In the early 1990's a Grade 3 teacher brought a cake to her students for a class party. A little girl ate a piece and exclaimed,"Oh no! and died within second. The poor teacher was devastated as were we, her friends. Later that same year a pretty, clever, second university student died at the head table of a wedding at which she was a bridesmaid because the wedding cake had a peanut paste. Not long after a young man collapsed because a hot "pie" from a well known fast food chain had nuts in it.
Folks, the first two happened on my watch. Zip ahead two or three years and up to the present where students and teachers at my school could not even have peanuts on their breath because a young lad had a huge chance of contacting anaphylaxis. He carried an epi -pen(mini-injector)at all times.
Folks, I have not wanted to write this warning but it is about something so fast..so deadly that I suggest one never introduce nut substances to children.
Ron0

Or you could just check ahead of time with the parents to see if the kid was allergic to anything. You can be allergic to pretty much everything, so no matter what you give a child, you run the risk of them having an allergic reaction. Just check with the parents first that it's ok to give the sandwich out, and I'm sure everything will be fine.

Who's advocating feeding kids at a magic show? There's your first mistake right there.

If you're talking about using the PB&J trick, there's no need to have real peanut butter or jelly.

Nice warning, but not really relevant to this forum.

never give kids anything to eat. Why risk a child having a reaction or choking.

As far as asking the parent if their child has allergies that will not cover you at all. For instance some individuals such as my ex have such severe allergies that even the smell of something can make them have a reaction. Don’t produce the sandwich and for that matter don’t produce any food item. Spend the same amount of money and give the kids something they can keep with your info on it.

I am such aware of allergies that I tell a parent that if I bring my rabbit they should inform all parents of children attending that there may be live animals at the party.

Dave, I appreciate your help especially since you are a major performer from Las Vegas. I am certainly am not and realize one can not improve unless one's betters give guidance.
I apologize if I have gone beyond the boundaries of this forum. To help placate you I relay some of the magic directions I picked up in a quick scan on the Internet.
I like this trick ... I especially like____ 's routine where two slices of bread are placed in a bag, the bag held overhead by a youngster from the audience. When the magic happens and the jars supposedly pass invisibly through the air and trade places, they meet briefly in the middle and combine with the bread in the bag over the assistant's head to form a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Of course, the bag is opened to reveal a real peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
The Bonus Effect
As a special Penguins Only bonus, you'll receive an incredibly powerful routine that lets you take this effect to the next level...........

You show both sides of two pieces of bread and place them fairly and cleanly in a brown paper bag. A spectator holds the bag the entire time you're performing The Peanut Butter and Jelly Illusion, and at the end of the routine they open the bag to find the two pieces of bread have magically transformed into a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich!

then ______ takes two plain slices of white bread, puts them in the Magic Lunchbag, and they become - ! - a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, ready to eat!
Again, I'm sorry I upset you. Ron

I purchased the pb&j illusion from amazon and am sad not to find the trick involving the two loaves of empty bread seeming becoming a pb&j sandwich. Do you know how I could learn that? Or would I have to re-buy this trick from penguin?

Tks.

Are you actually confused about how to put the pieces of bread in a PAPER bag and CHANGE them all this happening in that same BAG?

But I ask why even think about doing this. You can get away with using the prop as you can say its not really peanut butter. If you produce the sandwich even if you use pea butter you can still ruin someone’s day. I would bet you would never get any repeat customers because of it.

The warning is totally relevant for the reasons that Glamourboy pointed out. The original routine uses real peanut butter but its not worth the risk.

I agree with Glamourboy when he says, "P & B Kills" But it kills with hilarious comedy, No peanut butter necessary.

Hi Glamourboy,
Yes I'm not sure how that's done. There are a few ways I can think of, but it doesn't seem to be practical. Just thought that this would really be a nice ending to the routine. Have to put it on hold for now I guess? Darn.

Kamal

Look again at what he said in ALL CAPS. The answer is right there. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. A couple of paper lunch sacks is all you need.

Tks Dave.

But with a paper change bag, if the person takes the 'jelly-ed' sandwich out, they would still feel that the paper bag is heavy right (because of the earlier sandwich that's still in)? So that might give it away.

I wouldn't suggest letting them handle any change bag.

Ok.

Tks for your advice Dave. I rougly understand how it can be done. I'll just go make a good paper change bag then. I reckon when the child holds the paper bag which they think has only 2 clean sandwiches (when it actually has 4), they won be suspicious about the weight of the bag (due to the extra 2 sandwiches). Just don't want any kid to say something like, "Why is the bag so heavy?" That's it!! Haha

Kamal

i really hope you use pea butter if you are set on doing this. There is a reason almost every daycare in north america has a no peanut policy.

This is a very interesting discussion.

I was considering using this trick. I've seen it presented well and I've seen it presented poorly, so I was up in the air.

It seems like this COULD be a major problem but;

Has anyone ever heard of a child dying at a magic show from the peanut butter and jelly trick? Really? Can't common sense handle this?

It seems like fear mongering to me. People where I live are always talking about cougars. Reality is only 1 person a year in the US is killed by cougars. If anyone can name even 1 case where a magician killed a kid doing this trick I might reconsider doing it but,

Reality is you are a heck of a lot more likely to hit someone in your CAR and kill children than you are doing that trick.

So I say,

Drive more carefully, keep entertaining children as you please.

Ted