I have been doing magic for alittle over a year I decided to buy some tricks to show my 5 year old then I couldn't stop buying them. To make a long story short I was asked if I could volunteer to do a magic show at her school carnival, there I was asked for my number and all my inforrmation from several parents on how to get in touch with me but now I'm not sure how much to charge them because I'm not a proffesional like most of you are does anyone have any advice?

Apparently several people at the carnival thought you were pretty good. How long is your show? What all do you do? Who will you be performing for? How old are you?

It's hard to say how much to charge - there are so many factors involved. If you're young but feel you're accomplished, I would start by quoting $50.00. See how this goes. Most parents will spend $50 fairly easy - especially if it's for one of their kids.

If you find you're getting busy, up your price to $60 or $75.00. The only way to find out what to charge is to experiment like this until you hit on something that works for you.

Jim

I am 28 years old I could probably take about 30 to 45 min performing the only thing is that I have trouble making up a routine or how to lead one trick into another some of the tricks I perform are:
Stratosphere
Lotabowl
Dove pan (which I usually produce lollipops for the kids)
Flower boxes in a bag
Cardiographic
Coloring book
Sponge bunnies
Phsycic crayons
Hopping rabbitts
Robby racoon
Misers dream
Vanishing ketchup bottle
Peanut butter and jelly switch places
Change bag
Small red mirror production box
Vanishing yellow bandana (banana)
Shrinking head illusion
D lites
Straight jacket
Self tying shoe laces
Disapearing pizza in pizza oven
Run rabbitt run
Square circle (which I bought but not sure what to produce because it has a picture of an Asian man on it)
Just to name a few I also just bough a rabbit but I'm trying to find a good way to produce her. The kids will be around 6,7 and 8.

You're well on your way - you have plenty of nice props. You need to put 6 or 7 tricks together into a show and concentrate on your presentation. You might pick up a copy of Silly Billy's "Seriously Silly", or join KIDABRA. Also, if you have a local magic club, join it. Hanging out with other performers will help you see what direction to take.

Raise your price to $100. Even with your inexperience, your show's gotta be worth that!

Good luck,

Jim

Thanks for the advice Jim I'll be sure to pick up that book and actually Im in the process of becoming a member of the Dallas magic club and SAM.
Thanks again,
Bigboymagic

Is $100 really top dollar for kid shows?
Sounds like a good motivation to work on corperate magic.

Bigboymagic - you could try calling for prices (like you were booking a show) from some of the family entertainers in your area. Don't undercut them. Balance between their fees and what you feel you are worth

That being said with only a year practice you might not be ready yet, maybe try a few more volunteer shows to test the waters and get more experience.

Family entertainers usually are on the low end of the pay scale and it's hard work. I don't perform for children's birthday parties. Not my thing.

Please read and study performing for families. Far too many have taken a path similar to what you are describing and end up being horrible performers (not saying you are or will be). Buying a few effects, doing a free show and thinking it's easy, getting asked by unknowing parents who think if you're doing the show there you must be able to do a show anywhere.......

For family show/children birthday parties producing a live rabbit is always good (if the children can pet the bunny even better) maybe try a duck bucket or a production box. Perhaps you do run rabbit run before or after the bunny production. Tie it to sponge bunnies. A strait jacket escape children may not care much about. Use your imagination with the change bag, find out if the parents would like you to produce a present from it.

Get Chris Capeheart's work on the Miser's Dream and any work he has put out on family entertainment or children's birthday parties if you don't already have it.

Ask about the birthday child, their interests, what they read or play or movies they like. See if you can work some of their interests into your show.

Think of a small inexpensive trinket/gift you can give the children (with your promo info if you can do it in a non-tacky fashion) and maybe a special "magician's helper" certificate for the birthday child. Make signing it into a photo op for the parents. Birthday child with magician pictures

Want to thank me for the free advice (which is usually worth every cent you pay for it)?
DON'T BE A SMUCK. Respect the art, learn, read then learn and read more. You have more than enough effects and props. Time to focus on studying the art
DON'T BE THE CHEAPEST GUY IN TOWN, don't undercut the guys already working in your area just because you are new.
GET MORE PRACTICE IN FRONT OF LIVE AUDIENCES! Nothing can replace that experience
When you study the writings and videoes
remember YOU CAN'T BE SILLY BILLY OR CHRIS CAPEHEART ......
.... but you can be yourself, which they can not. Find a character that fits you and build on that


p.s. most kid's performers aren't quality acts, do nothing positive for the art and get paid the lowest.
Family entertainers .... different story ..... sometimes


p.p.s. How much should you charge? As much as you can!!!!

Good advice Vick! It wasn't my intention to undercut other magicians with a $100 fee - Bigboy is new at this and I was just trying to give him a "starting point" to figure out where to go. Your advice is right-on.

Jim

Thanks Vick that was a lot of helpful information. I have a copy of Chris Capeharts kidin around but it does not explain the miser's dream I usually use the miser's dream granted gimick by Mikame but I love the way Chris does it do you know of any other material he has out that explains his version?
Thanks,
bigboymagic

I don't think the 100 was meant to be top dollar for top entertainment.
In my area I've seen as low as 75, with an average of 195, to the top end of 500+. From what I have seen, you pay for what you get. Bigboymagic, assess your value and charge appropriately.

Chris Capeheart has a DVD dedicated to his Miser's Dream, check out Kozmo's site for it. I am sure if you search here on the Café you can find it.

Now for your shows or price...there is a lot of information in the "Little Darlings" section for this. They have that section indexed in one of the "sticky" threads, which I think should give you some more information.

I have a question through. What did you do at the carnival that elicited such a
response?

The reason that I am asking is that you can probably leverage off of that in how
to routine your show potentially. Not to do the same thing, but to have an idea
on how your show can be structured.

With minimal performance experience and only a year of magic, you might want to keep your fees low to start as an introductory offer depending on your intentions. Fulltime, partime, or just casual?

Good advise you have received above, and you definitely have plenty of material that can potential offer a descent show.

Hope this helps....

100 dollars? Remember, they are paying for your show, the effort you take your kit load it into your car, drive it their, set up perform and take down, plus the time it takes you to personalize your show to fit the specific birthday boy.for a 45 minute performance I think you can go 150 at least. Does anybody else think this is unreasonable?

Thank you I will definately check out chris' video on misers dream. At the carnival I had a total of about 9 or 10 classes of different age groups ranging from 3 to 10 so I only had about 10 min for every class so for the younger kids I did the coloring book, sponge bunnies, little red production box with a 20 ft silk and hopping rabbits. For the older kids I did stratosphere disapearing pizza from pizza oven, Robby racoon, change bag and kids loved the gold fish production by Diamond Jim. I also added in the lotta bowl running gag in between tricks complaining about a leak in the ceiling.

Also you can get his DVD to see it in action! Both are great products by Silly Billy.

With regards to providing a magic trinket, I would provide a trinket (a magic wand) for the birthday boy or girl only and make it optional at booking time to provide magic bags or wands for the other kids at $2 to $10 per child (depending on the complexity). With 20 kids at a party, it adds up. Just my two cents. Good luck!