Hello, i was invited to my friend's birthday party, which is going to be around next week. He hired me to do some magic tricks for $15/ 1 hour. Although i loved the idea, i only know a couple of good tricks. I learned the double lift, bottom deal, and some sleights. I would like to know which magic tricks can "blow the spectator's mind". Any trick would be good, but i prefer free ones over magic that you need to buy( spend most of my money on mechanics by DM, but i would still like suggestions). Does anyone know any good ones on youtube, or the marketplace? Thanks!
Oh no!
Well, you have to start somewhere I guess. I'm going to really try to help you out here and ignore the problems for now.
First off, a bottom deal and double lift are methods. These are not tricks. Do you know any tricks? Focus on what the spectator sees and how it is magical. So, the description of the trick might go like this: "I can make a card change in their hand", "I can cause their card to appear at the number they call out", "I can have them cut the deck and deal out a royal flush".
Generally you want to have at least 9 tricks. This consists of an opener, a middle and a closer for three different groups. Three sets of three tricks allows you to vary your performances from group to group and allows you to return to an older group and do different material.
It would help to know what kind of tricks you actually know rather than a couple of random sleights.
Okay, problems. I want to be realistic with you and I want to help. I don't want you to embarrass yourself or poorly represent magicians in general.
The party is in a week. This is generally not enough time to learn new magic. Ricky Jay, a legendary card magician, says that he works on a piece of magic for a year before it enters his repertoire. I don't think that you need to follow this rule to the "T" but anyone can follow the spirit of the rule. Put aside some time to learn whatever you are doing, and learn how to do it well.
Which tricks will blow the spectator's minds? This changes from magician to magician. Most magic tricks can blow minds when presented well. I'm continually impressed by David Blaine's ability to take old classics that are overlooked and get great reactions from his presentations.
Two books that you can get for almost free is Mark Wilson's Complete Course of Magic and the Royal Road to Card Magic. Joshua Jay has two newer books that have videos that are also good. They are Magic the Complete Course and The book of Cards by Joshua Jay.
As far as You Tube goes check out Jay Sankey's, Xavier Spade's or Chris Ramsay's You Tube channels. These guys are all good teachers that will give you an idea of how magic works. They all teach magic and have a lot of respect for the art.
Last word, if I was in your position I wouldn't charge your friend for performing. Basically, it sounds like you are just getting used to performing. If that's the case I'd rather go to the party, have a good time, do some magic and stop when I feel I need to. Performing is stressful, you will mess up, it's part of life. At the beginning you will mess up a ton! It's how this works. Understanding this, I think I'd want to avoid the added stress of having to deliver a solid hours worth of magic.
Good luck!