It's time to get your tickets for this year's festival firework concert - the world-famous annual spectacular which sees 100,000 pyrotechnics launched in one intense, magnificent 45-minute show.  The display, with a live classical music accompaniment, is watched by a quarter of a million viewers from vantage points across the city... but for the very best experience, you'll want to get into the city-centre viewing area at Princes Street Gardens.

This is an archived Ticket Alert from early May.  The postal ballot described here has now closed, but there's another chance to get fireworks tickets in July.   See our earlier Ticket Alert on all fireworks ticket options.

Courtesy Edinburgh International Festival

How to apply

We've been in touch with the helpful people at the EIF's Hub Tickets booking office, and can confirm that - whatever the programme says - you do not need an official booking form.  You just need to send a cheque and an SAE.

Here's how to enter the postal ballot.

• Decide how many tickets to apply for, up to a maximum of six. 
• Make out a cheque to "Hub Tickets" for the value of the tickets.  They cost £10 each, and there's no booking fee.
• Enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope - which will be used to send your tickets, or to send the cheque back if you're unsuccessful.
• Add a covering note explaining that it's an application for fireworks tickets (although we're guessing that will be fairly obvious!)
• Send the whole lot to: Hub Tickets, The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh EH1 2NE.

Remember the deadline: your application must arrive by Monday 19 May.

Tempting though it may be, we advise against using friends' addresses to send multiple entries to the ballot.  In previous years, a very high proportion of postal applications have been successful - so, if you request more tickets than you actually want, it's more than likely you'll end up having to pay for them all!

Not quite sure?

If you're not sure yet whether you'll be in Edinburgh for the fireworks - or if you're unlucky enough to miss out in the ballot - you'll have two further chances to get your hands on tickets.  As we explained in our earlier Ticket Alert, by far the easier option is the online sale, on Monday 21 July.  Failing that, your very last chance is to join the notorious "fireworks queue" at the end of August.

We can remind you when the next batch of tickets goes on sale.  Sign up to get Ticket Alerts in your Inbox.