Hi everyone, long time lurker first time poster. I've been interested in magic for about 5 years now, mainly as a hobbyist and performing only for friends. I'm 29.

This Saturday I've been asked to perform at a kids birthday party (aprrox 15 kids between 5-12yrs old). It's for a friend and I'm performing for free. My problem is that all of the magic I've been interested in so far has been with cards and mostly for adults, apart from sponge balls.

So I've ordered a bunch of props that I expect to arrive tomorrow and I'm hoping to use these for my first performance. I would love any advice on these tricks and maybe where they fit best in the routine(opener, middle, closer etc.) Also if any of these may not be appropriate for a child audience.

-Magic colouring book
-Egg Bag
-Chop Cup
-Cups and Balls
-Sponge rabbits
-Breakaway wand and nesting wands. (not sure how to incoporate these)
-TT and silk
-Rope (prof nightmare/cut and restored)
-Numerous card tricks like ACR, invisible deck etc. (I'm thinking cards aren't really good for young children)

Right now I'm leaning towards closing with the cups and balls. But am unsure of what to open with.

As the party is this Saturday, I won't really have to time to obtain any other tricks before then, but could always order them for the next time, so any suggestions for the future would be great!
This first party is sort of a trial for me, to see whether or not I am comfortable with performing for a real audience, and If I would like to pursue this as more than a hobby.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

*edit* Oh and can anyone recommend either a good book or dvd that has in depth information on children's magic. I've been told silly billy so far.

There is no right or wrong for all individuals. Everyone is different. A good opener will be a trick you can do great with grabbing everyone's attention.

Go to Youtube to search the tricks you have. Check out the multiple ways in which they are presented. But remember, rule #1; do not try copy another magician's style. Be creative by being yourself.

Hoo-boy,...I hate to burst your balloon,but Disasture is Knocking at your door!!!First of all,incorperating a New Effect into your Show just days before,doesn't give you enough time to learn and perfect it,let alone a whole bunch of new effects.The rule of Practice,Practice and more Practice before you present an effect is not a suggestion.Reconsider before you make a Big beginers mistake.

Oh,almost forgot,...Any Books by David Ginn are a good place to start.

Bah, humbug! You're only doing this for a bit of fun all round, right?

I mean, can you imagine it: "boys and girls, we were going to have along a young aspiring magician....but his online friends told him he shouldn't show us any magic, so instead....let's punch the c**p out of this box of candies....

:)

The older kids (7 yrs up) will love all your card tricks, etc.

You only have to worry about the 5-7 year olds. Even they will enjoy C&B (I think Daryl has a really simple version you can learn in an hour or so).

And, those 5-year olds, as long as there aren't too many of them, will get swept along with it all, if you amaze the older kids.

Is it a birthday party? If so, how old is the Birthday Child?

I guess I'm being misunderstood,...I don't mean not to do the Show,but recommend you stick with what you know,Cards and Sponge Balls,for Kids, Magic is Magic,they will love it.You can learn the workings and come up with a fairly good Routine with the Coloring Book in just a few minutes/hours and maybe even the Proffessors Nightmare,but Cups And Balls and Egg Bag in a few days????You risk exposing the Slieghts and/or workings of any Unmastered Effect.(you might get away with poorly done Routines with the 5-7 year olds,but the 12 year olds will pass all they saw to their friends very quickly)

Hi Tomfish. First, I agree wholeheartedly with snowpuppy. You expect the tricks to arrive on Monday for a show on Saturday. That is a recipe for disaster… unless you’ve worked with these tricks at some time during your five years exploring the magic world. That said, you will probably do the show anyway and learn from the school of hard knocks. So, I suggest that you pick five or six tricks and concentrate your rehearsal on those, rehearsing every free minute you have between now and Saturday.

Cups and balls do make a great closer, but make sure that your closer is as tight as possible. It will be the last thing they see and what they remember when telling their friends about your act. Magic Coloring book works well for an opener, as does a TT with silk. Script your show and stick with the script as much as possible. Adlibbing is great, but I wouldn’t recommend it under the described circumstances.

Don’t try to cram everything you bought and everything you know into your first performance. Take some time to just chat with the kids. When working with the birthday boy, joke and kid around with him. That will help you to relax as well as win them over to your side. Five or six, well scripted effects, along with personal interaction with the audience will give you about 30 minutes, which is about right for that age group. Remember, it’s not all about the magic. It’s about the experience. If they have fun – instead of just watching one trick after another – they’ll be entertained more than you can imagine. And… you need to have fun with it! They need to see you having fun. If you’re not having fun, neither will they.

Good luck, and let us know how things went.

I guarentee that if you try to cram a bunch of tricks you've just taken out of a box into a show like you've never done before, you will *not* be "comfortable". The idea is to do tricks that you ~are~ comfortable with, so you can concentrate on being intertaining, vice just doing tricks.

The Coloring Book is good, better done Silly Billy style. Cut and restored rope is good. I've seen both of these done in very engaging and entertaining routines -- and I've seen kids bored to death by them.

Cups and balls - if you are completely comfortable doing a decent routine - can be a nice closer. Depends on whether you can do the mechanics by heart and leave your mind free to play with the kids.

I agree with Potty -- it's all about having fun. But a performer who has to concentrate on the mechanics of a trick is not having fun with the audience, so neither the magician nor the kids are having fun. May as well bash a pinata!

As we always tell others - and it always has to be learned - it's not the tricks, it's the perfomer. If the fun is in you, then there will be fun and the tricks are along for the ride.

So cull through the tricks you have and will receive, and pick out five or six you can do smoothly now, and practice those while playing a bit silly. During the party, you can feed off the kids. Open with something that grabs attention immediately - you've got to win the little ones immediately; once they decide you're boring, they turn into sharks and you become fresh meat!

Above all, have fun!!
Ed

Hmmm....5-12 is a tricky spread even for a pro. Try to enlist 2 of the oldest kids as 'security', then aim low (at the 5-7's) and hope the rest come along for the ride.
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you'll need a warm-up: try counting the kids, but you keep getting a number wrong (1..2..3..spaghetti..5..waittaminut!!) after 2 more goes at that, you count correctly, but keep counting the kids youve already counted (13..14....19...wait!! There cant be NINETEEN of you!). Then you hit upon an idea: you inflate a 260 balloon or rocket ballon and say you'll use it to mark where you beging by handing it to child #1. And remark how smart you are for having thought of this (I didn't get through 2nd grade for nuthin'!) you start to hand the balloon to the child saying "Now YOU mister balloon, are number ONE!!" and let go of the balloon (It flies away) and start counting with the same result as last time.

This should get all the kids laughing and once they see that youre funny they will TOALLY warm up to you. (hence the name)
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For the opener, I reccomend Silly Billy's vanishing hanky routine, and you can incorporate both the gag wands you have into it. For the wand-whackery part, you don't have time to get any inflatable wands, but get a plastic toy bat from Wal-Mart. Having exxhausted all the wands, say "There must be SOMEthing here I can use as a wand..." and produce the bat (that alone will get giggles) then go on with the Hit-my-hand-and-he-hits-your-head routine.

This will get all the kids to WANT to volunteer.

Good luck on doing new tricks with so little time to practice.let along time to practice your patter for them.
todd

Be entertaining more than magical.

Watch Tommy James, Silly Billy, Great Zucchini, and others. All are good magicians but having fun and getting the kids laughing is most important.

Also, the Christopher T. Magician videos are GREAT for learning about performing (not just about how the tricks work but how to entertain children. I still can't believe he is doing such quality work for free.

Best of luck and have A LOT of fun. If you have fun, they will have fun.

5 - 12 year age group, performing tricks for the first time in front of an audience. Good luck your going to need it! I guess its free so no one can really complain.

I have to agree with all of the above - you've got your work cut out here. You've got to remember that doing children's magic is not just showing a bunch of tricks - it's all about the interaction, by-play and bits of business.

Practical Magic has a lot of great DVDs and books:

http://www.practical-magic.com/index.php......start=25

However, do a search because the subject of good children's DVDs has been discussed many times. There's lots!

Just to name one that I enjoyed (and it will give you a good idea of how to perform with children) is Gary Dunn's Keep them laughing. Available from practical magic.

Good luck!

Mark

PS The first time I performed a children's show I vowed I would never do it again! Don't let your first experience put you off. You'll get better and it will get easier. To make children happy must be one of the best jobs you can do.

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice. I really appreciate it.

I'm not too worried about doing a bad job. I know most of the kids so for me it's kind of like performing for friends. And it is free after all so the hosts know what to expect.

I'm looking at it as more of a test to see how well I can perform for this age group and also to see what sort of tricks work and don't work.

I won't perform all the new stuff I got. I think I'll focus on 1-2 new tricks and make the rest of the show up with sponges and cards.

I'll post an update when it's all over!

Guys, I'm sorry, but some of us are taking this way to seriously, the guy wants to have fun in front of a bunch of his friend's kids. Tom, have fun, bro. Look, you were looking for suggestions-anything by Ken Scott, don't know if he was mentioned, is going to be good in my opinion.

Look, I'm coming from a different angle, because I don't practice anything. The magic shop I went to, wouldn't show me anything unless I could work it, on the way out the store. With that being said, it's because the trick was secondary, I knew I could make it funny, whatever it was.

Have fun with your commentary. Get them into it. With that age group if you want a fun line that will get a mixture of roarous boos and applause, say "Who likes Justin Bieber'?. Cool, "I have a poster of him in my living room".

Just have fun. Tell the kids, "its my first time, cut me a break up here', when you start. Say something like, "I haven't had much time to practice', and as you're saying this, take the trick out of the box, and open it. This will be hysterical to everyone.

I will say this-cut and restored tricks, I'm sure some people have great and funny routines for kids. I, however, haven't seen one-the kids haven't seemed to interested in this trick, when I've seen performers do it-just my opinion.

Good luck-give us a report, but remember, commentary, stuff between tricks, appearing pole, site gags will be the winners, I believe.

Make sure you record yourself with a camcorder. If you plan to take it to a professional level, you will see what you need improvements on.

Cups and balls will work good as a finale if you can work out a simple routine in time.

the key here is keep it simple and direct

opener
sponge balls or spong rabbits. the slights can be learned quick and your can do a flurry type vanish and reprodction from various places.

cut and restored rope is very simple as is professors. pick one and use it as filler, do not try for both in the same set as you do not havve time to routine them and it will strart to drag.

the Thum@ Ti@ is your best friend here. hundreds of routines you can do just with that. the silk can vanish then reappear change colors then vanish again.

unless you are performing with a very small group seated around a table the cards are a no go. they can not be seen from any distance and the younger children will lose interest very fast.

one that will work and can be made right now and practiced would be misers dream it takes 10 or more coins and a metal can to drop them in that makes a loud noise. get a coffee can paint it or put contact paper on it and get the coins. easy propr the sound is engaging and the fact that young kids know what money is will help. get the youngest kid (5 year old) and ask him to drop all the money from his pockets into the can he wont have any so you show hoim where it is at...prouction from ear and nose. youtube misers dream and you will see what I'm talking about.

the magic coloring book again is a no brainer to work so just get a simple presentation with it and let it rock.

the nesting wands are way easy to incorporate as filler. then use the wand for your cups and balls close.


you do not have the time to create a strong set here so keep it simple. with young children yourwant to engage them with interaction. make them the stars of the show. never huimiliate them or they will turn on you and eat you alive. break away wand is a sucker gag make sure the joke is on you not on them. humor and egagerate movments appeal to young kids here.

the guys are rfight that you do not have time to create a strong show but your not doing this for a paid gig your doing it for a friend. so your not expected to look like a pro. so have fun with it and use it as a training ground for later. tape it and get your friends imput on how each routine played. this will tell you what you need work on.

good luck brother and I hope you rock it. if you have questions or need some help with a routine just pm me and I will help if I can.

Wow great advice guys! I was already planning to tape the performance, I know I'll learn a lot from watching it.

Michael, thanks very much for the routine idea. I will keep it simple and on the day I'll make a judgement call on performing with cards depending on the number and ages of kids.

Like I said before this really is a test of my own abilities and whether kids shows are right for me before I splash out on big props and bunny rabbits.

Silly Billy (David Kaye) said performing for children is like performing for drunks: they are unpredictable. If you like kids, and you enjoy laughing with them, and you can learn to engage them and connect with them, and you can go with the flow of their unpredictability, then you might very well enjoy performing for kids. No need to get "big props" and "bunny rabbits", though. There's a lot that can be done right from a briefcase.

Have fun!!
Ed

One strong suggestion: make your magic about the journey, not the destination. Can you get 5 minutes from shoving a silk into your hand and making it vanish? If so, you know how to make the journey happen.

A fairly standard thing to do with multiplying wands is have the kid take a wand as you turn away to get something. You be surprised and do a lot of byplay to end up with a wand in each hand, under each arm, and under the chin. Ask your helper to wave all the wands over whatever needs the magic. Never laugh at the kids. Be surprised at the magic happening.

A little thought about the breakaway wand: have it break for YOU not for a kid. It sucks to be blamed for that. I still remember being on stage with Ronald McDonald and getting the breakaway wand. It is a very funny thing to see, but not to be blamed for.

A card trick I find kids like is card through handkerchief. It is in Mark Wilson if you don't know it.

Above all, have fun. The kids won't if you don't.

-Patrick