talkmagic.co.uk

Hi Guys,

I've started looking at getting into Kids parties but I wanted to get some advice. I'm 25 and quite light spoken, often if I say to someone "how old do you think I am" I get a response of about 22.

So my first question is, is 25 a suitable age to be doing kids parties or should a magician be older / deeper spoken for the whole "authoritative" figure when trying to control the kids from jumping up and down?

Next question would be - Do you guys have another person there to tell them all to stay sitting down and metaphorically "control" them?

Final question what is the going time frame and fee for a kids party these days?

I appieciate there may very well be a dvd on this, in which case I'm all ears for recommendations. At the moment I'm just looking at this as a possibility. When I'm working restaurants and bars I get tons of people saying "oh do you do kids parties" seems such a waste not to add this to the events list.

Cheers in advance
JJ.24

Good luck!

I used to do kids parties many years ago. Not any longer thank goodness. Some people will swear that doing kids parties is a wonderful experience, but I hated it. Horrible kids with bad manners physically attacking me while their chav parents sit at the back of the room laughing and swigging on Tennents Extra. But enough about last Christmas Day.

Really, good luck with it. My experience is that it is very hard work, kids aged over 6 are a nightmare, and you can often feel like a glorified baby sitter.

Proper advice is: get a contract, make sure the parents know exactly what they're getting, make sure the parents understand exactly what you expect of them, and never, ever lose your temper. That'll just make them assault you even more. They can smell fear.

Timescale for me was: 30 minutes magic, 30 minutes balloon models, once they're sat down for their "party tea" get the money and leg it.

Enjoy.

Also - you'll need to look into the whole CRB checking things. Kids parties aren't something I do but I've heard a lot about the (increased?) requirements for police checks for anyone who'll be working with children or vulnerable adults...

I'm sure there'll be lots of other people here with better advice from (bitter!) experience!

Oh wow LOL that bad huh?

Luckily I sorted out the CRB checks as I do a lot of work with the Police at fundraisers and community awareness events.

I thought kids may be tough work but with the thoughts of "how hard could it actually be for 45mins to an hour"... It's definately one to think on I expect, or construct an act for a little money as possible and give it a go and then if it's a nightmare leave that area alone

Cheers so far
JJ

The ruling on being registered to work with young or the vunerable has recently been ammended. Your CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check will help speed thing along but is not the same as being registered! Ask your local community police officer for advice on registering.
Mark Leveridge (amongst many others) has written some nice work on childerens magic.

Performing for children is not easy money!!!! - you will get asked do you do kids parties a lot because that is the recognised norm where they have 'seen' a magician. I just got used to politley saying no.

You have to remember "simple" things like a pick a card trick is a no go - they might forget the card, too young to sign there name etc. Big colours solid and simple story lines and lots of panto (if thats your style) is what most kids love, it is a whole different world where audience managment takes on a whole new life!

Sorry if I'm ranting but a good childrens entertainer is worth their weight in gold but soooooo many young performers (not age related) think that crossing over will be easy [money]. It's not.

If its where you feel your career is moving towards then brilliant! Go for it! You have my full support. But please heed the warnings from myself and others here.
If a lot of your close up audiences started asking "Oh do you put your head in a fire as well" woud you suddenly move in that direction?
Do it because it's where you feel your career is taking you and your happy to go there.
And if it is - go buy a rabbit that fits in your top hat

I've only been getting work as a magician for about a year. However in the five years prior to this I have studied Playwork (child psychology, sociology) worked at four adventure playgrounds, and looked after groups of 30 kids age 8 to 13 while camping for two weeks (real camping absolutely no electricity or plumbing) . So while people who disagree with what I'm about to say may point to my inexperience as a magician, I don't think anyone can dispute that I know children, and I've come up with a few rules when performing to them.
1. Don't be patronising. If you can't talk to kids the same way you talk to adults then don't bother.

2. If the children are ten or under play the fool. Remember that to kids adults are the bad guys, they love to see us fail any trick where they win and you loose is a winner. If the kids are over ten you risk becoming patronising if you try this.

Okay, here's my perspective on the subject:

Kids are the most honest (and most brutal) critics you will ever have.

While adults will often smile politely and quietly pray for you to go away if they're not interested in your work, disinterested kids will just wander off.

On the other hand, children really want to be involved in magic shows. And that gives you a head start over the grown-ups, who can need a bit of 'talking round'.

The big caveat is that the stars of any kids' show must be the kids themselves. Nobody likes to watch a grown-up showing off (and that applies to adult audiences too!). But fail miserably in your magic, only to give your pint-sized helper the big ta-dah moment, and you'll win the whole crowd - kids and grown ups alike.

Kids' shows are very hard work, but I do them, and enjoy them.

They've also taught me a shedload about performance that I wouldn't have learned elsewhere.

Kids stay tuned-in to my 45-minute show because it actively involves them.

Children will take you off-script at every possible opportunity. Your job as a kids' entertainer isn't just to get back to the trick, it's to make the most of every detour they throw at you and squeeze all the entertainment value possible from it.

In many ways, I find kids' magic shows similar to working in drunken comedy clubs. The big difference is that (unlike drunken eejits) kids aren't competing with you - they're just joining in on their terms.

So, no... we don't come along with security teams to keep the kids in line. Crowd control has to be an integral part of the performance, in the same way that misdirection is worked into your patter and manerisms in close-up magic.

Unlike many other kids' magicians, I never start a show by going through a list of rules. This is a birthday party - not a classroom. Kids don't want you to put up bounderies. And besides, it's a natural instinct in kids to push boundaries to the limit. So when it's thirty of them against your imaginary line on the ground, you might as well pack up and go home...

Laying down rules for a kids show is like giving your audience a list of all your weaknesses, along with instuctions of how to make you suffer. Don't go there.

If, however, you begin at the outset by allowing them to shout and yell (on your terms)... make it clear that they're allowed to have fun... and let them see that you're clumsier and more idiotic than they are, they'll give you a chance.

Hope all that makes sense,

Pete

jj.24 wrote:So my first question is, is 25 a suitable age to be doing kids parties or should a magician be older / deeper spoken for the whole "authoritative" figure when trying to control the kids from jumping up and down?

No. I used to do a few parties when I saw still a schoolboy. I was probably 12 and the children where probably about 6. I think it's hard for them to tell the difference between some 12 year olds and any other adult. That's my experience, anyway.

I think your use of the word 'control' is rather optimistic, though

Oh, and to follow on from Jean's post, I fully agree that you should never patronise children of any age.

And if you're asked to do a show for kids 9, 10 or above, go along with the act you'd normally do for grown-ups (providing there's nothing rude, suggestive, dangerous, irresponsible or scary in your repertoire).

I did a ten-year-old's party last week. The parents specifically asked for my comedy club mindreading show, being concerned that a more typical magic show would be seen (by the kids) as being too childish. It was an absolute blast. The kids were brilliant - largely because they'd never seen anything like this type of magic before. They soon realised that they wouldn't be able to reverse-engineer the effects, so they quickly settled down to enjoy it.

Pete

My computers s*** and limits my text so this has to be in two parts.

3. Keep the tricks short 3 to 5 minuets maximum. However keep in mind this is because kids get distracted or bored easily, it is not because they're stupid. Do not asume they are or you will be eaten alive.

4. Plan but don't over plan, know what your going to do or say for each trick but don't have a full working script, you never know what parts you might have to drop and you can never guarantee audience co-operation.

5. Mentalism doesn't work. This isn't entirely true, I've done a few mentalism effects that worked quite well, but they've all got more of a bizzarist feel to them anyway If you do any mentalism or mental magic test it out first.

6. My most important rule that has never failed me FIRE. Whenever you can use fire for childrens magic, Even a normal fire is magical to kids. Now there are a few 'common sence' things to consider.
Coming up in the third part

Remember I told you about my experience with children, both camping and adventure playgrounds had kids roaming about semi supervised and big open campfires. Kids are not idiots when it comes to fire, they know it's dangerous and are usually more cautious and less drunk than adults.
However it's the adults you have to consider here, some will just not want fire in the house or near the children. One of the gigs I did I assumed was a residents house but was actually a restaurant I knew even though my only fire effent used flash paper there was no way it would be allowed. prepare to drop any fire trick you have no matter how safe.
No matter what you do fire magic or not things do go wrong, ask yourself what the worst case scenario is, if it involvs any injury drop it.

In case your wondering if fire magic is worth it my trick involved me having a gimmick up my sleeve. The gimmick got loose and ended up dangling from my cuff, the magic was destroyed. The kids didn't care they wanted more magic fire.

Final point (thank christ) Any magic that can be done in the kids hands is good something they KNOW is impossible.I once did crazy mans handcuffs to a six year old and he was unimpressed as it was obviously done with 'magic elastic bands'.

Also while fire magic is fine for ages nine or up (I'd say seven but you may not want to risk it) kids six or under haven't yet learned that fire is dangerous, seeing you handle fire and not get burned may have a negative impact.

As one who does mainly kids' shows, let me point out that they are probably the HARDEST thing you will ever do in magic.

Treat the kids as you would adults and they will treat you like an entertainer.

Call them "kids" or "boys and girls" or "guys" but NEVER call them "children"!!!!!

IF there was one bit of advice I could give, that would be it.

Kid shows are wonderful. You have to have the knack for it but if you do it will be the best kind of show you can possibly do.
And oddly enough the more lucrative in the long run because of the sheer quantities of such shows.

Incidentally UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you use fire in a kid
show. And I am including the hot book. I won't explain why since if I really need to do so then you shouldn't be doing kid shows in the first place.

The first thing that any would-be children's entertainer needs to do is purchase OPEN SESAME by Wilfrid Tyler and Eric Lewis. By all means ignore everything in the book (although some of it may be useful) but study the first chapter very carefully. It is the basis of the whole thing.

I well remember deciding to do kid shows. I went into a Chinese restaurant alone with that book. I had never done a kid show in my life. When I came out of that restaurant after reading the opening chapter I knew that I was a children's entertainer and I hadn't even done a show yet.

That opening chapter is pure gold.

I seem to remember that Dan Harlan has a very good DVD available on constructing an entire Kids Show... part of his 'packs small, plays big' range.

Might be worth a look.


Sean