless" by Shogun, there were two "Next Big Thing" 500g fan cakes by Firehawk, staggered by a couple of seconds (available at WFBoom), a "Nailed It" 500g by Shogun (also available at WFBoom), two 200g "Squirrel!" cakes by Pyro Demon, two 200g "Mighty Cobra" comet cakes by Shogun (yet again from WFBoom, although they were listed as "Anaconda"s--same thing), two 200g "Wild N Crazy" cakes by Showtime, and finally, two "Going Haywire" by Black Cat (essentially two 300-shot Saturn Missile Batteries). I think that was it, for the portion you can see in that video.

EDIT: Oh, and of course the MOAB NOAB over it all.

[morrison2951]

The case and a half of Brothers' Whacky Tobacky 9 shot NOAB in my show this year was awesome.

You 'betcha they go higher and hit harder than 60g shells!

[AxeElf]

9 shot NOAB

From the Redundancy Department of Redundancy, like "ATM Machine." LOL

[morrison2951]

From the Redundancy Department of Redundancy, like "ATM Machine." LOL

Yep, kinda' like tuna fish. Ha ha :cool:

[retlawman344]

Budget? My sons and I all chip in 1000.00. So I start with 3000.00. I buy the 2000.00 gift card at Christmas and they bump it to 2700.00. Buy another gift card for 1000.00 that they bump to 1200.00. Then everything I buy is on the buy one get two free sale. Add in another 500.00 to 1000.00 that my wife doesn't know about and we're good. Budget??? Who needs a stinking budget!!! LOLOL

[Deanbc]

Budget? My sons and I all chip in 1000.00. So I start with 3000.00. I buy the 2000.00 gift card at Christmas and they bump it to 2700.00. Buy another gift card for 1000.00 that they bump to 1200.00. Then everything I buy is on the buy one get two free sale. Add in another 500.00 to 1000.00 that my wife doesn't know about and we're good. Budget??? Who needs a stinking budget!!! LOLOL
If you are spending that total amount, why aren’t you buying wholesale?

[Robbro097]

Budget? My sons and I all chip in 1000.00. So I start with 3000.00. I buy the 2000.00 gift card at Christmas and they bump it to 2700.00. Buy another gift card for 1000.00 that they bump to 1200.00. Then everything I buy is on the buy one get two free sale. Add in another 500.00 to 1000.00 that my wife doesn't know about and we're good. Budget??? Who needs a stinking budget!!! LOLOL

With a budget like that retail is definitely the way to go your shows will get much bigger or stay the same and leave u with more money to expand cobra can never have too many mods

[PyroGyro]

With a budget like that retail is definitely the way to go your shows will get much bigger or stay the same and leave u with more money to expand cobra can never have too many mods
I think you meant wholesale lol

[Wholesale Fireworks]

Budget? My sons and I all chip in 1000.00. So I start with 3000.00. I buy the 2000.00 gift card at Christmas and they bump it to 2700.00. Buy another gift card for 1000.00 that they bump to 1200.00. Then everything I buy is on the buy one get two free sale. Add in another 500.00 to 1000.00 that my wife doesn't know about and we're good. Budget??? Who needs a stinking budget!!! LOLOL

Just a quick FYI...so based on your math you are spending about $4900 so if you took advantage of our Early Bird wholesale specials beginning in February, You can get $8000 worth of product for for $4800
Just something to think about

[Robbro097]

I think you meant wholesale lol

Yea long day yesterday lol

[Zippster]

Just a quick FYI...so based on your math you are spending about $4900 so if you took advantage of our Early Bird wholesale specials beginning in February, You can get $8000 worth of product for for $4800
Just something to think about

Just as Ray said, your missing out on a much better show and could spend less for it. Not to mention his service and products are awesome!

[PyroBubba]

In our most recent wholesale buy (19 cases) we got 5 cases (56 cakes) of 200 grams and 14 cases (36 cakes) of 500 grams. We then added two more cases of small 200 gram cakes (132 total). So I guess in dollar value, about 2/3 of our cake budget goes for 500-gram cakes. Also we got four cases of shells and a case of roman candles.