the season of magic

One of the best things about the holidays is the magical feel in the air. Since all your friends and relatives are gathered in one place, why not take the opportunity to practice your magic act? We have some cool tricks to try out this year. From sleight of hand to illusion, there's something for every aspiring magician in our trunk full of tricks.

It's probably best to start with something easy, like the Pen Through Dollar trick or the Cigarette Through Coin trick. In the first, you get a dollar from someone in your audience and then jam your magic pen right through it, but when you return the dollar, it's unharmed! In the coin trick, you push a cigarette (or a pencil if you prefer) right through a normal looking quarter. Both are very easy to learn but very hard for your audience to figure out. The Rigid Rope trick is pretty simple, but if you need help it comes with instructions and a couple of funny routines. I like doing the Linking Rings trick. Eight seemingly solid rings come apart and link together in dozens of ways. It takes a bit of time to master this one, but with a little practice, you can do a hundred tricks with them.

Ask for a female volunteer to help you with the Baffling Bra trick. Two handkerchiefs seem to pass right through her body, snagging her lacy bra on the way. This one makes everyone laugh, including your victim. But you might want to save it for after the little ones are in bed.

I like the D'Lite trick because it's easy and you can work it into lots of other tricks. You can pluck a light out of thin air, pass it between your hands, throw it to someone across the room or even make your ears light up. It's a very, very clever trick. I've been doing it for years and no one has ever figured out how it works. This year, I've been studying the DVD, watching master magicians work with the trick and practicing some more advanced techniques. I can't wait to try out my new “act.”

My nephew is into card tricks, so I got him the Card Trick Encyclopedia for Christmas. It's a staggering collection of 600 card tricks that have been invented and improved upon by magicians for over 40 years. The writing style is clear and the instructions are really easy to follow. I think he'll even be able to quickly learn a few tricks for the “show” this year. I also bought him the Learn To Levitate DVD. It's very simple to make money, cards, knives, balls and other objects levitate. Believe it or not, it's just as easy to levitate yourself. You don't even need any special gimmicks or rigging. All you need is about a half hour to watch the DVD and you'll be levitating household objects.

With a bag full of tricks and a room full of friends and relatives trapped inside because of the cold, you've got yourself a holiday magic show. Which reminds me, I'd better get going—I still need to practice a couple of those D'Lite tricks.