Howdy.

I have no idea if other folks already do this, but I have found clients appreciate it.

I always give the magic wand I used in the show as a gift to the birthday child, this is
usually taken well by both the child and the person who hired me.

It's also mentioned on my website, and sometimes during the phone conversation as well.

It's not much of a usp, but it is a plus in the mind of the client.

Because you will be giving them away you will need a lot of wands, you can get them in bulk
from china.

But the quality will be better if you make them yourself, it will also look better to the
client. To make a wand you will need a wooden dowel, my size is 3/8 inch. They come already
cut usually around a foot long, or get a longer one and cut it yourself.

Dowels are quite cheap.

You will also need acrylic paint, you could go black and white, but I like mine exotic.

To paint it you will need a brush, a couple paint colors, and gloss varnish. On a 12 inch
dowel the tip colors should be 2 inches or so each. If you have trouble getting the
colors of the tips and shaft to line up evenly, you can use tape to make sure there
Isn't any bleed through from one color to the other.

When completely dry seal it and you're done.

Just a suggestion I'm putting out there, I find folks like it.

Hi Fedora,

Thanks for sharing. It sounds like a good idea.
I may try to make one for myself just to see how it goes.

Thanks,
Keegan

Sounds like a great idea.

You could also teach the birthday child how to do the floating wand in hand. (You know, where you hold your wrist with one hand and extend the finger to secretly hold the wand) I personally would teach it to the birthday child while standing in front of the audience. I would explain that the others could do it with a spoon, ruler, or some object. But the birthday child would then get the wand.

I used to always teach a trick because kids will always tell someone where and how they learned it. And if nothing else they will show it to their parents 100 times.

Tom

Good tip Tom, thanks.

I give away plastic magic wands at most of my birthday shows (2 of my 3 show options have wands included for all of the children).

Here are a couple of threads with a previous discussion.

Magic Cafe thread titled... Easy magic tricks with a magic wand

Magic Cafe thread titled... Gifts for the birthday boy or girl

There are more.

I buy my wands & tricks for my magic kits from Loftus. They've become more scarce / expensive since the pandemic.

- Donald

Thanks for the links, Donald, interesting threads.

I'll post a picture of one of the wands I make if I figure out how.

I've make give away wands by buying the Thin Black Ball Point Pens. Then with the white labels or even paint - put the white ends on them - use full - Then teach the wavy wand effect.

Here's one of the wands I made recently.

Hi Fedora,
The wand looks very nice, and it's a nice gesture to give one to the birthday child. I have a little question for you if you don't mind? It's on the business side of the idea of having an add of for your audience.

How long does it take you to make say 10 wands like the one pictured above? With all the time needed to make the wands and the expense, for buying the dowel wood and paints etc, do you add additional fees on for this apart from your fee for actually performing the magic show itself? I'm trying to get an idea on how it may work in real life. For example "I can do my amazing magic show and have a magic wand give away for the birthday child for (say $300), and additionally I can make magic wands for all the kids attending (say 30) for an additional ($100 or whatever fee you want to charge).

Do you mind give us some idea on how this works practically in real life with your clients?

For me I offer 3 packages. A magic show and balloon creation for the birthday child, and a magic show and balloons for all the kids including a big one for the birthday child, and a 2 hour package of music based games, give away prizes, magic show and balloons for all the kids including a big one for the birthday child. Balloons are pretty cheap to buy and it's quick to make up a cute dog or rabbit.

I'm looking forward to reading about your ideas and methods

Hey Al, thanks for asking, I'll start with time and cost.

Dowels are about 20 cents each, (this is US money, it might be higher in Australia) acrylic
paint is 50 cents a bottle, so a dollar for two.

For varnish you could use the cheaper mod podge which is 4 dollars for a large bottle that
will last a long while. But a varnish is better, It's weather resistant, but is about double the price.

If you were to make ten that's 30 cents for paint and dowels, it's hard to add in the varnish
because it goes a long way, but I'm probably not paying much more than 40 cents for
each one.

Most the time is waiting for things to dry, if you do multiple at once that won't matter.
It probably only takes around 5 to 10 minutes, you can get through ten in something
around an hour or an hour and a half.

As for the business part, this Is given away even in the cheapest package, (it costs me
less than half a dollar so it's not a big expense) this is mainly done as goodwill to
the client.

I don't believe I've gotten a review for a birthday show that didn't mention the
hand made wand I gave them. In my opinion that kind of gesture goes a long way,
but I understand reserving it for a higher package.

I wouldn't give out these wands to everyone though, it would be more time and work
than I would want to do even for a higher package. Also, I think it being my personal wand
I used makes it seem more valuable than just a party gift, but that might just be in my mind.

Anyway thanks for the question, if you or anyone else needs to know anything else feel
free to ask.

Thanks for taking the time to write back Fedora. Much appreciated.

I may have misunderstood what you were doing. I was thinking you were making them for ALL the kids who were attending the party, and not just the birthday child.

They do look nice though, and I may take a look at doing something like this. Thanks.

That wand looks really nice. Thanks for all the information you provided. It's a good idea and would make the birthday child feel very special!