We use a small material hamper that folds down to nothing and fits in her Lefler table then just "pops" up when she needs it.

Isn't it amazing how you go through stores now and look at EVERYTHING differently and how you can use it to your advantage in magic? It just amazes me! We are always walking around and one of us will point to something and say, "Hey, wouldn't that be great for....."

Once you spark your imagination you will find it actually hard to stop





reason for edit: added quote tag that was previously missing from post to make it easier to read.[/quote]

No kidding!
Let me ask you this. Why should we who have bought material to help us know what to do, who has watched DVD's that help us know what to do and have attended Conventions on family entertainment and have spent months putting a show together- GIVE you our show!
You don't have a product to offer, why did you accept to do it. If someone ask you to over haul an engine would you have accepted that too?
You are headed for disaster! You are too lazy to put in the time to put a show together why should we give you our show.
People like you gives us who puts in the time a bad name. You are a hack trying to get money for nothing.
Sorry pal you are the worst enemy of real Children entertainers. If you think advice on good kid show material will help you put a good show together, you are sadly mistaken.
Put in the time or just go away.

Hey Sluggo, don't hold back like that. You can tell us how you really feel.

Sluggo has a good point, lierke. You admitted being a newbie and now you are going into the hardest venue for entertainers, kid's shows. Kids will rip you a new one if you aren't GREAT at entertaining. Those of us that make our living at kid's shows have, like Sluggo said, put in a LOT of HARD work learning and writing our act. We have spent thousands of dollars on books, videos, conventions, get togethers with other magi. we have all put in hours practicing then more hours rehearsing our acts. We have more hours yet attending our local (in some cases not so local) ring and assembly meetings.

And we have each and every one of us heard from a parent the immortal words: "we saw a magician at a party and he was so bad we will never have another one, can you do face painting instead?" Hope you can understand Sluggo's comments and hope you don't even think of do a kids show until you have paid the dues that Sluggo and others have.

Paddy

ok...................... back up a minute here people. Before we string this guy up......

How many "5-10 year olds" are you talking about. You said stage show. That makes us think you are talking about a lot of kids. In that case, yeah, I'd say you are in WAY over your head. Is it a party or are you the primary entertainment for a large group? I do agree with sluggo and paddy on one front, it would be better to do no magic at all rather than bad magic. That being said, everyone has to start somewhere. So how many people are you expected to entertain, for how long, under what circumstances. I'm not going to jump all over you like these other guys, but you do sound like you might be in over your head. Give us a few more details, maybe I can help you.

Ted

I don't care if it's for four kids, they deserve to have the best show for the money their Parents have shelled out.
Tedricpancoast, you cannot believe how many times over the years these kinds of people have come on here wanting us to do their work for them. After the show we have 100% failure rate. You don't accept to perform a show that you know nothing about.
They think that because it's for kids it can't be that hard. That's BS!
If you took your car in to get a tune up would you want someone who has worked hard to learn how to do it or a hack that will have to get on the internet to find out how to do it????
No difference! These are the people that ruin this craft and I no longer have the patience to listen to their whinny pleas.
I have traveled all over the U.S. to attend Conventions on the art of entertaining Children and these kinds of people I have no patience with what so ever.
NEVER ever accept to do a show to entertain if you haven't spent many hours researching and practicing. I am trying to keep this hack from making a total moron out himself.
Any real professional wouldn't give him one word of advice under these circumstances.
Now there have been people come on here and ask for help the right way. I.E. I'd like to get into kid shows where and how do I get started. I will trip over my feet to help this person and have on many occasions.
He wants us to give him a show, it has NOTHING to do with the best magic tricks..it's the presentation. Give me a plunger and a roll of toilet paper and I'll put a heck of a show on for you. It's not the gimmicks it's the entertainer that makes the show.
Most of the advice he will get on here are from people as experienced as he isn't.
I do not apologize for being so crass on the issue because he is the type that really gives all of us a bad rep.
These kinds of posts are the reason many of us don't get on here much anymore.

just to tell you guys it's not for a big group more like 10-20 people, who pay 1 euro not for only magic but for a variety of other things, and I'm performing for free, and just if you're wondering I have said I would think about it, and that's why I posted here. I understand sluggo's reaction but everyone has to start somewhere, or in a few years no one will perform for kids anymore because of people like sulggo who discourage them to do everything.

lierke, please look at my post and read the last paragraph. Sluggo is not discouraging anyone he is encouraging you to do things the RIGHT WAY! We need PERFORMERS that do kid's shows, we do not need people that do tricks for kids. Yes there is a difference. The only people that do tricks are dogs and prostitutes.

You are doing tricks for free but that makes no difference. Those kids DESERVE to see magic performed and be entertained by a performer. Don't give magicians a bad name, turn down the job.

yes ok that's fine, all I'm asking here is how do I start I know it will take a lot of time maybe years but how do I become a children's performer?

Wow, you are a collossal #$(%^!

The guy came looking for advice. You can do it without being disparaging. It's people like you that give magicians a bad name. Grow up.

Hi tbwent,

I know Sluggo-- he is anything but an "#$(%^! ". He WILL go out of his way to help someone IF they want to go about it the right way. As he has said, a lot of the professional magicians get frustrated and don't come on here just because everyone wants to do a show before they know what a show is, have a show, or know the first thing about crowd control.

I do agree that everyone needs to start somewhere. If that weren't the case, my daughter wouldn't be doing magic today. The only difference is that before she ever took a job, she had a show. That is all the guys are trying to express here and what I tried to politely suggest up above. Postpone the gig for now-- put together a show--learn it, learn to be a performer, then go out and get the job.

As in all things there is a certain order to things in life-- shortcuts never benefit anyone. Not the magician, and certainly not the kids.

I am one of the biggest advocates of kids. I truly believe they are tomorrow's future, but to be tomorrow's leaders, they must first learn today.

lierke, I still wish you all the best. I hope you do decide to postpone your show and do some learning first. I am sure you will find a lot of magicians willing to help you if you want to put in the time.

Just to give you an idea-- it takes us anywhere from 6 months to a year to put together a new show for our daughter. That is for us to come up with the concept, script it, rehearse it, video tape it, dress rehearse it, until it is finally released to the public. Now, the long time professionals on here will do this much faster, but that is years of experience. Remember, you want a long standing reputation (a good one) and each performance will contribute to this.

~ Kristen ^_^

Someone must teach you the best way to over haul an engine, even though you might have the book (or DVD) knowledge. They are called teachers or even mentors and that's all lierke was asking for.

You can't always say no to a job offfer, because you don't know if you are ready. How will ever know if you are ready. When I study for my exams, I make a booking to go write it. I hope and pray I am ready, and even before the exam I still ask questions, just to amke sure and get that assurance I need.

lierke, I can't give you any advice seeing that I do not plan on performing for kids, but you have some good info here. Use the constructive criticism and ignore the "bashing"!

The answers to that question are already in this thread. Reference material has been listed... general guidelines provided. Go back and copy them all down and go to it.

Here are a few more things to think about:

To become a children's entertainer, you have to do two things:

1) Become an entertainer, period.

2) Understand children.

You don't necessarily have to do them in that order, but you do have to do both.

Regardless of the type of children's entertainment you choose to do, whether it's magic or music or storytelling or balloon sculpture, you have to be very good at it. Master your craft.

Regardless of the audience you want to perform for, whether it's children or adults or teenagers or drunken Shriners, you have to fully understand your audience -- how to relate to them and how to most effectively perform your craft, whatever it may be, for that audience.

There you go. That's it. Easy to write... not easy to do. But if you do it right, you are almost certain to do it well.

If you don't do it right, you will humiliate yourself, disappoint the kids, anger the client, and put another nail in the coffin of children's magic.

It's easier and more comforting to be hugged by amateurs than to be disciplined by professionals, but one will get you work and the other won't. It's all up to you.

Good luck!

You know you are not ready for a show when you don't have a show. I think that is the point the guys are trying to make. I know these guys and they would be the first to help and mentor someone who asked for help. I don't mean this unkindly but it didn't seem as if the poster was asking for advice on how to improve his/her skills, improve his/her act, or "talk shop" like you would at your local assembly or ring. His/her first request came off as pretty much as "put together an act for me". For any skilled professional magician this is going to come off wrong-- and I can understand their feelings. They have spent years honing their skills, shows, and routines to just give that information away freely.

A mentor is someone that helps you to learn, not give you the answers. Ask the question "teach me" and you will find help. Ask for the easy way out and you won't get very far. Sometimes the best way to help someone is by making them answer their own question and then discussing that answer with them. Come up with a concept first, then ask these guys why they think it would work or why it wouldn't.

I hope you do not view this as bashing-- because it is far from it. And, if you knew the other magicians on here as I do, you'd know that they would be the first to help someone if the desire to "learn" was there.

Amen.

Lierke,

There is a vast wealth of information on here if you research some of the older post on how to put together kid shows, things to keep in mind, how to script, what works best for different age groups, etc.

I think that if you do some of this research and then ask some questions you will find people are more than willing to help.

I know it may seem as if we are being tough-- but it really is to your benefit to help you learn. Read first, then ask some questions.

~ Kristen ^_^