Here is my list of places where I've professionally performed magic for children along with 3 (asterisk marked) that I've not yet done, but would like to try.

Please add to this list other places you think would hire magicians to entertain or educate children using magic. My experience is limited to America. You may know of other venues in your country that would differ, so please clue us in to your magical world perspective.

Remember, children's shows run a gamut of ages. Shows for each age bracket will be drastically different. Pre-school, grade school, middle school, junior high, and high school children and young person’s all require different programs, skill sets, and approaches from the performer. Only the most versatile and experienced performers will attempt to span the entire range of ages. Most will wisely specialize.

1) The all time #1 classic place to be booked for a children’s show is at a BIRTHDAY PARTY. To get repeat bookings this requires much patience in always dealing politely and professionally with both the children and the adults (and not just those that hired you; every mom & dad present is a potential future client for which you are showcasing. This will not always be easy since many children do not know what to expect from live entertainment. A live show, especially in a home setting, is a new experience of which you must be in control and show them how to experience it. Think of it as a classroom and help them to think of it partly in those terms as well. Parents' most precious part of their lives are their kids. How you treat them will be the way they think of you and will determine both repeat & spin-off engagements. To some extent this will be true of all shows for children, but especially in the birthday party venue where parents are the ones deciding if you are really able to make their next party a positive experience and a success.

2) The second most popular venue is SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES (large shows) and smaller CLASSROOM PARTIES. These will typically be more controlled than the home setting because the kids will know this is school and the teacher(s) is (are) present. They are also accustomed to appropriate behavior in an assembly. For large assemblies, do not count on the school having an adequate or working public address system. Bring your own. If it is needed, and if they know it, you can even add the "rental" of it as an extra fee,

3) Akin to the school shows above are the EDUCATIONAL FEATURE presentations. In this show you become the expert in an area of education, typically one of the sciences, math, health, or reading, etcetera. Conversely, the program may address a problem prevention area like bullying, gangs, drugs or other area where awareness and prevention is your specialty. Magic takes a back seat to the topic, but it is used throughout not just to highlight a point or to lighten things up a bit, but as a function to teach and illustrate a part of the process of the thing to be learned or to show how to avoid problems or peer pressures. This kind of show is not for everyone. It involves a degree of specialization which will sometimes be questioned by the school considering hiring your services. If you have a degree or certification in the specialty or in education in general you will find this show will be an easy sell and bump out competition selling only the entertaining magic show version above.

4) BANQUETS or SEASONAL PARTIES are a good source of revenue for the children's magician. The problem here is that many are indeed seasonal and will all be packed onto one time of year or even a specific date. The trick here is to be selective and take only the best paying or the highest publicity shows (when one is both it is likely to be a "no brainer" choice if you can book it). It is highly unlikely you will be abe to handle all the shows in your area on the same dates. Although if you explain the tightness of your schedule at that time of year and apologize for the need to keep a rigid time frame; and if you explain that even if changes in their program cut your show short or prevent you from performing in order to leave in time to be on time for your next show, they will still need to pay you in full for reserving your time, those who really want you will still hire you. I do not do this often. You will need two complete show sets or easy to reset items to pull this off, but it can be done. I have never tried it, but I think that if you really wanted to do the first of the two shows and had not already committed to the one starting at a later time, you may be abe to negotiate a premium seasonal price for them to have you miss the other show and pay you basically for both shows just to reserve you exclusively for theirs. Personally, I would rather squeeze in both as you never know which will breing in the most referrals.

Here is a brief list of some types of banquets that span the age range from young children through high school teens (barely in the children's show arena).

A) BOY & GIRL SCOUT organizations, YOUTH CLUBS, CIVIC, CHURCH, & FARM organizations hold annual banquets or programs. Some hold have an banquet at the end of the winter or fall season and a special ceremony induction service at the beginning of their group's calendar year that may or may not include a special dinner. Think Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquets, Brownies, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, AWANA, Pathfinder and Adventurer clubs, 4H Clubs, and many others.

*B) Season's end SPORT'S TEAM Banquets (that for kid's shows, range from regular school teams to programs not associated with a particular school such as little league, area hockey teams, and a host of others.)

There's a post limit so I omit C-on & others in detail: *Library, *Pre-school, Park District, VBS, Camps, & more than space left. Your turn.      

Couldn't agree with you more Strat, its a wonderful post. Thanks for contributing.* I dont know how to make a heart symbol like the one strat did, so just imagine one here ___*