First Kids Party

A day after deciding that I wanted to go pro with the magic I received two offers of gigs. Both of these were for kids parties. Untrodden ground for me, whilst I have performed for kids at the festival children's parties are a different mater. When strolling around the festival I perform many sets of 5 minutes of magic to each small group of kids I come across. However at a kids party I have to perform for the entire length of the gig to he same group of kids.The party was for a 12 year old boy's birthday and his mother requested I turn up waistcoated and top hatted.  I decided to play it safe and offer my services for 40 minutes or so. My plan was to split the set into some gambling cheating tricks (teaching the group about the perils of gambling) and then my rapport and mentalism effects. I was then planing to close the show with Darren Gooding's fantastic Lazar card reveal that we used in Wivenhoe Funny Farm.


  I researched performing for children with David Kaye's "Seriously Silly". In this seminal work the worlds most successful children's magician explains how to perform to each age group. He warns that at 12 children are very confrontational and will often assume they know how a trick is done. EVEN WHEN THEY DON'T. I opened up with a quick colour change silk. My plan was to treat them as adults BUT to use a childrens effect to grab their attention first.  This effect uses no TT but they KNEW I had a TT just a very good near invisible one. Then one tried grabbing my hand to check. I let him knowing my hand was 'clean' and remembered the warning that all children will grab your props regardless of what their parents say. With this in mind I launched into my gambling routine linking Four Site, Big Deal and Aces High. This wen down very well. I then tried to use my rapport deck. However one lad  wanted to shuffle it, hence ruining the chance to use it for Out of this World. I had a choice,  be a meany and not letting him shuffle, and showing the deck was rigged, OR letting him and leaving the effects behind. I let him shuffle, deciding to switch tack and use other tricks such as Card In Hand. I continued holding court, keeping the boys interested and engaged. I finished with the lazer reveal rick. The  boys loved getting dressed up in the steampunk "safety  gear". The Mum took plenty of pics for their parents.


After the show I discovered I had worked for 1 hour and 40  minutes. The mum was thrilled with my performance and asked for business cards to hand out. So what was learnt. KISS Keep It Simple Stupid! I need to ensure the effects are 'tamper proof' and don't need so much stacking. Also that i have MORE than enough material and even though I don't need it and can wittle down what I plan o use, having the bank of effects means I can often get myself out of trouble. I have a good rapport with kids and they like the fact I don't take myself too serously and let myself be made fun of. And finally kids LOVE playing with props like my hat and goggles and they are often just as keen to show you a trick as you are to show them. I just hope everyone else has as much fun as me. According to their mum they did :)