As a child I was mesmerized by a balloon artist on the Lawrence Welk show--that inspired me to add them to my show.

These are the most important responses of all, if you are not truely interested and can have loads of fun doing something other then magic, then do not do it. The lack of interest will come across to the audience.

Remember, there is also sand painting, Chapo hat routine with felt circle or a newspaper and the cartoon art creation out of letters and symbols.

You could also separate your magic and from tricks that are memtalist magic, and bill yourself as a mentalist.

I know a magician, as he bills himself, who when I got to see his act, had 90% of his material was mental tricks. That would mean he is a mentalist, not a magician.

Only do the things you are truely interested in, it may pay off in the end.

Magic is my upsell as I am a balloon guy....

I love balloons, but BREAK the mold that it is a "KID" thing..

1 out of 10 gigs I do are for kids..
also as the balloon guy when I do MAGIC I get total WOW factor...
it freaks people out

and I don't have to be that good..
cause I'm a balloon guy..

if you add balloons treat them like the rest of your show.. they are a prop.. YOUR still the entertainer, you just moved from a scripted planned act to Impromptu..
I have a hanful of GAGS that I do with balloons and I se them all the time..

If you make the decision to add something else to your show--make sure you add your own personal twist/personality to it. When I added the balloons--I created a "show/game" around the creation of the balloons and the balloon show became an extension of the magic show.

Good stuff guys. Thanks again. Maybe I could include in my USP that I can make a banjo disappear while blowing up a balloon.

I have been doing magic for 35 years. I started balloons and face painting about 18 years ago. I can make about 12 balloon scriptures. I compare no where near those professionals. The same with face painting. That is why I would never accept a gig of balloon twisting or face painting only.

The audience is well pleased with my magic show. Afterward, I do balloons and face painting, my customers are still pleased with what I did because the kids are still pleased. I made the connection of pleasing them thru the magic show. If a kid is line for balloons and ask for something I do not know how to make, I say, "I am a magician, not a clown."

You can offer different packages. One is a full magic only. Another is half magic and half balloons. Another is magic and face painting. It will be bring you out from your competition because you offer more.

My two hour package consist of an one hour magic show, next 30 minutes balloons and 30 minutes face painting. When there are 40 or more kids at the scene I speed up the face painting by doing cheek painting on one side of the face. I speed up the balloons by making the boys all swords and the girls all hearts. Those two are quick to make. Plus they are requested the most.

I advise you to get a DVD or book on balloon twisting to learn a few shapes. You might even learn from YouTube. After your next few shows do some balloon twisting for the birthday person for free to see how you would like it. Tell the other kids it is for the birthday person only. If you feel comfortable try extending to additional packages. You will never know if you will never try.

Another thing I have a package for is games. I am not a pro at juggling like Al. But I will add scarf juggling in the middle of my magic show.

I only do a few balloon animals. Working the festival market, this has been a great upsell for walk around strolling magic.

Bob Phillips

Mike has wisely added the juggling that he can handle to his act, and he had a good teacher too. LOL

I like how Mike suggested that I ease into it. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks again everyone.

Yes Al, you taught me a lot with scarves a couple of years ago. You will always be my number one juggling teacher. I do not know where I would be at right now if it wasn't for you.

If anyone wants to learn about juggling, send Al a PM. He likes to help others from magic to juggling to everything. And check out his juggling video on his website. That will tell you a lot.


And Michael, I do not know how long your show is, but you might want to extend 5 more minutes to make the birthday child a few balloons as part of your package deal. Explain it will be your birthday gift for the birthday child only. That will make a good promotional marketing tool.

I used to twist balloons. But the animals are supposed to look like what you call them! Out of 327 balloon animals, 326 look like lopsided dogs! (The jury is still out on number 327: latest conscensus was some odd cross between a rhino and a sea urchin!)

Ed

I always upsell the balloons when they are looking to book a magic show, or I upsell the magic show when they are trying to book the balloons. It's an upsell that has made me extra money. I'm already there so why not jump into doing balloons and getting some extra cash? It's worked for me.

Do you do both at a restaurant?

I am a juggler, balloon modeller, magician, stilt-walker, fire eater, jester, unicyclist etc etc

I advertise myself as an entertainer not as a performer of a particular skill. Why? Because my job is to entertain people not to show off my skills. I cold spend hundreds of hours making sure that my French Drop was cleaner and smoother than anyone else, the only people who would care would be magicians. I likewise could spend thousands of hours learning to juggle 5 clubs. In general the audience doesn't care. They wish to be entertained. If I spend all those hours doing something it's because I want to do it, not them.

So why all the different skills? The simple answer is I get more work that way. I'm rubbish at unicycling but I've been booked to do a unicycling photo shoot that lasted 5 minutes and paid twice as much as the 2 hour magic walkabout I did the same evening. I learnt knife throwing for my fun but have done corporate gigs teaching it (and well paid ones at that). I can adjust my skill set to more fully fit into my clients needs/image. Also I'd get bored if I was doing the same basic show day in day out for the 18 years I've been working.

On the specific question of balloon modelling. I'm pretty good at that. I've used that as a selling point when competing against magicians who provide party bags etc. and tend to get the job even though we are similarly priced. Parents and kids both like them. Whats more I've done several hen parties just because I can balloon model and they have all been great fun!

Nigel

Did I read that right? I must be out of the loop, Whats a hen party? Is it like a Tupperware party or Bachelorette party?

I learned to do balloon sculptures for the express purpose of making myself more marketable. They were very instrumental in getting me booked in restaurants and for birthday parties.

When I first started doing birthday parties I would include balloons in the package trying to sweeten the deal. As time went on I began using them as an up charge. I only do about 20 different balloons. 5 or 6 are impressive, the rest are hats, swords and easy stuff the kids like. I’m far from being an expert, but it has served me very well.

When my wife started face painting, I was surprised how many people were looking for face painting/balloon sculptures. So, she learned balloons too and as a result her bookings have increased.

In short, it is very beneficial to have a secondary talent.

A hen party is a bachlor party for women in England.

In the UK before you get married you have Hen (women) and Stag (men) Do's. These used to be a bunch of mates having drinks the night before the wedding. Then they moved to a week or so before the wedding. Then they became a whole weekend. When they stopped being just a drinking evening they became a potential market.

Nigel

Nigel
In the US bachlor party entertainers are usually scantly clad dancers.

I find the balloon twisters are more the childrens entertainers acts & kids parties
but they seem to be busy with those shows..some of the twisters are incredible-I could never be that good..


Most of the jugglers with Fire & Knives etc usually get constant work at the festivals etc
especially a combination of juggling, Magic & acrobatics etc -Buskerfestivals very Popular

As previously mentioned Entertainment is the key no matter what

I don't perform childrens parties or events ever as its not my market,
corporate strolling & touring stage shows is what I do, money is good
-If I did the balloons & maybe juggling Id get a few more festivals etc but I don't want that
so I work my market with an act to suit, Im still very busy but with events I specialise in!
so I leave the balloon twisting etc to the experts....

Brent