The Setting
Outdoors is great as it gives us the vintage traveling circus feel. Plan to start the party right before dusk so that you will be eating by candle light.
Place tables and chairs around the grass amongst the tress if you have any. These can be lit up with twinkle lights and lighted balls and will cast a perfect ambiance for some magical happenings.
Make sure to have restrooms available and additional lighting if needed. You may want to set up some music. Make sure you have enough extension cord and check the sound levels to make sure music will be heard over the talking.
The Table
I love this elegant table setting. You can order kaleidoscopes, non-expensive white gloves, and jumbo playing cards on Oriental Trading. Use real dishes and glasses and a cloth table cloth in white or any color. Print table place cards (a roll of tape might be needed for windy days to keep it in place). Lay a magic wand next to the silverware. You can buy these or simply roll up a sheet of white paper topped with a slightly smaller piece of black paper. Tiny hair rubber bands wound a few times will keep the wand rolled up nicely. For added fun, print jokes, thank you's, fortunes, or magic trick instructions on the wands before rolling them up.
Martha Stewart's line of bunny serveware at Macy's are perfect for this elegant table and will look great at Easter as well. Any bunny accessories like this wine stopper and the magician's assistant pick holder above.
The Entertainment
Choose a magician with a vintage feel. Ask them to where their most elegant magician's outfit (top hat and tails are a must!) The magician should perform pocket magic (small tricks and bits of business from his pockets) at the tables as the guests arrive, are seated and are mingling for cocktails. Then directly following the meal service, the magician should perform a stage act (a performance meant for all to see at the same time, usually a ways back from the audience). Using several small table as opposed to a long one will help for all to see. Make sure to set up extra lighting for the show. Some magician's will bring their own back-drop and lights. Make sure to ask about that before the show. Generally, most magician's will bring their supplies and a small table to perform off of. If you want audience participation, make sure to say so!
Some magician's have other talents. Fire effects are a great finale to the show. Ask if your magician juggles fire, does fire poi, eats fire or has a flash pan (a magic trick that lets you light a fire in a pan and cover it producing something else.)
This would lead nicely into dessert around the fit pit or an outdoor movie.
I suggest Girl on the Bridge (a French film starring Vanessa Paradis filmed in Black and White about a washed up knife thrower who finds a young lady about to throw herself from a bridge. They team up to make a sensual and popular knife throwing act...but at what cost?
Another frighteningly appealing magic film is The Prestige, a dark story about how two rival magician's will stop at nothing to outdo each other, even if it means to the death.
Another one to try is The Illusionist
The Favors
Package up some of these custom cookies with silver shred for a magical thank you.
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