Nearly a quarter of those injured seriously enough to require ACC claims were children under 10, statistics from the Accident Compensation Corporation show.
Nationwide, 1376 fireworks-related injury claims were accepted between 2018 and 2022, and it cost $2.7 million to help people recover.
The majority of injuries were burns, lacerations, punctures and soft-tissue injuries to hands, wrists, fingers/thumbs and eyes.
ACC injury prevention lead James Whitaker said the data was a timely reminder to families about the need to protect their children during Guy Fawkes.
"No-one wants their kids to get hurt, so think about how your actions might harm others.
"Think about the things you can do to keep tamariki safe, like making sure they can’t touch sparklers and other fireworks while they’re still burning hot.
"This will help to ensure you and your whānau have a memorable night for all the right reasons."
Bad Boy Fireworks are back in Dunedin after a one-year hiatus and retailer Wayne Barnard said he had a steady stream of customers yesterday.
While fireworks were flying off the shelves in Dunedin, it was nothing compared with sales in Invercargill, which had one of the highest per capita sales of fireworks in the country, he said.
"Invercargill does double what we do — it is just horrendous per capita for firework sales down there.
"For some bizarre reason it goes crazy in Invercargill ..."
He said his pop-up store would remain open in McBride St today.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand community education manager Adrian Nacey called for people to be careful, particularly because high winds were common at this time of year.
He said people should not light fireworks if it was too windy.
"It only takes a stray firework to start a fire or hurt someone.
"Fireworks can make a fun celebration, but they can also be dangerous and need to be used responsibly."
Mr Nacey encouraged people to attend public fireworks displays in their areas, rather than light their own.
"But if you do choose to light your own, remember we need everyone to do their part to help keep our communities safe this Guy Fawkes.
"You don’t want to be the person responsible for damaging a person, property or the environment by not being careful with fireworks."
