Product Review: Pack Flat Illusions For Kids & Family Shows By J.C. Sum

I don't normally fill my professional blog with "Magic Reviews" but every once and a while I don't mind changing things up for a good reason! I have long been a fan of J.C. Sums releases to the magic community. From my viewpoint he is a "real world worker" who has performed professionally in many different types of venues. From his humble beginnings in the B-Day party market to Fortune 500 corporate extravaganzas, J.C. Sum clearly demonstrates he has a vast body of knowledge in many different areas of the entertainment market.

His latest release is focused on the kid and family show market, specifically illusions. Having read his other illusion books I pretty much knew what to expect. Once again he delivers the goods. Each illusion is meticulously explained and illustrated in a clear and concise manner. You don’t need to be a master carpenter to put most of these ideas to life and into your show.

The book outlines 8 unique illusions for the family show entertainer. There are several unique production boxes, a few child production illusions, an interesting aquarium illusion, and a super cool vanishing head  / twister illusion. While all the illusions in the book are all very unique, the two that really stand out for me are the “The Gift Box” and “The Birthday Cake Table”.

The Gift Box is a wonderful, low cost / easy build, illusion that you could put together in a few minutes. It allows you the ability to produce just about anything that will fit into the box! I really like the logic and thinking behind this one. The second one that really stands out for me was The Birthday Cake Table. This unique table design will allow you to magically produce a B-day cake. The workings are very clever and will produce the cake ‘safely’ at any time during your show. Imagine using “The Gift Box” to magically produce a very special present for the B-Day child then follow it up by magically producing the B-Day cake! If you are doing B-Day shows, these two illusions alone would be a strong selling point for any B-Day show.

For larger family shows I really like “Super Saver Delivery”. This is a FANTASTIC child production that you can build for less than a $100. The great part about this is your assistant will be able to perform this with only minimal pre-show instruction.

I really like the content of this book. I think there is a lot of creativity in the ideas and variety in the methodologies that J.C. presents. I can honestly say that if I was still in the B-Day market I would without hesitation add “The Gift Box” and “The Birthday Cake Table” to my show. In fact I would probably focus my marketing around these two tricks alone! Imagine telling the B-Day child’s mom that you can magically produce their ‘special gift’ from mom and dad AND then magically produce the B-Day cake as a finale! That show would be booked!

In conclusion, if you are a family show or B-Day show performer I think you will get some very good ideas from this book. As with all of J.C.’s releases I can highly recommend this as material that is suitable for working professionals.

For more info on this product you can click on the following link: Pack Flat Illusions For Kids & Family Shows

Until Next Time,

Cody S. Fisher