I'm in a position where I could get gigs at children's parties.
One other thing that I wanted to point out is that doing magic for children is actually more difficult than doing magic for adults. It is much more difficult to keep their interest and much worse when they lose interest (how may adults will stand up and yell out "Mommy, I'm bored" when you are doing a trick?). There are approaches and skills that are unique to performing to children. Most importantly, you have to really like children and know how to relate to them. You have to understand how children act and react and structure your presentation accordingly Children can sense inexperience and an inexperienced magician in front of a group of kids will have a very rough time. There also are significant differences between ages of kids. I group kids in the under 5 group, the 5 to 8 group, the 9 to 13 group and the over 14 (which are pretty much the same as adults).
The key to any magic show is don't try to sell a show you don't have performance ready. Performance ready means you have the effects listed out, the presentation scripted and have practiced the entire show 25 times or more.
The magic needs to be understandable and you need to have interesting props..
Let me clarify what I said about needing
interesting props. I'm not talking about the magic shop kids props like Run Rabbit Run or Hippity Hoppit Rabits. I'm talking about a variety of effects with different texture. My typical 45 minute kids show is as follows:
Billiard Balls (Alan Wakeling's routine with a collapsable top hat and appearing cane to music)
Vanish and Clink (Coins disappear when handed to spectators and then reappear when tossed into glass using David Regal's Clink)
Alexander the Dragon (linking rings routine about a young dragon who falls into a deep hole on his way home from school)
Cups and 8 Balls (Cups and ball routine with final reveal of 3, 4 and 5 Balls and then 6, 7 and 8 balls)
Bigger Card (Mark Wilson's Complete Course) / David Ginn English Sheepdog Puppet Routine/ Jumbo McCombical Deck
Houdini Rope Trick (Roberto Giobbi's Professor's Nightmare type trick)
Silly String of Death (A routette routine with cans of silly string by Stephane Bourgoin )
Harvey and Lola Benson Bunny Burner (Tom Stone's Benson Burner with Collapsable Top Hat and 3D Sponge Bunnies)
Depending on the ages, I can substitute my Invisible Deck routine (with a beachball and music) for the Billiard Balls, a Miser's Dream routine for Vanish and Clink, my other Linking Rings routine (to Fireflies) for Alexander the Dragon, my Card to Bottle for the Bigger Card routine, the Vanishing Bandana for the McCombical Deck, my Mismade Zebra (silks and change bag) routine for Silly String of Death and my Egg Bag Routine for the Benson Burner.
As you can see, there is only two tricks with cards (Bigger Card and McCombical Deck).
