Magic Party -5yr- Ernie The Magician

Magic Party.  I love to plan parties.  My friend hired a magician for her son's 5th Birthday and enlisted me to help with the extras.  What fun!  Each child got a homemade invitation printed off the computer site activities for kids.com.  It's a post card sized invitation and the graphic is yellow stars and moons to give a "magical" theme.  It read: "You have been invited to APPEAR at Liam's 5th birthday you're sure to have a MAGICALLY good time..etc. etc. 

The decorations were simple yellow and black streamers yellow and black balloons with stars on etc.  Each child was given a magic wand (on clearance at Wal-Mart- 10 cents each- you could easily make your own though out of any kind of thin plastic or cardboard tubing).  Each child was also given a top hat- on sale after new years at the local party store for 25 cents each.  They said happy new year on them so we covered that part by pasting a magic graphic from the computer on them.  When each child had his/her wand and hat they sat down to watch the magic show.  This was the part the kids loved the best! 

Each child has his/her own MAGIC CARPET to sit on.  At the dollar stores here or carpet stores you can buy bound square/rectangular remnants for $1 each. They were just about the size or smaller than a doormat. We placed them on the floor in front of where the magician was to perform.  Each child had his or her own "magic carpet" to watch the show on.  After Ernie the magician performed, he showed the kids how to do one magic trick.  They loved it!

Food was just hot dogs and snacks, chips etc.  But the highlight was the punch!  Simply green Koolaid mixed with gingerale served in a punchbowl. In the middle was green sherbet.  It fizzed and it was the kids' magic potion drink.  We also put in star shaped ice cubes. 

The cake was an idea from family.com with a rabbit coming out of a hat a bit tricky but we had to keep up with the magic theme!  The loot bags were black paper bags with glow in the dark stars and moons stickers stuck on them.  Inside was a small bag of jelly beans labeled "magic beans, some Aladdin stickers, coloring pages from the disney.com website, and a few simple magic tricks from the local party supply store. 

Before the moms and dads picked the kids up there was some extra time so we played pass the hat with a top hat.  It was full of simple instructions for the kids to do.  When the music stopped, with the help of an adult they would read and perform the instruction.  Some were- say a magic word (as in abracadabra or whatever)tell your favorite joke, make a funny face etc.  This was a really neat party.  These kids were a little young for a Harry Potter theme which a lot of the magic ideas are related to.  So, with a little imagination we came up with the magic theme- and SHAZAM it worked great!