Had they known how difficult it would be to find fireworks for sale this year, Manoa residents Brittny Ing-Lee and JT Lee might have spent their Saturday afternoon doing something easier, like adopting a unicorn or searching garage sales for a Honus Wagner baseball card.

Instead, the couple burned daylight with abortive trips to Don Quijote on Kaheka Street and Walgreens on Beretania and fruitless calls to every drugstore, supermarket and big-box store that came to mind.

Longs Drugs on Vineyard? Don Quijote in Waipahu? Foodland in Kapahulu?

Out, out and out.

In fact, retailers throughout Honolulu reported selling out of their restricted firework stocks within the first day of availability, thanks in part to the highest number of fireworks permits issued in the past eight years.

This year, the city issued 10,922 permits, compared with 8,564 last year.

"I didn’t realize how quickly they would sell out this year," Ing-Lee said. "Last year, we waited until the day before (New Year’s Eve) to buy our fireworks. We should have gone earlier."

With about $250 worth of fireworks permits in jeopardy of becoming kindling for the barbecue, the couple’s dogged dialing yielded nine boxes of firecrackers at the Longs store in Hauula. There was just one problem: The clerk said a family from Kailua had already called ahead in search of the prized fireworks.

And so, as the couple headed from downtown to Hauula, Ing-Lee’s sister got on the phone with a relative in nearby Kahuku and enlisted her help in driving to the store and securing the purchase before their Kailua rivals could arrive.

The two parties ultimately ended up splitting the bounty, with four boxes bound for Kailua and five headed back to Manoa. The Lees used the remainder of their permits to draw from the rapidly dwindling stock of firecrackers at Foodland in Pearl City.

The shopping ordeal left JT Lee wondering how many residents might be left with unused, nonrefundable permits.

"If you buy a permit but aren’t able to use it because there’s no supply left, you should be able to get a refund," Lee said. "(City officials) need to get on the same page as the vendors."

Fireworks permits, good for the purchase of up to 5,000 firecrackers, were available for $25 through Dec. 20.

In accordance with city ordinances, sales of fireworks at licensed retailers officially began at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday. And while sales are allowed to continue until midnight on New Year’s Eve, most Honolulu retailers found their shelves emptied before the weekend even began.

Managers from several supermarkets and drugstores on Oahu, who order fireworks months in advance, said they ordered fewer fireworks this year than previous years in anticipation of decreased demand.

Sales of fireworks permits have fluctuated dramatically over the past dozen years, from a low of 6,102 in 2002 to a high of 13,979 in 2005.