my son's first birthday (vanishes, levitations)

[eight_card]

my son is celebrating his first birthday, and I would like to do a few tricks for the kids coming to celebrate - i thought it would be fun to somehow involve my son in an effect, and was wondering if anyone would be willing to recommend or suggest a means to make appear/vanish, or levitate an audience member (specifically my one year old son) ...

... thanks so much in advance for the assistance. I want to make his first birthday memorable for everyone involved.

 

[heatedjeans]

you need to invest on ALOT of money to levitate another human being . i recommend levitating yourself by doing a simple Balducci Levitation or/and levitate small objects like coins for example . Since it's a birthday party , there must be balloons(i suppose so) . So you can perform the effect Pressure by Daniel Garcia and Dan White . you can also perform Detach by Rick Lax if you want .
Goodluck !

 

[William Draven]

You could run an ITR or loops and levitate a birthday card or photograph of your son as well. I unfortunately don't know enough about levitating a human to make any kind of suggestions that would be safe for levitating a one year old.

 

[Pete Pridanonda]

Why would you need to invest on huge props to make a person levitate? Not only will it be a lot of trouble on your part due to having to carry around the supplies, but also I'm sure that kids couldn't be up close or even surrounded.
I will suggest to you a favorite magic trick of mine that I perform all the time, especially to kids. And the effect is the okito rising doll where the doll rises up on my palm. Your son can do the magic by waving his fingers over the doll to make the doll rise, this will be a favorite among the kids and a reputation maker on your part. I know I praise this effect a lot but it's really one of those effects where the audience remembers for a long time.
WARNING!!! When you perform this effect, please DO NOT tense your fingers or hands whatsoever. Many people that I see tense their hands too much which completely destroys the illusion. I believe that in terms of handling, I'm the best at the rising doll and can also make the doll rise up higher than anyone else without tensing my hands or fingers. So, please pm me if you have any trouble.
This first video is me performing this effect at a christmas party: (second trick)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-5n0-BwK5k

And this is me performing the rising doll for kids at a new year's eve party: (starts at 8 min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV3F7JQDly4&feature=channel&list=UL

Hopefully you'll see the great reactions and my handling, enjoy!!!

 

[William Draven]

You know.... Kids really like bubbles. I know Losander has a floating bubble trick he does, though I'm not sure if it's commercially available or not... but it's another something you could look into.

Just trying to brain storm for you a bit. Let us know what eventually comes of this.

 

[RealityOne]

Mark Wilson has a levitation that would work in his Complete Course, but it requires a curtain. The typical way to levitate a child is a chair suspension, but the child needs to be at least four for it to work.

The appearance is easier. First stop is Mark Wilson's Complete Course where there is a cardboard box appearance. That requires choreography, so difficult to use with a one year old. There also is Mark's Tip Over Trunk.

There is a Paul Osbourne effect in the December 2009 Genii magazine called Santa's Helper. The child is produced from a box that looks like present (if I remember correctly ) I forget if there is any difficult choreography to that.

I think the best option is Jim Steinmeyer's X Marks the Spot in the December 2011 Genii. It could be easily made from a couple of pieces of wood and some foamboard. You would need to put it on a platform with wheels and bring it in - I don't think a one year old can remain hidden and quiet for a half hour while all the guests arrive. Better to pop them in "off stage" and have them "hide" for a couple of minutes.

Vanishes are difficult, in that they involve choreography.

Now that I've answered your question (so people can't complain that I don't give the answer people are looking for), I think using your one year old in the way you are suggesting isn't a good idea. First off, at that age they have limited ability to follow simple instructions. Second, I'm not sure that any appearance will work just for the amount of time that the would have to be "hiding."

If you post the ages of the other kids, I'd be glad to give you some ideas for effects.