The Next Step...

[Happy Chappy & Daisy]

Okay, I've absorbed everything I could about makeup, about costuming, about clowning in general...

I'm ready for busking and general clowning around.

What about birthday parties? That's really big around here - people spend more for children's parties around here than my folks spent on every birthday I had up to age 25 put together!
Do you just do balloons and improv (perhaps face painting, very common here), or do you have to have an "act" ready for the kids? What is involved in the actual party? (not the business end of it - I've got that part!)

[Happy Chappy & Daisy]

And I have checked out the "Party Clowning" section of the forum, but it seems to be assumed that you already know what to do. That's why I'm here in the "Newbie" section. Thanks.

[Hopper]

Well, everyone has their own MO. Mine's not really that unique. I do a 1 hour party, and set up for a 45 minute act/show and 15 minutes of balloon animals. (I'm not a painter.) This gives me some leeway. If there's more kids,,,or they have short attention spans, then I drop a routine or two and make the show shorter.

I would recommend the next step for you is to develop some routines. Go buy some standard magic props - the coloring book, the thumb tip, the change bag etc. None of this stuff is terribly expensive. See what you can dream up, and if you can't, there's usually a routine with the instructions to use as a starting point.

But if you're using the standards, prepare that the kids will say that they've seen it before...thats your chance to turn the tables - you act like you don't know what any of this stuff does and the kids have to walk you through it. (great area to learn to improvise.)

And soak up every goofy bit of business you see or can think of. Don't get stuck thinking that you only have to do magic. In fact, your best bet is to do half magic and half non-magic. (not counting balloon animals)

One of my funniest bits EVER (I'll give this one to ya for free) is when I tell the kids I'm gonna make this handful of popcorn disappear....

"cuz with those magicians you gotta decide which hand to watch...the one doing the holding or the one doing the waving. If you watch the one doing the holding then ...etc etc. Ok you know which one youre gonna watch? ok here goes. One. Two. Three...hey what's that over there?" (most of them will turn and look.)

And when they turn back around to me, the hand is empty, and I say, through an obvious mouthful of popcorn "And see, its totally gone!". The kids will say 'you ate it!" and I keep crunching popcorn and denying everything. And the grownups will laugh big too. (NEVER forget the grownups in the room) They were expecting magic - I gave them clowning. It's a great bit.

an aside: If you like that routine, but another clown says "but real clowns don't eat in costume", either tell them to get bent, or smile politely and do the routine anyway.

But, take the time to play. Its amazing what you can come up with just fooling around with a paper lunch sack. Or a standard round balloon. Or a tv tray/table. (gotta set your tickle trunk on something.) Let yourself play and you'll find out stuff you'd never considered. You'll find that before too long, you'll have more than enough to keep the folks entertained. Treat it all as a body of work, and write everything down. The more material you have, the more situations you can cover.

Having said all that, prepare that you WILL crash and burn a few times when you're just starting out. I don't like to scare you, but bombing is part of the game. It will ultimately make you better if you make the effort to learn from their reactions. Birthday parties are not for the faint of heart...each crowd is completely different from the last one. Sometimes they'll be great and hang on your every word, and sometimes they'll be so wired on Doritos and Coca Cola that you'll feel you have to set yourself on fire just to get their attention. (But please, resist the urge) Every party is different.

For this reason, I don't recommend charging a pro fee right off the bat. MAKE SURE you tell them your fee is so low because you are just getting your feet wet. Be up front and honest with your customers about that. The biggest thing is that you do not want your introductory fee to become any kind of standard...it will bite you later if that happens...not to mention the other clowns in town - undercutting is no way to make friends with the other clowns. So do a few for a low fee, but once you get confortable, measure it against what everyone else is charging, and try not to become known as the cheap guy.

Anyway, thats my ramble. Hope I've given you some points to consider.

Oh...Here's a bonus.

Three Things No Clown Should Ever Leave the House Without

1. Squeeker or some kind of "quieter" noisemaker. (have your big honker or whatever as well, but have something that won't become annoying once you're inside.)
2. A kazoo (8 for a buck at the dollar store)
3. Some sort of bubble blower. Bubbles are awesome for nervous kids...it allows you to interact with them without getting too close. You can ge the little wedding-style ones at the dollar store too...they'll fit right in your breast pocket. Or better yet, get one that goes around your neck.

[Fitzwilly]

When I am structuring a party (say one hour) I plan on roughly a half hour fun interactive magic show, and the remainder of the time making spectacular balloon creations (almost as good as Nettie's anemone.)

Designing a half hour show is really easier than it sounds, you just start by putting together a 45 minute show. How's that? That is in case you go faster than yu expect, something breaks or you have to ditch a routine for some other reason. Start with an introduction. This can take two, three or even four minutes. Don't just say "Hi my name is Happy Chappy." Make it fun. I ask the kids if they know their name. Do they ever forget their name? I sometimes forget my name is Koo Koo Ka Choo that is why... What? My name is not Koo Koo? Oh, that's right it is Fitzwilly. That is why I wear this nametag so I don't forget. Are you sure you don't forget your names?

Now start looking at different things that you know how to do. Do you have a trick you really like doing? It doesn't matter if it is super easy. In fact if it is that is great because then you can concentrate on the kids and entertaining them with the trick instead of concentrating on the trick itself. I think I have talked about one of my routine for Professor's Nightmare on one of Jolly's early posts. The effect alone might take all of one minute to do but with a really good story I can make it last about 8 or 9 minutes. Usually 5 to 7 feels about right. Don't be afraid of some of the standards either. The magic coloring book works, that is why it stays around year after year after year. Go to the library and check out a few old joke books for kids. The jokes are still funny (to the kids) and they are clean, great for clowns. If you have trouble memorizing a few print them out either on a sheet of paper or on index sized cards and in the middle of talking stop, pull out your jokes (making a big production of it) and proceed to tell one, then put the jokes away and continue on with the bit. Well that might help get you started.

[Happy Chappy & Daisy]

Well, I used to do magic before I started clowning (at least with makeup), so I'm not worried about being able to find something. I just didn't know what else a clown could do in such a situation other than magic, or what most of y'all did.

[Fitzwilly]

Well, you shouldn't have any problems with a show then. The main thing to do is to add foolishness to your magic show. I have a director's style chair that is perfect to sit my showbox on. I found a large scrapbook cover at a dollar store that looks like a leather bound book. I make a deal about my instructions and then place it behind my box. Because there is only a small back on the chair the book falls to the floor. I stop, pause, do a double take, and then go pick up the book. I repeat this a couple of times in slightly different ways, sometimes noticing right away that it fell and other times apparently not noticing until the children inform me that it fell again. Finally I set it on top of my show box, complete my introduction and then open my box to start the show, at which time it falls on the floor again.
I do a small juggling bit sometimes, and sometimes I will start a magic trick, something won't work and I will go into a story, a fairly involved story that might even require a couple of helpers to play different characters, then at the end of the story the magic happens. That way it is much more than just a magic show.

[Happy Chappy & Daisy]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look everything over, and see what I can integrate. (shouldn't be hard; I majored in math in college)

[Fitzwilly]

I was workiing on a sine wave joke but couldn't figure out the right angle to present it from. Maybe if I add the pieces together again sum-thing will appear so it won't be a total waste of time.

[Happy Chappy & Daisy]

You know why mathematicians make lousy athletes? They can't give 110 %.

[saphireSue]

Generally I do the same as others have listed, a comedy/magic show followed by balloons or face painting. Depends on age and number of kids, ex. very small 1-3 age it's more bubbles, music/ movement type activities. magic coloring book.