With any give-away, check with the parents that giving away candy or balloons is ok beforehand.

That website offers some giveaways , but you can also make "color me up" Printouts like of a magician or clown make sure your name and number are on them , if you have the coloring book its perfect

Make them before the show, and produce them, just like you'd produce candy..maybe from a mirror box. That'll save time.

This could work:

Sphinx Magical Block

-Lake

Well I usally make make a stuffed animal apear with some silks , but i also do balloon animals . Your should llearn balloon animals very easy , packs huge! kids go crazy over them

what type of balloons are you using that "pack huge"? j/k

I give the birthday child a stuffed animal which they help me produce at the end of the show. Every other child leaves with an item too, it has my marketing information on it.
I will be adding goodie bags in 2008. These will have items from some of the sites that have been suggested as well as more of my marketing material. It is essential not to have every piece you give them be marketing but enough to have them remember your name.

Make paper orgami flowers for about 10 cents a piece.

Give out those rubber "Wonder Mouse" with IT attached. You can buy these from Fun Inc. In bulk cost around a 10 cents a piece.


or go to Oriental trading post and sell your own magic grab bags and party favors as an "add-on" to your shows (like a gold package deal or something) about 10-20 percent of your clients WILL buy this from you!

Fortune-Telling Fish...especially if you do an effect that uses one.

As others have said, though, why do you want to give away a piece of magic, especiallysomething that isn't personalized or useful as a marketing tool?

If your goal is just to "give something to the kids"... well... that's what your show is for. If you want something for them to remember you by, make a memorable show.

Alternatively, incorporate a trick into your show which gives something away. I triy to always leave the birthday child with something that has my name on it.

Also, I always give the parents a fridge magnet made out of my business card.

Thought I would bump this kewl thread and add;

The Dollar Tree stores in my area lately have been selling three types of magic card decks. They might make good gifts for the birthday child, depending. Couldn't hurt to keep a few on hand, giving them away as the circumstance/child fits. Not a good idea to give them out to all the children as favors since most of the children won't actually learn to use them even if one was to give an after show lesson.

In addition to the previous posts about candy; I don't recommend giving candy away. It's not memorable and the kids most likely will be getting plenty of sugar anyway.

Inflatable item ideas as give aways or props;
http://www.misskaties.com/cat_inflatables1.cfm

And yes, Oriental Trading is a great site for ordering gift bag items.

1. Balloon Animals!

2. Wired Pearl Poodle

3. Napkin Rose with your name stamped on them!

4. Color Page of you that you had made by someone local

5. Cheap roll up appearing wands.

My daughter gives away # 3, but ties a full color photo business card to them and #4. My daughter used a very talented artist who also does cartooning and it turned out awesome! However, we opted NOT to have any wording added to the original. Since we received it in digital format we can customize it with anything we want depending on the situation.

She also does a special giveaway just for the birthday child.

balloon animals are great to give away. I make a couple in advance before the show to give out once I'm done performing. and theres a magic shop in my town, not sure if you have one around your place. but you can buy really cheap magic wands for like 2 bucks and I give those out every now and then. maybe you can do that? or maybe you dont like that idea? i dont know but thats just me, hopefully you can find out what youd like to give out.