talkmagic.co.uk

Taneous - 3 shows in 1 day is alot of work - Well done!!

Balloon Swords are VERY popular (and quick + easy) - but can cause havock for the people who are holding the party. Imagine 25 kids running around attacking each other - great fun for the kids but maybe not so great for the gig paying parents (some will love it but some won't).

I always talk about the ballons with the parents when i am confirming the booking. I charge extra for the balloons and give the parents a choice of designs eg. hats / animals / laser guns etc. That way the customer decides what is given out at the end and the children don't know any different.

One magician i know has made a brochure with the different designs he can make and different prices depending upon the number of balloons used. A large / attractive balloon sculpture is a great photo opportunity and something everyone will remember.

Thanks - that's good advice. I wouldn't mind one bit if I didn't do any balloons at all cos it always seems like such chaos - but the pre-made balloons are a nice idea - as well as arranging before hand with the parents. I quoted a price per balloon, but at the end I couldn't remember how many I'd done. Some also popped and to save tears I made more.

Mr squishy def. made an appearance - all through the show. What was cool was when I did the jumbo square part of the routine, this 13 year old in the audience gasped out loud "How did you do that".
I'm busy working on my Mr Squishy birthday card and I'll post it to the kid's from this past weekend. I'm also thinking of ways to make my act a bit more professional - like putting together a costume. I'm also working on a couple more kid's routines for my show and trying to come up with ways of packing so that I have minimum prep needed when I get to the venue.

I've decided to not be a clown in my kid's show - but I think a lot of my stuff is clown related - the way things go wrong etc. and the kids seem to love that. So I've built a bit of a story around that:

When you graduate from clown school you need to pick your nose. That's very important - cos you really don't want to pick the wrong nose. So once upon a time when I left clown school I went to the nose shop and I was picking my nose I found a nose that looked really good. I asked him his name and he told me it was Mr Squishy. But when I tried to put him on he wasn't there anymore - but was in my pocket. I realised I'd picked a nose that could do magic! - So I quit being a clown and decided to try and do magic... etc.
I'll see if it works...

I know this is a bit late in the day but congrats on getting the paid gigs and well done on surviving them - kids events as well!

I saw quite few balloon modellers last week in Spain and they all had a stock of swords to dish out - there were short and well as long ones so the little kids could carry them easily. One guy did a great range of cartoon figures - Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck etc and all were in the right colour balloons so they looked almost like the real thing. He was selling them but I never got chance to see how much they cost.

Anyway, once again well done and I hope it leads to more paid work for you!