talkmagic.co.uk

I am looking for some good ideas for some giveaways for children shows and while performing close-up. Things that they will keep. Oh and things that are cheap!

Thanks for you help!

Brandon

What type(s) of magic will you be performing?

One possibility is to learn to do a little ballooning, ie make them a doggy each...

Practical magic do packs of mini wands, badges and certificates that might be of interest.

http://www.practical-magic.com/

Failing that, you could make up your own magician helper certificates with your contact details on there aswell.

Just saw that you said it was for childrens close up. Mini wands may be the way to go as they take up so little space in your pocket. I don't know if you would want to carry certificates about with you.

Failing that, you could make up your own magician helper certificates with your contact details on there aswell.

Great idea, love it.....

Roll them up with a little ribbon

Quite a lot of "big box" stores (walmart, target, etc. here in the states) have a party isle with streamers and what-not. They'll often have exactly what you're describing. I've seen mini 8 balls (maybe fun if you can work it into a mentalism routine), tiny decks of cards, even little magic tricks.

Also, adults have to be VERY careful when giving any kind of contact information to a minor. First thing is appearance - you don't want any hint that you're trying to get the little ones to contact you for any reason.

Further, it wouldn't very well to have one randomly stop by or even start calling - it can turn into quite a mess. Even if you're not around and they call you a bunch of times, that can show up on a phone bill which opens the door up for some very uncomfortable situations.

The badges are 2" diameter stickers.

£6.50 for 100
£18.00 for 300.

Mini wands

£1.50 for 25
££5.50 for 100

Follow the link I gave earlier. Click on childrens magic and these are on pages 5 and 6.

I gave been giving out signed photos as of late.....they cost me about $0.10 each when I get them printed in bundles of 100 so I simply got them made up from my new promotional photos...kids love them, they sit on the wall and my name is scripted "photoshop style insert" acroos the bottom so they serve a great promotional tool as well.

I have always had success with plain old signed playing cards....and have also been using poker chips for my holy moly....start out with a misers dream routine using chips...then move to holes in them and then holy moly...and then give them away at the end....when I get the good ones on sale they are good quality chips and cost about a penny each....so again simple and fun for them to take a chip home with a hole in it and the one lucky assistant takes home the double holed one!

I Guess it depend on what you consider "cheap".

For birthday parties, I make a balloon animal for every youngster there; the birthday boy or girl gets a multi-balloon hat, a "magic" birthday card, and a small magic trick that I pick up at the local dollar store for about a buck. As well, all volunteers get certificates, saying they are "official magician's assistants".
All in all, each show costs me about three dollars; quite a bargain when you consider what I charge!

Mark Leveridge does First Class Helper and I'm a Great Magician badges, which can be personalised. Kids love badges and stickers, don't they?

give them some magical items , thumbtips or some other cheap gimmick that may stir their intrest in magic

I gave away a few spongeballs at New Year but wouldn't really want to do that for too many kids or too often though.

Thanks for the help so far

Does anyone else have any ideas

Thanks,

Brandon

So far the following have been suggested:

Mini Wands
Badges
Stickers
Magicians Assistant Certificates
Balloon Models
Signed Photo
Signed Card
Mini pack of cards
Party shop products. ( I think these are the "goody bag" type of gifts )
Cheap Magic Tricks
Poker chips.

The only other thing I can think of is if you use a pen for signing cards, or even for the children to use as magic wands, you could get your name printed on these.
Apart from that, it seems quite a good list, especially as we have no idea on the amount you want to spend per item. There must be enough suggestions for you to look into it more yourself now surely?

The uk site 'magicbox' do nice 'appearing wand' give aways which are 50p each. I do some work in college balls and often give these away. They're quite fun too as they do pretty much appear out of nowhere.