Abracadabra Magic -8yr- Gift Exchange

Abracadabra Magic Party - 8 year old boy  My son saw a movie on the Disney Channel that featured a magic theme and his birthday party idea was born! 

We will hire a local magician to perform about a 20 minute show and agree to teach the boys one simple trick.  To make the most of the show, we will turn the living room into a stage using a silver curtain and custom banner (shindigz.com).  Before the show, the boys will each be given a magic wand, silk scarf, and black top hat.  The boys will sit on the floor as the audience in front of the stage.  After the show, the boys will have a few minutes to practice their tricks before we all move to the kitchen to learn how to make "gooze."  This should also take about 20 minutes, including time to package the gooze in zip lock bags for later and clean up. 

It will also give the magician an opportunity to slip out the front door while the kids are otherwise occupied.  (My back-up plan is to get a scientist from madscience.org who can do both magic and science tricks.  They actually do the entire party, including the gooze making.) 

We'll next have pizza and cake (Costco), followed by opening presents. 

Since we always have a lot of kids at our parties, my family does a focused gift exchange instead of the traditional birthday gifts.  This year my son will ask that everybody bring a wrapped gift that has something to do with magic (a video, a gag gift, a magic trick, a book of tricks, or whatever).  We'll have the kids drop their gifts into a giant top hat (shindigz.com) when they arrive and we'll have everybody close their eyes and pick a different gift to open and keep at the end of the party. 

We started this to avoid the tears that come when young kids don't understand about giving gifts and to avoid the painfully long process of everybody watching the birthday kid open 15 gifts he may or may not want.  My son actually looks forward to the exchange each year and helps to think of a theme that matches the party (we've done Rescue Heroes, Scooby Doo videos, Beanie Babies, and Bionicles).  The parents always like the idea, too. 

Opening the gifts and comparing what they got should keep them busy for awhile.  If we run out of things to do, we'll pass out the goody bags early, which include a fortune telling fish, a magic 8-ball keychain, and a few inexpensive magic tricks from either ustoys.com or otc.com.  I am hoping to skip the pinata this year.  8 year old boys, blindfolds, and baseball bats sound like a recipe for disaster! 

Next year I'm trying to plant the seed with my son for a "Come as an Alien" party inspired by an episode of "Hey Arnold!"  In that show all of the kids dressed up as aliens and the town thought it had been invaded (kind of like War of the Worlds).  Can't wait!