I think it is best to use particle emitters without HV.
You give it a lot of luminosity and a little glow if you wish.
To make the particles explode the right way...
It seems to me that there is something about fireworks in the manual. But if you want somthing simple, I'd just create a particle emmiter and set the explosion to a high number and the resistence too. Then make sure there are lots of particles per second and that the total number of particles is just enough so that they'll stop after a second or so. You might want to give the life time some variation. You can also add some gravity too.
Just some ideas that might help you.
