Magic Party -9yr- Toss Bean Bag Into Top Hat

We wanted to have a party where we could invite a large range of different aged guests and still have a lot of fun for my 9 year old daughter.  So we decided to hire a professional magician who performed an hour magic show.  We also hired a community hall for the party.  Our party was only 2 hours and started with the magic show at 2:30pm which was perfect: most families had already eaten lunch and it was still quite a way from dinner time. Our colors were black, white, red and silver. 

INVITATIONS: I bought bulk already-made red cards from a craft store.  I made an upside down top hat from black card stock and only glued the sides with double-sided tape. I stamped and cut out a bunny and placed it inside the top hat.  I made a small hole on one of the ears and put a tag fixed with a rivet on the ear.  The tag read abracadabra pull me". So the bunny could be pulled from the top hat. Inside the card I printed an invitation which read:"Please join us for a magical time this magician is much more than fine you will gasp laugh and be amazed at the tricks he performs before your gaze no ordinary man is he come and you will see".  I sprinkled a little silver glitter inside the envelope.

DÉCOR AND FOOD:  I bought adult sized glitter top hats and lined them with foil.  I filled them with party treats such as black licorice (magic wands) pop rocks candy which "pops" in in your mouth pretzels chocolate coated strawberries red grapes etc. The room had black and silver balloons and the table cloths were silver.  Each party guest could choose a flavor for their drink and water would magically transform into a soda by dropping a "Fizzie" into the water(old-fashioned "fizzies" drink which I found on the Internet) I also made punch in a black cauldron with dry ice for the smoke effect.  I made bunny cupcakes (again many ideas on the Internet). The birthday cake was very simple and effective.  I had a large cake made by Costco with Happy magical birthday written on it.  I placed a plastic magic wand on it and sprinkled rays with edible colored and silver sprinkles coming from the top of the wand.

PARTY AND GAMES:  On arrival each child received a magic carpet to sit on for the magic show.  I bought a roll of plastic tablecover and cut them into fairly large rectangles.  I then cut frays on the two opposite sides to give it a carpet feel rolled it up and tied a ribbon around.  I printed the following instructions which I put with the carpet (you could also write them on the actual carpet but printing is quicker): 1. Find a flat even surface. 2. Place carpet gently down. 3 Sit cross-legged on carpet in the direction of the second star on your right.  4. Wait until midnight then blow your wish to the sky.  5.  Hold on tight while your carpet takes you there. 6. Happy magical journeys. 

PARTY FAVORS:  I bought kids size top hats and inside I put a sachet of Pop Rock candy a magic wand which I made from cut wooden dials painted black with a white tip magic tattoos and a magic crayon trick suitable for all ages.  I found this trick off the Internet and wrapped a box of crayons with the following instruction: "PERFORM MAGIC WITH THIS BOX: Give your friend a box of eight colored crayons and ask them to pick a color once you have turned around.  Ask them to place the crayon in your up-turned hands which are behind your back.  Turn around facing your friend and keep the crayon behind your back. Tell them that you will be able to identify the color of the crayon by your magical powers. In the meantime you scratch a piece of the crayon onto your nail.  Turn around again and ask your friend to put the crayon back into the box.  Carefully look at the color on your nail.  Once THE crayon is safely back in the box you turn around take the box and pick out the color that matches the color on your nail bed. You'll surprise them every time."

PARTY GAMES: We played these after the magic show:

Magic races - I put the children into two teams.  The first child had to put on a top hat bow-tie a large mens black jacket and mens shoes and run across a grassy patch to the next team member.  The next team member then had to put on the clothes before setting off across the garssy patch again.  First team to have all members dressed and undressed wins.

Bean-bag toss - I made a huge top hat from old refrigerator boxes.  When guests arrived they put the gifts in there and then during the show we took the gifts out and placed the top hat outside.  Each child had a turn to toss three bean bags into the top hat from a distance.  They received prizes according to how many bean bags they successfully had tossed into the top hat. 

This highly successful party was enjoyed by everyone.  It was simple highly entertaining and a lot of fun to put together.  With a little imagination some pre-planning and a good attitude we had a wonderful and memorable party.  Hope this has inspired you to have a "magical" time."