Price Points: Quiet fireworks

Like bubbly, Auld Lang Syne and parkin, fireworks are synonymous with New Year’s Eve and Bonfire Night. However, they are nights to which many people don’t look forward. Lots of pets get very distressed at the loud bangs and explosions. Not to mention, the parents trying to get their young children to sleep!

There’s such a thing as quiet fireworks that fizz, spark and cascade with pretty colours – they just do so quietly! If you’re planning on having a few friends around on the 31st and letting off a few firecrackers outdoors, your neighbours will thank you for choosing any of the selections above.

Orion selection box: £7.56, Epic Fireworks
Spellbound selection box: £14.99, Jordans Fireworks
Champagne Rain – 61-shot barrage: £87.99, Fantastic Fireworks

Etsy List: Fireworks

It’s a busy week for celebration – Halloween has just departed and in three days time it will be Bonfire Night. These autumnal feasts are exciting & atmospheric… and feature all kinds of distinctive food, drink, decorations, costumes, fire crackers and sparklers. Outdoor fun for kids – big & small.

Remember, remember the 5th of November – here’s our Etsy selection!

Fireworks
Curated by H is for Home

Cakes & Bakes: Plot toffee

Plot toffee – otherwise known as bonfire toffee – is a traditional Yorkshire sweet eaten in the autumn around Halloween and – you guessed it – Bonfire Night!

It’s called Plot toffee after the Gunpowder Plot. It’s referred to by different names in different parts of the country; loshin du or taffi triog (Wales), Tom Trot (Yorkshire), claggum, clag or clack (Scotland).

Some recipes include a little milk and malt vinegar like this one that I’m using from A Yorkshire Cookbook by Mary Hanson Moore. Others I’ve come across include ginger, cayenne pepper and even chilli powder.

Plot toffee

Print recipe Pin recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Total Time 25

Cuisine British

Servings 300 g

Ingredients

225 g Demerara sugar
55 g black treacle
55 g butter
2 tsp water
2 tsp milk
2 tsp malt vinegar

Instructions

Bring all the ingredients except the vinegar to the boil stirring constantly
Boil gently for 15-20 minutes, still stirring, until the mixture becomes brittle when a small piece is dropped into cold water. Even better, if you have a jam thermometer the temperature needs to reach the hard crack stage of 149-154°C / 300-310°F
Stir in the vinegar and then pour into a well-greased tin
When nearly set, you can score it deeply into squares. Alternatively, allow to cool and give it a bash with a toffee hammer
Store in an airtight jar or container

Keyword sweets, toffee

Gimme Five! Things for Bonfire Night

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Five things for Bonfire Night | H is for Home

Tonight is Halloween, but next week is a celebration that’s a lot more home-grown – Bonfire Night. We prefer Bonfire Night to Halloween; the history, the spectacle of the fireworks, the comfort food like black peas (a Lancashire tradition), parkin and bonfire toffee.

When last have you seen a group of kids asking for, “A penny for the Guy?”? Perhaps it’s not as economically viable an option as “Trick or treat?” has become! 🙂

Small gold indoor sparklers – tube of 10: £3, Paperchase
B is for Bonfire alphabet silkscreen print by Sarah Young: £19, Notonthehighstreet
Bonfire kit: £60, Garden Trading
1950s print of children & penny Guy: £15, Etsy
Original cinder toffee: £8.50 Fortnum & Mason

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: Bonfire Night