My in-laws take Forth of July fireworks very seriously.  They even own a mini cannon that gets set off when the sun goes down.  I wanted to make some safe fireworks for the girls to run around with in the back yard.  These are made using a variation of The Sweetest Occasion’s Tissue Paper Tassel pattern and a wooden dowel.  The tissue paper fireworks make a nice hissing sound when shaken, cost us under $1 each to make,  and are legal in all 50 states.  To make your own you will need:

*Tissue Paper

*Wooden Dowel (ours are 36″ long and 3/8″ thick)

*Twine

*Tape

*Scissors

1. Layer a variety of colored tissue paper in a stack.  (Our large pink firework has 8 sheets, the green has 5 and the striped tissue is made from 2 pieces on each tassel). Play around with the colors and sizes you like.  The more sheets you add  the heavier the firework will be, so be sure not to outweigh the strength of your dowel.

2. Follow these directions to make each tassel, (Thank you TheSweetestOccasion). We used one tassel per dowel for the larger number of layers and two on the striped fireworks’ dowel.

3. Once each tassel is made tie twine around the neck of the twist for extra stength.

4. Loop a piece of twine through the hole and tie a knot in the center around tissue.  On each end of twine make another double knot.  This will prevent twine from slipping out from under the tape when shaken. (We used a thinner twine and layered it for strength.  If you have a thicker twine one piece will be fine).

5. Tape twine to dowel above knots as shown.  Be sure tape is tight and wrap around a few layers.

6. Let the celebration begin!