hi im piccalily from the uk ive done classes in balloon modelling and face painting which are fine have brought magic tricks to do but i can not get any information on putting a party act together is there anything out there that any one noes of thanks

I too would like some information on this. If anyone has any ideas, I would be very grateful.

If I understand the question, you'd like to know how any of us do parties. ?
Well depends on the type and Age for example. if its for Seniors I tend to bring in my medical bag and do a health screaning. and of course there are some "you remember when" type jokes. with magic put in around this.

Kid b-day, I start out briefly with magic finding the name of the birthday kid who will assist me. then while my assist [daughter] plays games to keep them active and burn off energy, I do the face painting, that way the kids are busy and not having to wait. then I do a brief comedy magic act. [depending on age of kids] end with balloons, while b-kid is getting his presents [so the other kids don't have to wait in line for their balloon.

hope this helps.

And a "magic act" is far more than just tricks strung together
end-to-end. It should flow from one to another. If you can
find tricks with a common theme, so much the better!

Look at your character -- are you a "clown who does magic"
or a "magical clown" -- there's a difference!

A clown who does magic would have and do a magic routine.
The clown would be a willing and conscious part of the magical
happenings -- the magician, if you will.

A magical clown would have random and unpredictable magical
"things" happen to them through the course of their gig. The
clown would be as surprised that this happened as the audience
would.

A good thing for clowns and magic is the "magician/clown in trouble
syndrome" where the clown tries to do one "something" in magic, but
props break (breakaway wand) or in lots of other ways the trick
backfires. Think mis-made flag or other routines where something
other than what is expected happens. You can always end up
with the "right" thing happening later in the act, and get out of trouble.

More stuff....

Presentation, Presentation, Presentation!!!

Remember that HOW you present something is the bit.

Stretch out the effect by using bits of "business" along the
way.

If you bring up a child assistant, ask them their name, then
say "good. I thought you forgot." Or "that's the right name
to pick!" Or something equally silly.

You can make a full production out of one balloon by stretching
it, and having it snap back and hit you in the face. (Actually,
keep the fingers open on the hand with the nozzle in your mouth
and it should hit your fingers.) The rest is acting!

Or, start to inflate a balloon at the wrong end. When the kids
holler turn it around, you turn it all the way around back to where
you started and try again. When they holler "the other way"
turn it all the way around the other way. Etc.

Learn to think like a clown -- not like a normal person would.

Ashes

More stuff -- references.

I found a good book a LONG time ago called "Be A Clown (http://www.amazon.com/Be-Clown-Complete-Instant-Clowning/dp/0894803476/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197787812&sr=8-1)" by Turk Pipkin
It appears to be still available from Amazon.com
Do a search at Amazon and you should come up with quite a few good reference
books on clowns and clowning.


Look, watch and study the masters. Lucille Ball, The Three Stooges, The
Marx Brothers, Red Skelton, Charlie Chaplin, Tim Conway, Carol Burnett, etc.
(Notice that most of these didn't rely on makeup at all, yet were comedy
greats!!!) Find all the DVD's you can with these folks and STUDY what they
do / did.

It's not about the makeup, the costume, the props! Sure, those help, but
you need to be able to entertain and communicate with your audience
just by your actions alone. I'm not saying you have to be a mime and not
talk. What I mean is that you need to be able to convey emotion and ideas
from your body language. Exaggerate and Animate!

Clowning exaggerates the human condition - when a clown is happy, it should
be an exaggerated happiness. When sad, it should be so sad that you have
to be scraped off the pavement. Extremes.

Hope these long posts contain something that helps you to form an "act"
for your parties. There's no formula here - instead I hope to give building
blocks that you can use to create your own character.

Ashes

This thread with the series of posts from Ashes was just too good to allow it to lanquish in the archives. I decided to revive it just because the information is so "spot on."

I let my customers build their party. They are the ones who decide what they want ... whether it's face painting, balloons (simple ones), games, etc. I send them a sheet ahead of time and they fill it out and return back to me in a self-addressed, stamped envelope that I send to them. This sheet also has all the information I need, such as directions to the party, phone number, name of the birthday person, etc. I use NCR paper, and I send them two copies, and keep one copy. Then, they return one copy back to me, filled out, and keep a copy for themselves.

Wow! I use email and a booking sheet that I fill out as I talk to the client over the phone. I not only ask for directions but I also use Rand McNally as a backup. Not every parent knows how to give directions to their own home. Do you actually have the majority of clients take the time to fill out your sheet and return it? I did not have that much luck and that is in part why I transitioned to the emails.

Yes they all do. And when they return it to me, they include a deposit. I don't have any problems at all; it's a great tool for me. What works for me may not work for someone else, but I have to have explicit directions to the place of the party, because I'm directionally challenged and could easily get confused in my own garage.

Here is my 2 cents worth:

1. Jumbo props such as scissors, comb, toothbrush, etc work very well.

2. You can buy magic tricks that aren't difficult to use and aren't expensive.

3. When I make balloons, I offer a choice of sword, hat, dog, bear, and flower. In other words, you don't have to make fancy balloons. Usually the birthday child gets a fancier balloon.

4. Juggling is a lot of fun and children love it when you drop whatever you are juggling.

5. The best prop you will ever use is yourself!

Darrell

My party starts out with about a 3o minute juggling show. I work my way up from one ball to 3 balls, then clubs, diabolo, rings and lastly cigar boxes. I then go into a little bit of card magic (which I do for all ages and it seems to work). After that I have the birthday kid come up and I make him/her all of the balloons they can hold. I then make all of the other kids a mouse with a business card in its mouth.

Some things I would suggest for a juggling show is to start off small. Talk about how you are an amazing juggler and then pull out one ball and do underthe leg, behind the back and other "advanced" tricks with it. Make sure to drop frequently as it is always funny.

The most imposrtant part of my show(and any show) is patter. You want to make sure that if you are not comfortable doing improv for you patter, write it down and memorize. I tend to just fly by the seat of my pants making mental notes as to what works and what bombs.