Category Archives: Magic

Restaurant events

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Restaurant Entertainment can be quite tricky as it has to create the right ambience. If you want to hire a band or musician, be aware that the music can’t be too loud or your customers will not be able to speak amongst each other, and that might be awkward. Make sure your entertainment fits into your venue as you wouldn’t want to hire a big 6 piece live jazz band, only to squeeze them into a corner. So it is better to ask how much space they need and then work it into your restaurant layout.

1. Magicians – Magicians are great restaurant entertainment as they can meet and greet your guests. The magician can also walk around and do some table magic which your customers would thoroughly enjoy. It also means they would not have to move about much and can enjoy the magical party entertainment from the comfort of their own table with their family and friends.

2. Live Band- Whether your band range from a 2 piece to an 8 piece, hired live bands are a great source of entertainment. Your customers will love listening to some smooth jazz, or even some modern hits played live in the background. Having a live band may also keep your customers at the restaurant after they have had their dinner. Offer them a seat at the bar, where they can order more drinks and
listen to the band, even dance to the band if they wish.

3. Solo musicians. Give your restaurant that classical elegant and sophisticated feeling by having a solo musician play beautiful music in the corner of the restaurant. You could choose from a solo saxophonist, a solo classical guitarist or the beautiful sounds of the piano. All would suit any restaurant as this style of music is pleasing to most people.

4. Dancers – Dancers can really bring your restaurant to life with the vibrant colours, the fast paced music and of course the exciting dance moves. Have your dancers situated outside the restaurant building to make your customers experience start from when they literally walk in the door. Plus, think of the exposure you will get from the public taking photos with your restaurant logo behind.

If you choose Restaurant Entertainment you will most definitely see your customers happier and even your staff happier. It will bring a new lease of life into your restaurant and should attract some new customers. So give restaurant entertainment a go, you never know what it could do for your business.

Getting the right entertainment

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So, you have been planning your private party for ages and now the moment has come… the big day is now in sight! Of course, you already have an idea about your venue type, colour scheme, decoration and considered the entertainment

Ensuring you have the right event entertainment can be the difference between a ‘good’ party and an unforgettable one! It’s important to keep your guests entertained throughout and it’s important you get it right… including picking the right venue to suit your plans.

Whichever entertainment you decide on, you need to make sure your venue can accommodate. Whether you have ideas on a party band, or dance troupe you need to ensure the venue suits the entertainment.

We have come up with several foolproof tips to help you make the right venue decision to compliment your entertainment plans. From picking the right sized venue to ensuring you have the correct facilities to work with, we can make your planning a little bit easier.

Space

Ceilidh bands are always a great form of entertainment as they can work as a brilliant ice breaker and really help to get your guests on their feet and dancing. If you have a Ceilidh band in mind, you need to ensure not only that there is enough space for the band to perform,but plenty of space for your guests to get up and dance. If you were planning to have a dance performance, space is crucial and you need to ensure there is enough room for the performers and the spectators.

Other forms of entertainment such as closeup magicians or caricaturists only need space to move freely around tables, whereas more exotic forms of entertainment such as a fire dancer will need a large area for safety reasons.

Stage
Some venues will have a stage or something similar, such as a raised part of the room. These are quite useful particularly if you want musicians or entertainment acts to be seen clearly by your guests.

The size of the stage is also important. If you planned on having a dance troop come and perform, you need to make sure the stage will be large enough to accommodate their routine and numbers.

Accessibility
Checking that your venue is accessible can sometimes be the make or break for your choice. It’s important your venue can be accessed by all. If you’re having a twelve-piece band but your venue is on the top floor of a building with no lift, it’s certainly not ideal for a band to carry all their instruments up. You need to make sure that any equipment or props your entertainment may need can be easily transported to your venue.

Acoustics
Checking the acoustics of the venue before you book is also important, particularly if your entertainment plans involve music. Also take note of the different materials around the venue- if you are planning to have a marquee, remember that material absorbs sound.
If you have no idea about acoustics, check with your entertainment what sort of room or material would be suitable. You should always ask your venue as well.

Curfew?
When viewing your venue option, ask if there is a curfew for loud music or entertainment. You’ll find that quite a lot of venues have this in place, particularly hotels with other guests. If the curfew is ten o’clock and you always imagined you’d be partying through the night, perhaps find another venue that will be able to accommodate late celebrations.

We hope you take this advice on board when you are in the first stages of picking your venue. Remember, if you are completely set on a form of entertainment, you need to make sure it’s doable before you finalise your venue! If you’re still looking for ideas for your event, we have plenty to browse through on Red Masque.

Can you do magic?

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When you want to organise a private party most would ponder on if to hire a professional magician. But what if you could learn the trade? So we thought we’d show you a few magic tricks that you can do on your friends and family first. It might not turn you into a brilliant magician overnight but hopefully with these few basic tricks.

Money magic

Jay Sankey is one of the best Canadian magicians out there, whose tricks have been performed by all of the finest illusionists around the world including David Copperfield and David Blaine (to name just two). Although he sells a lot of his magic tricks to the community, he also has a fascinating YouTube channel that is well worth a look if you want to stun your mates with anything from cards right through to paperclips. In this fab little trick, he changes a coin into a note. Well worth learning!

Cups and Balls

A classic from many a Paul Daniels magic set, the Cups and Balls routine is a magic stalwart that you can get to learning with just a few basic props – a few cups and a few balls. Since they do an incredible magic performance and then tell us how it’s done, we thought we’d show you the cups and balls as performed by Penn and Teller. You’ll have to watch it through over and over again before you solve it, but that’s part of the fun. Magic!

Slop Card Trick

If you’re looking to learn magic, then YouTube is a great resource. There are many, many magicians and performers willing to take you through learning a magic trick or two and although the tutorial qualities vary, some really do seem to go the extra mile. Before trying a card trick, we highly recommend investing in a pack of Blue or Red Bicycle cards as it certainly makes the performance that bit easier.

It’s all about magic

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When someone suggests to hire a magician for an event, you might conjure up images of a cheesy magician from the eighties. Perhaps even a children’s magician who will produce an incomplete colouring book at a corporate event, waving a literal magic wand and suddenly showcasing the pages full of colour. When we talk about it hiring magicians for corporate events, we mean something a lot more cool and a lot more enjoyable.

Ice Breakers
When people arrive for a corporate event, it’s fair to say that even if they’re from the same company, they might not know anybody there. As such, a magician is a brilliant way to break the ice, encouraging others to form a group around where the trick is performed and ensuring that people can talk after being introduced. As the magician moves on to another group, these two, three or even four people can chat about the miracle they’ve just witnessed! Magicians are great for breaking the ice at parties and events and best of all, getting people talking!

Social Media
A great trick is sure to amaze and to that end, magicians are very likely to have their performance shared on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so that guests in attendance can share the magic with their friends online. This is brilliant for any corporate client because it means that not only is their event being shared but their company brand and logo might feature in the background of a photo or video, whilst they get the added benefit of looking like a fun company to work for who reward their employees with fantastic evenings out! How’s that for free advertising and PR?

It isn’t just magic…
When you book a magician for an event, you might be thinking only of card and coin tricks. Not so! We want you to think even further than that – magicians aren’t just able to pull of some incredible sleights of hand but are also able to provide some astonishing feats of mentalism as well. Think the most amazing tricks by Derren Brown! Combining familiar card tricks with displays of mind reading really does stun guests and are another great reason for having magic in attendance

Christmas Entertainment 2017

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Selfridges have already opened their Christmas shop for 2017, Christmas is already at the front of people’s thoughts. Are you looking book your office Christmas party this year? With dates already being booked up it pays to get in early – we thought we’d recommend a number of acts to hire for your corporate event!

Fluxo Acrobatics

A beautiful act and one that is very often the most popular piece of entertainment at parties where it features. The acrobats features two talented acrobats performing inside a giant dome, much like those many of us had as children. As sparkling snowflakes fall around them, the duo deliver a stunning performance that showcases their incredible flexibility, grace and strength. Sure to leave all entranced, this is a must see!

Human Statues

Is there an act that you love as much as Human Statues? We aren’t sure but this hilarious concept is one that causes huge amounts of laughter no matter where the Statues reside! Appearing to all and sundry as normal Statue decoration, the Statues ‘jump’ out at guests as they arrive at your Christmas party and some of the photos are absolutely hysterical. One for those looking to focus on the fun of Christmas!

Barbican Brass

Finally, what would a Christmas party be without any festive tunes? From Jingle Bells to I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day, The Barbican Brass can belt out both carols and classic festive hits alike, so why look anywhere else for your Christmas tunes? Thinking that your staff or colleagues may well prefer a break from yet another outing for Merry Christmas Everybody by Slade? No problem, The Barbican Brass can also deliver a set that simply focuses on pop songs everybody enjoys. Something for everybody then! The true spirit of Christmas.

If you’re looking to book your office Christmas party or corporate event– and we’re sorry that job has fallen to you – do not fear. If you like what you’ve read above or simply want a few more ideas,

Its no joke

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The Joker itself was invented sometime around 1860 by players of the card game Euchre, a trick-taking trump card game for four players. Relying on memory, tactics and good communication, you don’t use the entire deck but somewhere between 24 and 32 cards. It was believed to be introduced to the US by German settlers, though this is in dispute and it may also have been introduced to the American mainland by immigrants from Cornwall and Devon.

We have all shuffled a pack of cards at a private party. Cards are great entertainment for events. Most probably you own at least one, just in case we want to practice a couple of magic tricks or have a game or two of a popular card game. You normally take the playing cards from the pack, take out the Jokers and start dealing the cards. But have you ever stopped to wonder where the Joker comes from and why it is there? Well we have the information that you require!

In the 1860s, some American card players of Euchre devised some new rules for their beloved game. The problem? It required an extra card. Sure, they could have used one of the spare cards from the deck, but since all the face cards are part of the game, this wouldn’t have been a ‘good fit’. They referred to the new card they came up with as the Best Bower, adding it to the game where it became the highest trump card available.

Looking to make a quick buck from these variation rules, American card manufacturers quickly jumped on the trend by including a couple of extra cards in their decks. The British were a little slower to catch on though, only adding them in during the 1880s.

The Best Bower card was slowly phased out to become the Joker or Jolly Joker that we all know and love today. Like the Ace of Spades, it was typically branded with the company logo or with a unique floral motif that connected it to the manufacturer. It wasn’t until the Joker title for the card became more common that it was almost always represented by a performing jester.

Despite the fact you may think the Joker is connected in some way to the Fool in Tarot cards, you might be interested to know that there is no connection at all. Tarot cards have been around since the 15th century when jesters were still a possible career option and there is no link to the Jokers in a pack of cards.

Your next Halloween party

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Are you thinking about having a mystical event, where the thought of your future being read is very thought provoking? You will have to agree even if you were a bit sceptical you cannot fail to be a little intrigued?

Illusionists are getting more advanced with their clever tricks that will misdirect you to looking elsewhere even though you thought you had your eye firmly on the ball – these professional and extremely clever illusionists will fool you time and time again and you will believe in Magic!!!

Magicians work the same but if you wanted the more traditional magic tricks then you are able to hire from our Red Masque Directory, from Children’s magicians to adult ones we have got something for everyone.

Or for something a little daring? Why not hire an escapologist with there up-to-the –minute death defying acts that would amaze the most sceptical of us!! An edge of your seat performance which leave little time for the escapologist to escape unhurt. We all know they will make it but it still makes up wonder ‘what if?’

Contortionists on the other hand can amaze us with bending their bodies in the tiniest of places; these contortionists can be part of a magic act where they can fit into the most impossible places making us believe that they have disappeared.

Mind readers, as the name suggests, can put on an entertaining event by reading many of your guests minds who want to participate.

Another act to consider are Hypnotists for parties they can be used for medical issues but also for party entertainment – a night with a Hypnotist can be an absolute scream, you just need to select your guests who are willing to participate. They will swear blind nothing happened when they leave the stage but leave all your watching guests in stitches at the silly things that the participants did!!

We are sure that you have found what you have been looking for by reading this – once you have decided what you want for your event, simply book a few using an online booking form and make your event something special!!

Look into the future

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Are you thinking about having a mystical event, where the thought of your future being read is very thought provoking? You will have to agree even if you were a bit sceptical you cannot fail to be a little intrigued?

People who read the future have been around for centuries and come in many forms it could be a Crystal Ball Reader, Palmist or a Tarot Reader.

Mind readers on the other hand as the name suggests can put on an entertaining event by reading many of your guests minds who want to participate.

Another act to consider are Hypnotists they can be used for medical issues but also for entertainment – a night with a Hypnotist can be an absolute scream, you just need to select your guests who are willing to participate. They will swear blind nothing happened when they leave the stage but leave all your watching guests in stitches at the silly things that the participants did!!

Illusionists are getting more advanced with their clever tricks that will misdirect you to looking elsewhere even though you thought you had your eye firmly on the ball – these professional and extremely clever illusionists will fool you time and time again and you will believe in Magic!!!

Magicians work the same but if you wanted the more traditional magic tricks then you are able to hire from our Red Masque Directory, from Children’s magicians to adult ones we have got something for everyone.

Or for something a little daring? Why not hire an escapologist with there up-to-the –minute death defying acts that would amaze the most sceptical of us!! An edge of your seat performance which leave little time for the escapologist to escape unhurt. We all know they will make it but it still makes up wonder ‘what if?’

Contortionists on the other hand can amaze us with bending their bodies in the tiniest of places; these contortionists can be part of a magic act where they can fit into the most impossible places making us believe that they have disappeared.

We are sure that you have found what you have been looking for by reading this – once you have decided what you want for your party event, simply book a few using an online booking form and make your event something special!!

18 Birthday Party

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18 is a time of coming of age and celebrating it in true style. Many 18th private parties are becoming quite similar these days so why not make your 18th birthday party one to remember.

We’ve chosen a 18th Birthday, but this could be for any Birthday, just tailor to the age.

Firstly, choose a birthday party venue; this could be your own house. Secondly choose a theme. Trust us, this will make your 18th birthday party that extra bit more unique and give your guests the excitement leading up to your party.

Finally, hire party entertainers.. make your 18th birthday party stand out from the crowd and have some of the most interesting and lively entertainment. Underneath is a variety of 18 birthday party entertainment ideas to help you!

DJ – Every party needs great music. You will not need to worry about changing songs over on your IPod when a DJ can do it all for you by using the latest technology. You can tell the DJ exactly what music you would like played so your music can be catered specifically for you!

Photo booth – Why not keep a little memory of your 18th birthday party night by hiring a photo booth. Your guests will have so much fun trying on colourful props and overall having fun in the photo booth. Instant photos will be available for your guests and you will receive a DVD of all photos taken on the night.

Themed nights– Give your party that Vegas feel by having your very own fun casino. Spin the wheel, place your fun bets and have a laugh with all your guests. Get your friends having a laugh and the style of entertainment is top class. Nobody else will have a casino at their 18th!

Magician – A walk around magician is perfectly suited to an 18th Birthday party. The magician will stun your guests with various tricks that will definitely catch them out. The magician could also be a comedian on the side, so Dynamo mixed with a bit of Lee Evans will go down a storm at your 18th private party.

Fish and Chip Van – If you are unsure of the party catering you would like for your party, then why not hire out a fish and chip van. The food caters for everybody’s tastes and your guests will enjoy their very own freshly cooked food. You can tailor the food to your requirements as well, burgers, sausages, goujons… whatever you want you can have!

Overall, enjoy your 18th birthday party. This is your big night; it’s not every day you take that step from a childhood to adulthood. Your 18th birthday party will be all about you, show it off, and make sure to get the perfect entertainment for your party. But the best thing you can do is smile and create some amazing memories and plan the best 18th birthday party ideas right here!

You can do magic

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We thought we’d do the decent thing and show you a few magic tricks that you can do on your friends and family. It might not turn you into a brilliant magician overnight but hopefully with these few basic tricks.

Cups and Balls

A classic from many a Paul Daniels magic set, the Cups and Balls routine is a magic stalwart that you can get to learning with just a few basic props – a few cups and a few balls. Since they do an incredible magic performance and then tell us how it’s done, we thought we’d show you the cups and balls as performed by Penn and Teller. You’ll have to watch it through over and over again before you solve it, but that’s part of the fun. Magic!

Slop Card Trick

If you’re looking to learn magic, then YouTube is a great resource. There are many, many magicians and performers willing to take you through learning a magic trick or two and although the tutorial qualities vary, some really do seem to go the extra mile. Before trying a card trick, we highly recommend investing in a pack of Blue or Red Bicycle cards as it certainly makes the performance that bit easier.

Money magic

Jay Sankey is one of the best Canadian magicians out there, whose tricks have been performed by all of the finest illusionists around the world including David Copperfield and David Blaine (to name just two). Although he sells a lot of his magic tricks to the community, he also has a fascinating YouTube channel that is well worth a look if you want to stun your mates with anything from cards right through to paperclips. In this fab little trick, he changes a coin into a note. Well worth learning!