talkmagic.co.uk

Having just started back taking bookings as children's magician, I notice things have changed a bit in the last ten years or so since I was last advertising my services.

I've had a number of requests for more than just a 45 minute magic show, people these days seem to want you to look after their kids for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, and are looking for a whole party thing rather than just a bit of magical entertainment.

With this in mind, I can't afford to get any disco equiptment or anything like that at the moment, I figured that the low cost solution would be to offer some party games, and perhaps some balloon modelling. I've got a copy of The Magic Party by Mark Leveridge on video at the back of my loft somewhere that I can dig out for some party games, but I would be grateful if anyone could recommend a good, cheap DVD that will teach some basic balloon modelling.

The DVD I've seen on a number of sights is the Balloon Magic Made Easy by Royal Magic, Merchant of Magic have it for £8.99:

http://www.magicshop.co.uk/KIDS_SHOW_MA ... _info.html

and Dude That's Cool Magic have it for £9.99:

http://www.dudethatscoolmagic.co.uk/aca ... llons.html

there's also Balloon Sculpture Made Easy by Hampton Ridge there for the same price.

Having never done balloon modelling before, can anyone recommend either of these DVDs, or similar, for a similar price? I need something to teach the basics (like how to blow the d*mn things up) as well as how to make perhaps simple animals, hats that sort of thing.

Also, do any of you children's magicians find that the request to do more than just magic, or do a show longer than 45 minutes etc. is quite common, and what else would you suggest that I can do?

I've only just started advertising in the last 3 weeks, I've got two confirmed bookings, 3 free shows under my belt and had around 5 or 6 enquiries per week, most have been on dates that I just can't do because I work full time at the moment, and the others have been requests for 1 1/2 to 2 hour parties, that again, I wouldn't want to short change the punters until I'm comfortable that I can fill the time entertainingly for them. I also don't want to keep passing up business because I can't offer a longer show.

Hope one of you fellow children's magicians can help

Sandy

woolies do some excelent balloon / book combos, the balloons are poor quality but good for practise.
personaly i don't do balloons, 30 kids x 2mins a balloon dog = 1hour and there all be wanting balloons, that said if you can do a dog then you can do a rabbit, elephant, sword, flower, snake and many others.

adding a pupet to your routines alows you to slow down the routine and thus fill an hour with the material you already have, include site gags and audience participation and you can fill a 2 hour show easily.
ok you cant add disco rigs yet but if you can get a boom box and a black lace cd then you have the workings for a magic /music party as you add more kit.
http://www.unionsquaremusic.co.uk/title.php?ALBUM_ID=48&LABEL_ID=3
anything else i can help you with feel free to ask.

This is what I am looking at going in to. AT present I am a dj as well as doing large event (did a big gig for commit the other day 900 people) I also do children’s entertainment mix of music silly dancing and games.
I am looking at offering a new service magic games and dances similar to what was said above, eventually be able to then do close up work at my adult events.

Just some questions about the children’s gigs,

What puppet do you add?

Do you use ventriloquism?

How do you work things magic > eat > Dance?

I find the children a bit harder to control after they have eaten too many e number?

Let me know you thoughts.

When I used to do kids shows I would do a 30 minute magic show followed by 30 minutes of balloon modelling. Most kids parties are 2 hours long. I would work the first hour, then the kids would be whisked away to eat. Although the bookings were for an hour I always over-ran.

All the balloon models you need to know are dog, cat (a dog with smaller head, smaller ears and longer tale), a giraffe (dog with smaller head, smaller ears, and longer neck), a sword, a hat, and perhaps a flower. Anything else takes too long. If you've got 30 kids to get through in 30 minutes speed is of the escence!

Good luck!!!

Just some questions about the children’s gigs,

What puppet do you add? any thing that takes your fancy or make your own out of a sock ala lambchop

Do you use ventriloquism? no, to much extra work and unless your going to do it properly then best stick to the sooty idea, the kids won't care.

How do you work things magic > eat > Dance? usualy the reverse but its up to you and the organiser

I find the children a bit harder to control after they have eaten too many e number? its up to the organiser to organise the kids, you need to make that clear at the start.

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Thanks for that helped a lot any one else with ideas or comments ....

Would you be willing to post an out line of what you normally do ... Pos even a pic of how you set up or the pupet you use.... Thanks again

Balloon Magic Made Easy, by Tricky The Clown is a good DVD to learn basics from. There are some very quick and easy models on there, with some good tips on the basic twists you may need.

There are 2 books, Fantasici Palloncini ans Palloncini Nouve Sculture, which have basic and intermediate models in. There is a third book, which I haven't bought, to be honest, it just doesn't look that good. The books are as easy, in some cases, easier, to learn from than the DVD. On a DVD, you may have to keep going back if you aren't as quick, but the book is in a step by step photo guide.

Sorry Magicdiscoman, but I don't rate either the cheap balloon booklets or balloons from Woolies or any other normal reatail outlet.
The booklets are normally drawings of about one or two stages, with an end product drawn by someone who has never seen a balloon model in their life. Apart from being cheap, the balloons have also been kept for who knows how long. They may also have been kept too warm, as they are just another product for sale, rather than being sold by someone who knows how to store them properly.

magicmax, as for blowing them up, for now, by a two way balloon pump. They only cost around £5 and are much quicker than the cheap single way pumps from toyshops. I smoke too much to blow balloons up, but these days, some people frown on blowing them up because it isn't "hygenic." As far as I'm concerned, this is a good enough excuse for me not to make myself faint after trying to blow a few balloons up.

Sorry Magicdiscoman, but I don't rate either the cheap balloon booklets or balloons from Woolies or any other normal reatail outlet.
The booklets are normally drawings of about one or two stages, with an end product drawn by someone who has never seen a balloon model in their life. Apart from being cheap, the balloons have also been kept for who knows how long. They may also have been kept too warm, as they are just another product for sale, rather than being sold by someone who knows how to store them properly

.
i totaly agree darrel but i did say there cheap and redily avalable for practise and are often found in the for sale buckets for a quid, poundshops often have them too.
overnight in the fridge usualy perks the balloons up enough for some desent practice and as youv'e said balloon pumps, manual or powerd are definatly the way to go.
and getting qualatex balloons from an online store such as the magicattic for shows and kept cool and dark until needed is your best bet.
one of though colapsable laundry baskets is a great place to store pre-blown ballooons prior to making them up.

I missed the "practise2 part of your post, though I would still say get the better quality balloons for these. The last thing needed when trying to learn the models is for them to pop just on the final twist. I'm also looking into getting one of those pop up laundry baskets as it is something I have heard before.

EDIT
ref puppets.

I use the Dog Arm Puppet from Practical magic. They were out of stock of what I wanted and Jeremy phoned me up to talk me through the basic routine. I said yes on the spot and glad I did. I admit to being biased, as I liked the puppet so much, i wrote a routine, which they now sell! I don't do vent, so he just whispers in my ear. Never had any problems with this. Whatever puppet you choose, if you don't do vent, buy one who's character will suit the " Sooty whisper. Don't go and buy a big parrot on an arm, as the children are more likely to expect it to talk, in my opinion anyway.

A local guy who does children's parties always takes a bag of ready made balloon models to hand out in case the time allowed isn't enough to give all the kids a model. He always finishes them off by drawing the eyes and mouth features and The classic Blue Peter line of 'and here's one I made earlier' works very well at this point!

Thanks for all your help guys, I quite fancy adding a puppet to my act, I used to use one a long time ago, but can't for the life of me find it. I'll certainly have a look at the Practical Magic doggie.

Thanks,

Sandy

I did a short magic act as part of a kids party (over 40 of them) not so long ago. The way we worked it was to entertain the kids for 2 hours, and the general format was something like this:

1) 10-15 minutes, Kids arrive, some music playing with an open space for them to meet/greet/dance - and a table along the side with pictures and colouring pencils for the shy ones.

2) 30-40 minutes Party games - "Musical Spots" (musical chairs but with coloured paper spots cut into circles), Hockey Coaky and other party games that get them up and moving. Winners got prizes (pencils, rubbers, key rings etc). People who were out went and coloured till the next game. There were lots of sad faces (awww).

3) 20-30 mins Food - did my walk around "vanishing act" (yum).

3) 15-20 minutes magic, got them sitting down for some rope tricks using the birthday girls as assistants.

4) 15-20 minutes, pass the parcel - though we had 3 circles each with a cuddy toy instead. Winners got prizes, last winner got the toy!

5) Disco till parents rescued us - which was great cos we could start clearing the hall making the area bigger, and taking down the balloons filling the room with things for kids to jump on!

I'm afraid that music is a must at these things ... but we got by with a couple of cheap speakers and an ipod! If you had the budget for a microphone, I'm sure you could get your own X-Factor going and a Simon (C)Owl puppet telling them they're rubbish!

The thing I found out from this is that kids need very little to entertain themselves. Far from the highlight of the party - my rope magic wasn't greatly received and I found they reacted more to the birthday girls fooling around with the rope than me sliding and pulling knots off the thing. However the favourite Professor's nightmare was a killer as I had one birthday girl pulling on three ends while I held the others. Someone called out that the ropes were elastic - which the birthday girl replied "no their not" looking very perplexed.

Good Luck!

Which do people think is better

- The puppet dog?
- Rocky Racoon?
- Other one?

What would you say is the most popular effect you perform at a children’s party?

Thanks every one

I can tell you from experience that Rocky Raccoon is always VERY popular, and goes down a treat with the kids (and adults alike). Everyone loves Rocky.

In saying that, I've never used the dog arm puppet, so I couldn't comment on the other one.

PS what about - Robbie Racoon, http://www.prudhoemagic.co.uk/product_i ... 1sggilpv04