7 tricks of christmas-the impossible straw.

Here is a sixth magic trick to try at home, (Although i'm not revealing the secret, it is an easy enough trick to perform when you know how. The method for a similar trick can be found in some magic magic books.). This trick is a small-scale version of a classic of victorian magic, where a straw levitates at an impossible angle.

Enjoy!

7 tricks of Christmas - Card on Ruler

Sorry about how late these tricks are. I promise I will have the final two tricks up before the new year, but in the meantime, here is the 5th- A version of the chosen-card-on-sword trick with a safer central prop that can be found in the home. Enjoy!

the seven tricks of christmas-muppet card trick

For the 4th trick of Christmas, a trick inspired by those puppet icons, the Muppets. Again, i'm not giving instructions on how to do them, but you can figure out for yourselves. with a couple of views.

Enjoy!

(Whilst some might frown upon the revelation of secrets, most of the tricks I've filmed are either original or commonly seen in magic books available in ordinary shops. I'm not going to reveal tricks which use specialist equipment, or tricks that have been made by other magicians, where the secret is less well-known)

seven tricks of christmas - coin in the crate

For our third trick of Christmas, we have an illusion where a coin ends up inside four sealed boxes. I won't reveal how it's done, but it's fairly easy to do when you know how and the props can be found in some magic kits.

Enjoy!

7 tricks of Christmas- Santa's Hat

I'm sorry about the 3 day delay, but here are 3 new tricks to try at home! First of these is Santa's hat, a seasonal version of the change bag where a santa hat conceals a magical surprise.

Enjoy!

The seven tricks of Christmas

As a Christmas treat, we will upload a trick a day in the week leading up to Christmas day for your viewing pleasure. We won't reveal how to do the tricks, but the methods are simple and can be found in repeat viewings. Today's trick is the "Magic present delivery" In which a destroyed Christmas Card and predicted Harry Potter book end up as a pre-wrapped present. for the volunteer

Enjoy!

SAFECRACKER

THE EFFECT

This is an excellent trick for you to perform on holiday. In it, you get a volunteer to put something of value in a hotel room safe. You then tell the volunteer to do a set of sums to get a four digit code number to lock the safe with.All this is done with you out of sight of the volunteer and not looking at the safe. But you are able to guess the code and open the safe in one try!

YOU WILL NEED

• A hotel room with a small safe in the cupboard
• A willing volunteer
• A calculator, or pencil and pen (Optional if your volunteer doesn't need them)

HOW TO PERFORM

1. Tell your audience that you are so good at safecracking that you can open a safe by instinct alone. Go into another room and stand with your back to the safe
2. Give your volunteer the pencil and paper or calculator. Tell them to put an object of value to them into the safe, but not to lock it yet. Tell them they'll have to do a couple of sums to get the number to lock the safe with. Tell them to pick any three digit number where the first and last digit are 2 apart (So they can have 320, 321, or 325, but not 322 or 323). Then tell them to reverse it and subtract the smaller number from the larger one.
3. Tell them to reverse the number they end up with and add the new smaller and larger numbers they have. If they have been doing their sums correctly, the volunteer should always end up with 1089 as their final number.
4. Tell the volunteer to key this number in and lock the safe. Sometimes, the number flashes on the safe for a few seconds, so don't enter the room with the safe in untill you are sure (Or told) that the number has gone
5. Remind the volunteer that you have not been watching them, or the safe at all. When they confirm this, key in 1089, and wait for the safe to open. When it does, tell them to get better locks and give their object back to them

ARROW CATCH

EFFECT

The performer shows the audience a toy bow and arrow, and tells an assistant or volunteer to fire the arrow. Even though the performer has their hands up their sleeves until the last moment to make it more difficult, they catch the arrow anyway!

YOU WILL NEED

• A Toy Bow and Arrows (These are advailable at 99p or toy shops)
• Long Sleeves
• A Volunteer or Assistant

PREPARATION

1. Place one of the toy arrows up one of your sleeves. Have it close to your wrist but in a way that does not prevent you from being able to move your arm.
2. If using an assistant, tell them to fire away from you

PERFORMANCE

1. Show the toy bow, with an arrow in, and your otherwise empty hands
2. Give the bow and arrow to your volunteer or assistant. If using a volunteer,  tell them that the arrows can be fired in a curved path, and stand a marginal distance to the side.
3. Tell the volunteer/Audience that you will catch the arrow with your bare hands, but, to make it more diificult, you will have those hands in the sleeves until the last moment. Use this to take hold of the arrow up your sleeve
4. Tell the volunteer/assistant to fire. As they do, pull both hands out from the sleeve quickly, with one of them containing the arrow. As the real arrow flies away, show the duplicate arrow and tell the audience that you have caught it. This misdirection means that no-one will notice the fact that the real arrow is somewhere else.

If performing in a small room for a small audience, have the real arrow fired so it lands behind them. If performing on a large stage, do the trick side on, next to the curtain. The real arrow will land behind the curtain. In both cases, no-one will see the real arrow, and everyone will assume that you caught it. 

Vanishing Flagpole

EFFECT

The performer shows a flag, waving it by it's pole. They tell the audience that they have discovered a new way to pack the flag in their bag. They wrap the flag around the flagpole, then squash it into a ball to show that the flagpole vanishes!

YOU WILL NEED

• A quarter of a sheet of A4 paper or thereabouts, cut vertically
• Some sellotape
• A flag, preferably a cheap souvenir one (you can get them at sports games)

PREPARATION

1. First of all, remove the real flagpole from the flag. It is only attached by a small blob of glue, so you only need a little effort to prise the flag from the pole. This will leave a hole in the flag where the pole normally is
2. You will only need the flag. To replace the flagpole, roll the paper vertically so that the paper is of similar height to the pole, and of similar thickness
3. Secure the paper with a little tape, then ease the paper pole up the hole in the flag, taking care to ensure it keeps it's shape. You now have a flag with a paper pole that, from a distance, looks like a proper plastic one

PERFORMANCE

1. Wave the flag by the "flagpole", holding the "flagpole" by both hands. Explain that you take your flag wherever you go
2. Tell the audience you have discovered a new way of packing it up. Roll the flag around the pole until it is covered completely
3. Hold the covered "flagpole" at either end
4. Bring your hands together, squashing the flag, and "flagpole" inside into a ball. Tell them that the flag can  now be packed into smaller spaces.

Crystal Sub Tank of the cards

EFFECT

The Crystal Sub Tank (AKA Suspended Animation)  trick is one of the most popular among modern magicians. In it, the magician gets into an elevated box. It is covered with a curtain, but his hand is visible at all times. The assistants stands beside the box, and throws a cloth over himself, with one end held by the magician. The cloth comes down, and in a split second, the two have switched places. In this trick, the effect is replicated with a pair of cards

YOU WILL NEED

(FOR THE TANK)

• Some sellotape
• A rectangle of card. You should be able to fold it into an open cuboid, big enough to fit the whole deck with some extra space
• A Toilet Roll
• Clingfilm or a freezer bag
• A square of cardboard bigger than the roll, or cuboid
• Some kitchen foil
• A sheet of paper

(FOR THE MAGIC)

• A Deck of Cards
• A Helpful volunteer
• Knowledge of some card sleights- Namely the control and double lift

PREPARATION

(For The Cards)

There are two main sleights that are needed:

1. First of all, the CONTROL. While the card is being selected and looked at, take the top half or so of the rest of the deck and hold it in one hand. Hold the bottom half of the deck in the other hand. Have the volunteer put the card on the bottom half. Hold the ring finger over the chosen card-not by much, a few milimetres will do.This is called a "Finger break" and is key to both of the sleights in this trick. Put the top half over it. "Cut" the top half of the deck to the bottom. Due to the break, the chosen card will be left on top of the deck
2. Secondly, the DOUBLE LIFT. Hold another break under the card second from top. Using the ring finger holding the break as a lever, lift up the top two cards at once. They will look like one card, so it look like you are only handling the top card, which appears to be different to the chosen one (The top card is actually the chosen one

(FOR THE TANK)

1. Fold the cardboard into a cuboid, securing it with tape. Cut out two rectangles of the bag/clingfilm. Tape them each to either end of the cuboid. Cut a hole in one of the windows big enough to put a card through.
2. Stand the cuboid on top of the loo roll, and tape the two together. Attach the other end of the loo roll to the cardboard base. 
3. Cut a hole big enough to put a card through into the foil. arrange the foil so it covers the box, with the hole in the foil in line with the hole in the bag/film. The Tank is now ready

PERFORMANCE

1. Have the volunteer pick a card from the deck. Using the control sleight, move the chosen card to the top of the deck. Tell the volunteer that this will be the magician. Do some fake shuffles to keep the chosen card on top of the deck
2. Perform a double lift to show an indifferent card. Tell the volunteer that this will be the assistant. Remove some of the sellotape from the door with the hole in to open it
3. Place the top card (assumed to be the assistant) beside the tank. Put the rest of the deck in the tank, and replace the tape and door. Put the card on top of the incomplete deck (Assumed to be the magician) through the hole. Place the foil over it, passing the magician card through that hole as well
4. Cover both cards with the paper for a second, then turn over the card beside the tank to reveal it as the "Magician" card
5. Remove the foil, open the box by removing the tape, and reveal that the card that has been protruding from the holes the entire time to be the assistant!

BUZZIN ROULETTE

THE EFFECT: You are able to determine which of four paper cones has a buzzer underneath it

HOW TO DO IT

For this trick you need:

• Four sheets of A3 paper
• Four paper plates
• One Britains got Talent buzzer (available online or in gadget shops)
• Some sticky tape
• A needle or pin
• A volunteer

PREPARATION

1. Make a cylinders out of the four paper plates. Put sticky tape on one of the shorter edges, and attach to the other shorter edge without folding the paper. Use the tape to attach a paper plate to each cylinder
2. Before you begin the trick, make a pinprick in one of the plates (Get an adult to do this if necessary) as an identifying mark. You are now ready to perform

PERFORMANCE

1. Show the Britain's Got Talent buzzer and tell the audience that you want to avoid hitting it until the end of the performance. If you hit the buzzer, the performance is over. 
2. Put the buzzer underneath the cone that has the mark on top.
3. Get a volunteer to go up on stage and shuffle the cones until they are sure you do not know which one has the buzzer underneath. Hopefully, they won't notice the secret pinprick, and will keep the buzzer under the marked cone at all times.
4. When they have shuffled the cones accordingly, come up on stage. A quick glance at the cones will tell you which one is marked and has the buzzer underneath.
5. Hover your hand over the cones, then crush one of the unmarked cones with both hands
6. Repeat this for the other unmarked cones
7. When you have crushed all three unmarked cones,take the marked cone of the buzzer and show that you have made it to the end of the performance without hitting it

GlitterArty Illusion- How to do It

The effect: You make a stream of glitter appear from your fist and from a tissue. You then show a sheet of paper, pour glitter into it, and then reveal a message of choice made with glitter


You Need
1 Thumbtip (Availible from all good magic shops)
3 Sheets A4 paper
Pritt stick
1 tissue
A few tubes of glitter

Preparation

Pour a little glitter into the thumbtip (A little goes a long way!)

Pour a little glitter into the tissue, and fold the tissue to hold the glitter in

On 1 of the sheets of paper, write your message with pencill. Using the Pritt-Stick,  fill the letters of the message with glue. cover it with Glitter, then shake off the excess.

Fold that sheet of paper and another sheet. Glue one side of each together, so that you can flip down the sheet with the message on to reveal it.

Glue the two attached sheets to the third, but leave the side above the message unglued. Fold the empty sheet on top of the one with the message. This gives the impression that you have 1 sheet of empty paper.

Put the tissue in your pocket, the thumbtip over your thumb, and the paper and a tube of glitter the same colour as the message, to one side. You are ready to begin.

Performance

Show your hands as empty from the front, with both thumbs pressed against the second fingers. From this position, the thumbtip looks like your normal thumb.

Close your other hand over the thumb with the thumbtip on and transfer it to inside your fist. Move the hand without the thumbtip away and show it clean. This will divert attention from the fist with the thumbtip on.

Turn the fist with the thumbtip in slowly upside down. the glitter in it will cascade to the floor.

Take the empty hand and put the thumb into the fist. Here it collects the thumbtip. Move the now empty fist around and show it as empty. This distracts the viewer from the fact that the thumbtip is now on the thumb of the other hand.

Announce that you need to sneeze. Put the hand with the thumbtip on into your pocket to get the tissue. Release the thumbtip into the pocket, and take out the tissue. The quicker you do this, the less it looks like you are putting something into your pocket as well.

Bring the tissue to your nose and mime sneezing. As you do, tear the tissue up. The glitter in it will cascade to the floor. Throw the peices of tissue down with it.

Pick up the gimmicked paper with the message folded in. Show both sides blank.

Take the glitter and pour it into the unglued side.

Turn the paper around to show the non-Gimmicked side as blank. As you do so, fold the section of the gimmick with the message on out so it shows. Do this front on, so (unlike my performance) you can't see the paper being folded down.

Turn it around to reveal the message written in glitter!

Take a bow!

Note: Glitter is very messy indeed. Perform the effect over old newspaper, try not to get any glitter on your clothes, and clean up afterwards!