6 Great DIY Ideas for Magic Theme Party

1. Use red, black and white!

Magic is commonly associated with red, black and white because of the poker cards!

2. Use Cards a decorations

Cards and cloth with card prints are easily accessible so use them as part of the decorations: 

3. Magic Potion

Want some magic? Drink some potion then:

Bandung lookalike Pink Magic Potion

4. Card Chocolates

Print on a printer a chocolate sleeve and slot them into the long flat chocolates. Give them as part of the goodie boxes or for your candy buffet table.

5. Use black and white food

Use items like black and white M&Ms for your candy buffet. You can even have fruits like strawberry (red heart), black grapes (black) and raspberry for healthier option. Add a soft toy rabbit as a final touch. 

6. Disappearing Food

It is a nice touch to customise your food to suit your theme! You can have items like 'Carrots for Magician's Rabbits, bounce-no bounce meatballs (injoke for magicians) and . What we really love is this:

Yup, it's all gone! I told you they are vanishing...

All the best for your magic theme party! Don't forgot to book Mr Bottle's Birthday Magic Show for your kids too! You can even book our I wannabe a magician workshop for your kids too!

Lots of surprises in Mr Bottle's Magic Show!

5 Things you want to know about Professor Messy's Science Show

Our Science Show was launched in 2005 and produced exclusively for Mr Bottle's Kids Party. Here is our latest promotion video for the performance. We selected a few acts to include in this video! Enjoy!

How did it come about? 
I was reading this article from an international magic magazine and a magician from New York , who has this Science character, contributed some of his ideas. I felt the concept are really creative but mostly magic with some pseudo-explanation. There was a Mad Science around then (not in Singapore then from what I understand). In fact, I did visit and watch a show by the Mad Science in Genting and my friend who was in charge of franchising them in Singapore suggested me to take it up. I like Mad Science but since our strength is in production, we wanted to create something different, something unique. Mad Science focus a lot on science and I feel that the entertainment portion may be lacking a little. (For a good reason, this is a franchise so it must be easily done by anyone.)

Hence, I started with a character needed for the show: He is a smart scientist, invents a lot of things but is a little clumsy so his 'inventions' do not always work as planned (to create the comic effect). Real scientific principles must be taught so kids can learn the right thing. I want to keep the magic element in the show because adults and kids alike are always amaze by that. He is Professor Messy!

Why Messy?
I envision Professor Messy's table to be always messy since he is always thinking of new inventions, writing down new ideas, pretty much like my table most of the time! Messy is a shadow of my creative self, since I like creating new things, thinking of new ideas; like an excited kid working on 20 things at the same time.

How long did it take to produce it?
I had a lot of ideas then. So I wrote them down. Some worked, some didn't. I was collecting and holding on to the ideas for probably around a year then. Then it took another 1 year before we realise the ideas into the actual show.

The show is still evolving. During my recent trip to China, I had a lot of free time in between shows. The environment inspired me to conceptualise a lot of new ideas and now I have more than enough to create a 2nd show!

Who are Science Show suitable for?
We have done for the show for kids as young as 4 years old. Usually we recommend the performance for kids 7 years old and older but have 'customise' it for younger children.

What are the amazing things which has happened when you perform the Science Show?
One amazing thing that happened was that we had children who hated science going "oh no" before the show started to "I love Science" after the show! We also had adults coming up to us to say they enjoy and learnt something.

Where are the Science Show suitable for? 
We have been booked for all kinds of events:

• Birthday Parties
• Shopping Malls
• School Shows / Events
• Family Days
• Bring your Kids to Work Day

To book the show, email info@kidsparty.com.sg or call 65155921

12 Things You WANT to Know About A Singaporean Magician - Mr Bottle Kids Party

This article was reproduced from Splashville: 

Kien, also known as Mr Bottle is a contemporary magician and leading entertainer who specialises in providing children magic. He has been interviewed by Shenzhen Daily News, The Straits Times and has performed on television programmes such as “Hang Jia Chu Shou” on Channel U and “Jobs for Juniors” on Kids Central. You can read more about him at his website and his Facebook page.

1. What makes you decide on taking up such an interesting job?
I was interested in magic since I was about 5 years old! Recently, I found an old diary and promise to myself that I will become a magician and make others happy so here I am living my dreams and fulfilling my dreams!

2. What is the largest audience you have encountered?
I was invited to perform for the Ansan Street Festival in 2008. I was only the magician act and it was the first time I perform on the streets. Coming from Singapore and being in a small Korean town, I got a shock to see so many people watching my show! I think the whole town came to watch my show or something so the reactions were amazing!

3. What are some of the difficult moments you have encountered?
It was not easy route to take. Being a magician is a business! I love creating and performing magic but this is not everything! I have to be the magician, the director, the marketing, the producer, the admin, etc. There are business aspects of things which I have to learn and manage. There is so much to learn along the way. For instance, during the SARS period, there was practically no business for me for months. That was when my friend introduced me to a post-graduation programme in NTU about entrepreneur. I applied for the scholarship and got it and this has helped me so much.

4. Have you encountered any embarrassing moments?
Language is never my strong point so there was once a kid corrected my ‘three’. I said ‘tree’. I seriously didn’t know the difference then and it was really embarrassing; corrected by a child! So immediately went for a speech class to help improve myself.

5. How long do you practise every day?
I am always working on my magic 24/7 frankly.
I am always thinking about magic, reading about magic, etc. I carry a book around to write down about my magic ideas and my Iphone has a lot of these concepts too.

6. Do you have to undergo a lot of training when you first started?
Yes, I always think so. Magic is NOT just about secrets. Magic is a multi-disciplinary art and study in which covers psychology, theatre, science, math, art, language, etc. This may seem very harsh: A lot of magicians don’t have enough training before they jumped into magic. The reason I took psychology and theatre in university was for my magic and to improve it. I took part in a play last year so I can improve my magic. After doing the play, despite sacrificing a lot of income, I am so grateful and glad that I did that because I realise I still have so much to learn. I improved in my stage presence and speech so much in the several months of training. I am always training and reading to improve myself because I want to give my best for my audience.

7. What differentiates a good magician and a not so good magician?
If a magician is in it for the money, then he is in the wrong trade. A lot of passion is needed because magic is really difficult to master. A good magician is someone who can amaze everyone and react to the crowd. Magic show is after all a live show so a good magician must adapt to his audience and make them emotionally react (whether it is surprise, laughter, sadness, etc.) and make the audience remember the magician and the magic. I have adults coming up to me and asking if I am Mr Bottle and telling me that I perform for them 13 years ago and this makes me really happy.

8. Where do you draw your inspirations from?
I like to look at new things and these gives me inspiration for my magic. For instance, I like to visit Toys fair to see the latest innovative toys in the market and these may give me inspiration to create my next magic. I like to watch all kinds of shows, visit the museums and read books on all type of subjects. I am like a kid, just curious about anything, which is why I love to travel.

(Magic has brought me around the world! Audience braving the heavy rain to watch the show in Changhua, Taiwan.)

9. What do you consider as your most impressive magic trick?
Most people would think my most impressive magic must be a big illusion. Actually, I get the most reaction from my close-up magic, especially my sponge rabbit magic. A lot of people think these rabbits have a life of their own, especially since the magic happens in the audience’s hand. I have received like $50-100 tips a couple of times because of that!

10. Most expensive outfit you have ever worn?
Most of my costumes are custom-made! So I hardly buy the designer clothes off the shelves. The most expensive costume which I made is about $700.

11. Tell us something that people outside the industry would find it useful or interesting to know.
There are many famous celebrities who are magicians or interested in magic. Some examples are Oscar host, Neil Patrick Harris, Muhammad Ali the boxer, whom I was lucky to meet in USA as well as George W Bush. Another interesting example is Georges Méliès, a magician who was an innovator in special effects in films.

12. Your thoughts on the question: Do magic exists?
Yes! I always if one believe in magic, this give you the positive energy to enable you to do a lot of things that one may think is impossible. Let me tell you this story: Once upon a time, there was a very shy child. So shy that he did not dare to talk to anyone in school. One day, his father bought a bottle of magic for him. "In it, is a potion that will make you grow brave and strong." Every morning, he would open the bottle for some magic. Day by day, he begins to make more friends. One day, he saw his good friend cornered by Billy, the big bully. Believing he chased Billy away. Many years later, he discovered that the bottle was actually an empty bottle. Believing in the magic has changed his life. This child is none other than Mr Bottle the Magician, who believes that nothing is impossible.

Kids Friendly Restaurant: Starz Restaurant

Starz Restaurant

 

Hard Rock Hotel, Starz Restaurant, is located in a centralised location at Sentosa. This means you are minutes away from some of the region’s top attractions, such as Universal Studios Singapore^® and S.E.A. Aquarium™, as well as Asia's flagship of the world-renowned ESPA.

 

 

 

International Buffet Dining

This colourful and fun restaurant offers buffet Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, with a wide variety of international and local cuisine, which is ideal for both locals and tourists.

Activities for Kids

On every 1st Sunday of the month, starting from 6 July 2014, a whole range of kids activities are specially lined-up for the little ones. The adults can watch them play and laugh while they indulge in the sumptuous spread.

Kids’ Activities
12.00pm – 1.30pm	Registration / Face Painting
12.00pm – 4.00pm	Special Kids Buffet and Movie Screening at Hall of Fame
1.30pm – 2.30pm	Story Telling / Games
3.00pm – 3.30pm	Magic in a 'Bottle' by Mr Bottle

As a diner, I might not be aware that there are activities only on the 1st Sunday of the month, and might have mistaken and head down for a Sunday Brunch. Upon knowing there isn't any activities, I would get rather disappointed and probably decide to dine at another place before stepping in. I might even decide not to patronise the restaurant anymore to avoid disappointment again. I would rather the restaurant have activities on all Sundays, with 1 or 2 activities per time. In this way, regular diners can enjoy different activities on different visits. This will give them a refreshing and surprise feeing on every visit.
   

	It is great to have activities for kids all lined-up for the Sunday Brunch. However, what about the adults? For those who just come in with their small family and does not come with their friends, it is unlikely that they will stay there for 4 hours. Hence, there is a tendency that the parents will want the kids to leave the restaurant. It is commonly seen where parents will "grab" their kids and stop them from what they are doing/ watching. To counter-act this, the restaurant should also have some activities for adults, e.g. Close-up Magic, Caricature & top-up a certain amount for Wine for the drinkers.
	Address: Resorts World Sentosa - Hard Rock Hotel Singapore. 8 Sentosa Gateway, Sentosa Island Singapore 098269 Operating Hours: Breakfast: 7.30am - 10.30am   Lunch: 12pm - 2.30pm (Mon - Fri)   Dinner: 6.30pm - 10.30pm   Hi-Tea: 12pm - 4pm (Sat, Sun & PH) Tel No.: +65 6577 6688 Email: dining@rwsentosa.com

Themed Birthday Party 1

Angry Bird Themed Birthday Party

 

Themed Birthday Party is very widespread since the past few years. The themes changes according to the trend. Hence kids nowadays usually will have a different theme for their birthday party every year. It's pretty common that way 6 months before their birthday, the kid would have Already Decided on the theme for his/her own birthday!

 

 

In this post, we shall share some ideas for Angry Bird Themed Birthday Party.

 

1) Decorations

If you have stage performance/s for your party, Stage Decorations will be great when taking photos. Like the Customized Banner, Angry Pig Shooting, Tree and Bushes at the Stage.



 

Other decorations also include Angry Bird Sling Shot Column, Angry Bird Centrepiece and Hanging Angry Birds and sticking Angry Pigs around the room.

 

You can even customize the helium balloons to Angry Bird theme. By providing stickers in which children can paste it's hair, eye brown, eyes & beak. Easy yet creative!



 

2) Entertainment

a) Mr Bottle's Magic Show

Mr Bottle has a customized Angry Bird Magic Show.  

 

 

b) Interactive Games

Other than our standard Interactive Games, Mr Bottle's Kids Party can also customize the games to Angry Bird theme!



c) Carnival Games

Include Angry Bird Shooting, Angry Bird Basketball & Angry Bird Golf Carnival Games to your party.

d) Caricature

The drawing paper as well as the drawing itself can be customize to Angry Bird theme too.

e) Mascots

Renting or even buying Angry Bird mascots and having them taking care at each station can be a great idea!

f) Pinata
Not only can you get an Angry Bird design piñata, you can also put Angry Bird related stuff into it. E.g. Angry Bird cupcake rings, blowout, stickers, stick-on tattoo, pencils, erasers, sharpener, paper clips etc.

3) Food and Cake

Change the drink bottle & food labels to Angry Bird theme is one idea you can consider. Angry Bird-shaped candies and cake is another suggestion for this theme.

The One Stop Solution for All Baby Products and Services

Vaby

Vaby not only provides a one stop solution for all baby products and services, it is also a new discovery online shopping destination for mums.

Vaby Box

Ideal for mummies who is afraid to buy products for their new born that does not suits them and hence become a waste. Vaby Box is now your life-saver! Purchase their monthly Vaby Box to receive premium samples from both well-known brands and emerging gems each month. 

SHOP

At Vaby, you can also shop for Clothing, Maternity, Food, Services, Workshops and Party (by Mr Bottle's Kids Party: including Magic Show by Mr Bottle, Science Show by Professor Messy, Balloon Sculpting by N2, Caricature, Storytelling, Mascots, Party Goodies as well as Emcee.

 

 

Come join Vaby's Official Launch this Saturday (28 June 2014) from 2pm to 4pm at The Playhouse. 7 Rochester Park, Rochester Drive S(139218). Meet Mr Bottle for Close-up Magic and receive awesome animal balloon hats from N2!

 

 



Preparing your 3-year-old (or younger) for a birthday party

by Kien

Recently, we have been receiving a quite a few enquiries and bookings for 3-year-olds so I thought I should discuss a little on this subject: Preparing your 3-year-olds (and younger) for a birthday party. Before I continue, I must say that every child is different so the following advice applies to most kids but you do have to use your own discretion to do what is best for your kid! 

Plan early – Nothing is worse than a stressed out mummy. You should how your own emotions can affect your children. Get professionals to do up your décor, food and entertainment so you have more time to take care of guests and kids.

Spiderman theme decor - Source around for different decorations packages suitable for your parties!

Think of who you should invite – Sometimes, your young kid can be overwhelmed with the sudden increase number of people talking to him or her.  Keep the party manageable for the birthday child and yourself. You can even also stagger the arriving time of different groups of people to keep the crowd manageable for him.

Do In a school – This is after all in his familiar environment so he will generally be more comfortable with his friends, teachers and parents.

Teachers and kids enjoying the magic show together in school.

Avoid their naptimes – For obvious reasons.

Do something suitable for them – Can a 3-year-old understand a magic show? Yes! But not all magic shows are suitable so choose one that you think three-year-olds can enjoy. Children of this age may not understand magic fully yet, so Mr Bottle focuses a lot on comedy and fun bits which is more important for this age group.

Lots of comedy for younger kids! That's what matters most to them!

Because of their short attention span, you can also choose fringe activities like balloon sculpting and facepainting. Mr Bottle’s Kids Party’s mascot service also includes games, sing-a-longs so if your crowd consists mostly of 2-4 years old, this can be an option too. Some 2-year-olds do get scared of mascot but some love them. We have many interesting stories of our mascots with 2-year-olds, maybe we will tell you next time about it in our future blogs!

Mascot are great for younger kids from 2 to 4 years old!

Facepainting is great kids of all ages!

Magic Show? – If you have a magic show with kids of various age groups, the older kids will ‘teach’ the younger kids how to react. For a 3-year-old, this is probably the first time he or she is watching a magic show so he is not sure what to do. Should he go up on stage when the magician asks for volunteer? Is it all right to laugh? With older children, the younger kids simply imitate what is appropriate.

Do you see the kids imitating what Mr Bottle is doing?

I would also recommend the parents sit with their 3-year-old kids during a magic show, especially if the crowd consists of ONLY 3-year-olds. The parents can laugh and participate in the show together! Mr Bottle’s magic shows are just like Disney movies; fun for kids and great for adults too!

Magic show is probably not the best for 2-year-old because their attention span is too short. I have discussions with magicians around the world on this, and MOST says that they would only do a show for children 3 years old and above. (Some even restrict their shows to an older age group.) Although we have several instances in which 2-year-olds sat down and even participate in Mr Bottle’s show without any problems, in 95% of cases, they would probably stand up and walk around. So again, if you want magic show for your 2-year-old, sit down and watch the show with them.

Warm Up – The younger kids tend to need a little time to warm up to what is happening around him or her. If you are booking a show, you probably don’t want it too early in the party.

Mr Bottle warming the kids up before starting the magic show!

Practise makes perfect – Bring him or her to a friend’s birthday party first so he knows what to expect at a party. Most, if not all, children love birthday parties so if your kid is uncomfortable at a party, the reason is not they do not like it, but they are just unfamiliar with it. You can explain to them what happens at the party like they get presents, cut the cake, play with their friends, etc.

It's okay to laugh out loud at parties!

Do not over-excite them – A lot of parents tend to get the kids overly excited for their big day, by repeatedly asking them about their party. But do not over do that especially for the younger kids. You can to treat it like a ‘normal’ fun day with friends.   Even for the older kids, I have seen quite a few cases of kids losing sleep and even getting sick because they are too excited over their party.

In schools, sometimes the teachers will get 2 year old kids to join in. This is not a problem as long as the magician knows how to arrange them to enjoy the show the best!

Do not put too much pressure on them – Let them be. If they do not want to greet strangers, do not force them. If the magic show needs volunteers, but your child is not comfortable participating then, let other kids have the chance.

Most of the kid magic shows have lot of participation!

Involve them – I think it’s meaningful to let them to write their own invitation and thank you cards for their friends or do up their own drawings to paste on the wall. Treat this like another craft cum family bonding activity that everyone in the family can take part.

Let kids get involve in their parties!

Kien is a psychologist by training and decided to put what he has learnt to good use by performing magic, since graduating from NUS and NTU about 10 years ago.  He changes into Mr Bottle when he is with kids and has been specialising in children magic for the past 14 years.  Other than making sweets and presents appear in his show, he has also made 2 kids of his own appear in his life (and of course a wife). He can find out more about his magic shows at www.magician.com.sg or email him for a chat at enquiry@magician.com.sg

My First Magic 7: My first REAL magic show?

Although during my childhood, I had never been to a birthday party which had a magician, I never was deprived of watching magic shows.

My father was a very very very (did I say very?) active volunteer in his grassroot neighbourhood, involving himself in the Resident's Committee (RC), Community Centre, Civil Defence, Town Council... you name it, he is (still is) probably some part of it.

As a kid, my parents would bring me along to the events he was involved in. I was very lucky to have seen all kinds of magic shows.

One of them, that I remembered, was a magician from China. He was charging real cheap so RCs were booking him... a lot. He linked rings, he made egg appear, without much presentation.(Given that he don't speak English.) I thought, I could do that...

In fact, I thought I could do what most of the magicians are doing since I could guess the secret behind them. I just need their props and practice right? I was wrong!

Some years later (around 16-17 years old probably), I was given a chance to perform at my father's RC. (for free I think) I put together a few magic tricks that I just learnt and tried to perform them that evening. What a failure it was.

The selection was definitely wrong. It was a very forgettable show. (In fact, I forgot mostly what I did.) I think nobody understood what I was doing. I wondered even if people could see what I was doing! (One of the magic was done on a table.)

It was then I realised that there are some things much more than the secrets. I was on a long journey to learn what really magic is....

My First Magic 6: My Magic Books

Other than the books I copied from the library, I wrote down magic books on my own. I also created and adapted magic of my own. Some of them, looking back, was quite nonsensical and some, interestingly, works, including those which I put some thinking into the choreography and blocking of the magician!

I also recorded the secrets of the magic tricks that I have guessed on television, concerts and shows. In other words I had a lot of "Nothing" books! (My mother was a kindergarten teacher until I was about 5 years old so she had a lot of empty books for me to write and paste things on.)

Mad Book of Magic!

An elaborate magic trick on stage with just a coin!

My own script about Flying: 'Name me a thing that flies. Yes, birds aeroplane. Who build the first aeroplane. Wright. (Ok, ok, I didn't have that pun then.) Name me a thing that floats in the air. Yes, a hotair balloon. There's one more thing that float: it's this stick. Now don't blink your eyes, you are about to.... erm, I see two boys did as I told them. They did not blink their eyes, they close them! Now really look closely.'

I experimented and made a stick float in the air when I was twelve years old. (That was some time before David Copperfield floated!)

This entry is after watching Princess Tenko perform on TV or live probably! (Oh, I love magic so much, that I bought a ticket to watch her and gatecrash a 2nd time to watch her again! Tickets are expensive even though she came in my secondary school days!)

The secret of how David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear. On the bottom of the page, I made a cheesy joke of why the statue is that of the lady, not man, or else there would be a smell from the armpit that's carrying the torch.