Congratulations lierke, I am happy for you. Working with someone face to face is easier; however, that doesn't mean we can't help you when you have questions.

Gentlemen, may I please request that we all try to get over the earlier posts and concentrate on helping lierke? I think we would all appreciate it and it would be to everyone's benefit. Thank you! ^_^

Well, I think a few of us already 'are/have been' helping him and it seems he's been moving in a positive way as of late.

And by all means he should keep in contact with us at Penguin since there are many seasoned performers here. Especially since he's mentioned that he won't meet this certain magician until the summer.

That's great.

You had mentioned 5-10 was the age. If you have any idea, can you let us know how many people you expect will be in attendance? This could determine on what type of tricks to aim for among other things.

Also, check the first page of this thread when you started it up, there is some good info there such as some books to get, could make for some good spring/summer reading.

the group would be 20-30 max people, I know my character, I will relate a lot of things to animals, the only card trick I plan on doing is my acr, ofcource incorprating animals in the routine, I will use d'lites, hippity hop rabbits, appearing cane, color silk blendo, tumb tip, change bag, streamers etc.

Well, trick wise, you seem ready. You probably don't need anything else.

It seems good that you've created an animal theme and you have a character. I would say to work on the presentation from this point onward so that you could make your theme interesting for the whole show. How long is your show?

My show is 30-40 min long, because I don't want to get them to get offtask, and loose them, because then I failed my job, as I will do this more often my show might get longer.

lierke

30-40 minutes is actually the best time for a kids show and I'm certain most/all others here will agree with that. More than 40 minutes and the kids can become restless from sitting so long.

Some have 60 minute shows but the show itself is usually only 30-40 minutes and then after, it's usually balloon making time (if the performer does that).

But your 30-40 minutes is perfect.

ok thanks, I can't do balloon making, maybe something for the future, now I need to focus on my magic, which is still the primary objective, I will do sponge balls, because it's fun to perform, and it gets the kids envolved.

I don't perform ballon making either.

Sponge balls would be great for your crowd. I perform one sponge ball routine and it never fails to please. You mentioned an appearing cane, this would be good for a quick flashy trick, perhaps to start your show off (depending on how you plan to start your show). And Hippity Hop Rabbits could be ggod to. Since you said you're aiming for an animal theme, David Ginn has an excellent anilmal effect or two, I'll PM you the info later today.

Okay Timmy!
This requests screams of please let me steal a show by summer. Not one word of "I'll work hard on getting my own show."
I wasn't wrong in my first observation of his statement and I'm really sure now after reading it a few more times that it was exactly as I thought it was.
I haven't read one word from his sympathizers that made any sense what so ever to justify his demands. He wasn't asking for a mentor or 'some' help he specifically ask for a show.
How many times have we seen this and the person's show was a disaster. Some kids party was a total bust because some kid thought he was a magician an entertainer.
I will at every chance try to turn these types of people away because I have respect for what we do and what we have to do to get there. This kid will never put that time into it.
Like the others, he'll go back to the off topic section and feed off of each other there.
If lierke REALLY wants to learn to be a Kid show performer I would be more than happy to Pm him and get him the info needed to start him in that direction.
But the way he requested it the first time was a slap in the face to us all that really does this a lot.
Some of his supporters I doubt has done a handful themselves so THEY don't understand what it really takes.
Sorry for not responding sooner but like I said before these are the ones that have chased a lot of performers off this site.

Yup thats what I do as of now... Then out coem teh balloons very true.

Sneak,
That's ideal for the actual magic show and like you said the extra time is for Balloons/face painting.
A lot of folks won't do the balloons/face painting which is fine. I'll take the extra shows.

When my daughter first started doing magic she limited her birthday magic shows to just 15 minutes of magic. It is amazing how much longer 15 minutes will feel like when you are in front of a bunch of kids. Now 15 minutes of magic, can also stretch out once you are interacting with the kids. Once she was really comfortable with doing shows she stretched her show to 30 minutes.

The opposite is also true of stage magic, at least in our experience. When performing on stage you have a natural tendency to go faster than in rehearsal (its called nerves) so your shown needs to be a little longer.

Sluggo, I would love to learn face painting (when I find the time) to be of assistance and offer an extra service for my daughter's birthday shows. Any suggested reading and are there any types of materials you prefer to work with/and why?

Kristen, call me and speak to Ruthie about the face painting. she is an internationally known painter and will put you in contact with some painters in your area to help you. See our site for her work.

Paddy

Kristenl,
I'm at work today, when I get home tomorrow I'll get the name of a really good book on face painting that I have.
It is a really good extra to offer.
Ruthie is a very good face painter, she actually face painted Brent several years ago at a restaurant as Paddy and I shot the bull.
I'm not sure if Paddy remembers it, the place was in Milford.