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.......and man am I glad its over!!!!!!!!

My wife, divorce pending (only joking!!!), happily volunteered me to entertain the kids at the local "Teddy Bears Picnic".....40 of the little buggers!!!!!!

...WITH JUST ONE DAYS NOTICE!!!!!!

Now, as my profile suggests, I a hobbyist and anyone that sort of knows me knows that cards are my thing and NOT inflatable rabbits (and such like).

So I was totally at a loss as to what to do for these "charming" children...I was armed with a mental photography deck, and ID, a TT (and silk hanky), a pack of cards (obviously), a magic colouring book (which I THANK THE LORD FOR!!!!!!), 2 deelites (which I had to entertain my daughters anyway) and the casino chips that change colour(?)

So I tried my very best to skulk around in the corner and not be noticed when somebody wheels over their two kids and asks if I was the magician.

"Magician????.....I am not a magician!!!!....I can do a bit of magic if thats what you mean!!!"....

The two boys in question, maybe 6 and 8 years old were actually very polite...the only thing was they had seen the colouring book, they had seen the casino chips, they had seen the TT...so i was down to cards!! PHEW....metal photography deck worked a treat. ID didn't work so well because they knew that the one face down card WOULD be the card they had thought of. I eventually got them with a REALLY long ambitous card routine that pretended to use the one handed pass (ho ho)....by this time I was surrounded by about twenty kids and parents which was the SCARIEST TIME IN MY WHOLE LIFE!!!!....I now know what David Cassidy must have felt like (or the wombles).

Most of the kids were fine but there was two boys who were massive pains in the *rse...trying to get stuff out of my pockets, opening up the colouring book etc etc. In the end I had to get some of the parents to make a defensive shield around me!!!!! I managed to stumble my way through the "standard" stuff (TT etc...) without too many cuts and bruises.

When it had died down a bit it actually became fun....there was a couple of older kids there who were helping who had obviously been REALLY watching the card magic and gave me all kinds of bizzare explanations as to how the stuff was done. I hit them with a quick triumph, twisting the aces, daleys last trick and my "Black queen" routine which has a Peter Duffie trick tacked on the front , a variation on waving the aces in the middle and my prophecy move. The older ones loved it and couldn't offer any explanation.......smug mode!!!!!!!!!

Finally there was my eldest daughter and two little girls who had been watching from the sidelines. Out came the deelites and we talked about how difficult it is to catch fairies these days....amazingly they kept appearing under my daughters t-shirt so I gave them a "fairy" each to keep tight hold of. Their faces when they opened their hands and they had gone was a picture....they even said that they could feel them tickling in the palms of their hands before they flew away........awwwwwwww!

Anyway..........never again (well....maybe next year)

Well done - a baptism of fire or what?!

I particularly like the 'fairy'angle with the D'Lites - so often they're just lights which appear, get waved around a bit and then disappear but to give them a purpose like that is nothing short of brill!

Er, OK if I use the idea please? Pretty please?

of course you can...I dont hold copyright on the fairy kingdom. I just thought it would make more sense to two little girls...and having two daughters of my own I know you can't go wrong with fairies!

Ta! 'And the good fairy faded away until all that was left was a little light which no human can hold although many may try!'

Actually, there's another possibility in there if you angle it along the Harry Potter lines. 'Wizards can hold the light but Muggles can't'. Hmmmmm. OK, where's me pointy hat?

Can i just say that it seem to go really well, but i wouldnt ever produce things from underneath a childs t shirt. I know it says that you used your daughter for this, but what if someone didnt know that she was your daughter?

I hope this hasnt put you off kids magic, i was just giving you some constructive criticism

I appreciate your concern.....but I was very concious about it and very deliberate to introduce my daughter to the two girls and the parents that were left...I'm not as stupid as I look!

kids shows can be a nightmare thats why i suggest you carry your gear around in a cool bag with a zipper.
you can say stuff like a cool mage carrys cool trick around in a cool bag and i even have special cool fir so don't use regular fire you will get burnt and thats certainly not cool, get all the links or as billy crystal would say, did you see what i did there. .

the bag allows you to get one trick out at a time and stops prying eyes and little hands also you can hold it out in front of you and push your crowd back withought being accused of touching them.

i like to say as I'm easing them back, come on give yourselves some room or you wont be able to see the magic, also remember that its ok to pause if there getting to close and tell them to move back.
or to tell them that if they start grabbing you won't carry on because you have alreay been paid and can happily stand around and do nothing, if you havant got paid in advance for kids work then you are a bigger fool than i am and i wear a cape, a silly hat and everything.

Congratulations (as Cliff would say). I think you need a medal (and a large beer).

Most of the kids were fine but there was two boys who were massive pains in the *rse

only 2 out of 40, you know I reckon you got away lightly. Very lightly. In my limited experience of performing childrens magic I would say that crowd control is a huge part of it.

All in all though it sounds like they had fun, and that's the important part. For a first gig, thrown in at the deep end like that it sounds like you did very well.

Congratulations (as Cliff would say)
deja vu?

Wow - its scary enough being at a kids party never mind performing! Well done it sounds like it went very well.

Congratulations (as Cliff would say).

Also the Travelling Wilbury's