I am planning on putting together a one hour show for children birthdays. What tricks can you recommend?? I am losing to much money turning them down, please help.

First off, post in the right section. If you did so, then you'd find quite a few threads asking the same question as you just did. You would have found the information you needed, as it's only been asked a thousand times.

Second, you have to give us some information. Here's a list.

When is the show?
What age are the kids?
What effects do you already know?
What experience do you have?
Why do you think you can do a show like this?
How old are you?
Why are you doing the show?
What research have you done into children magic (what books do you have)?


Answer those questions, and I will give you the best help I can give you, and others will too. Don't give us any information, and you will get vague responses that won't help you out, and you will probably be told to cancel the show by the majority of people.

Try reading this thread
http://www.penguinmagic.com/discuss/vie ... sc&start=0

Don't make the same mistakes he did.
There's good advice in there. Please read the whole thing

First I am sorry if I posted this message in the wrong section (I really don't think is a big deal but to some people apparently this is very important). Second, if you read my post you will see that I never said that I have a gig (I don't), all I said is that I have lost opportunities because kids shows are not my area of expertise. Third I am 31 years old and I have been performing walkaround and restaurant magic for the last 16 years (even though I started at magic when I was seven year old), finally I just wanted to hear some suggestions for a show that can entertain both the five year old group as well as the ten year old group. That's all.

Just a little note before i answer your question, posting in the proper forum is VERY IMPORTANT, as it might help others with the same question to find the thread.

Ok, now for your question. First, there are countless threads on the same thing, go through the old pages and look at them, there's a ton of good advice. And second, as someone who has been in the business for a long time, you should know that you'll get much better information from books by experts on the subject than you will here. I can recommend David Ginn and Duane Laflin as I have a little of their material and it contains a lot of information. It's not much, but that should get you started.

First you asked about a one hour kid's show. WAAAAYY TOOOOO LOOOONG!!! With their attention span go for a good 30 minute show, any longer and you have some bored kids that will ruin a show for you.

If you want to entertain 5 yr olds and 10 yr olds, have 2 shows. If you aim for the young set the older kids get bored and if you go for the 10 yr olds the 5 yr olds get bored. Showmanship is a lot more important than the effects you do when dealing with kids. You can cover a mistake in an adult show but the kids will rip you into pieces if you screw up on a kid's show.

Only do kid shows if you WANT to do them and you LIKE kids...don't do it just for the money or you won't go far...think hard about it before you get in over your head.

Kyle just gave you the best piece of information you could have asked for--- its sage advice!

I am not calling you a liar or anything but i just find that hard to believe..

If you're starting out it's probably good advice as a 1 hour show might be biting off more than you can chew.

If you're an experienced entertainer and the kids are getting bored after half an hour, I'd have a serious look at your show.

A 1 hour show is pretty standard in the UK. I do a 50 minute show as I found that was a good length for what I do. Sometimes a booker requests an hour and I have no problems extending it to that length.

George

George

I don't work an hour long show, more towards the 30-40 minute mark, but I have watched some magic shows at an hours length and while some failed, some did indeed work real well. It really is about how you present yourself and your magic.

Kids can be enteratined for an hour, just make sure you have an hours of entertainment.