During social distancing times its important that we consider all the food items that we’ll be serving.

We want to avoid people gathering around & SHARING THINGS as much as possible!

No 2 liter bottles for everyone to pickup and share.
No Self serving buffets.
Have everything as pre packaged as possible.
Drinks, you should serve Individually! Like juice pouches, soda cans & bottled water!
Sweet treats like cupcakes and cookies should be pre bagged or pre boxed.
For the main food, you may want to consider having a server or a few servers.
Depending on the type of party you’re planning you may want to hire professional servers or you may want to draft a couple friends or family members to be food servers, running food to peoples tables

That is the tip: Make sure the beverages, refreshments and treats you’re serving are social distance friendly.

Find entertainment that will be extremely ENGAGING!

You want your guests to really feel connected to whatever entertainment you bring in. You want people to be enjoying themselves, to be laughing, smiling, and having a great time BECAUSE of the entertainment you bring in.

The last thing you want is to bring in entertainment for you party guests, especially during social distancing times when parties are RARE, and not having the entertainment connect with your guests; HAVING YOUR GUESTS BE BORED! OOF!

So! Consider finding entertainment that is the most engaging entertainment that you can possibly find.

Remember special events are… SPECIAL! They are not something you do everyday. You want to go all out and get the very BEST you can get.

Another aspect of entertainment is; are they professional?

Will they be visual enough or have great audio?

So, for example, if you are hiring a band you want to make sure the band has a proper sound system. Make Sure!

If you are hiring a variety performer like a clown or magician you want to make sure even people that are sitting a little farther away, WILL GET TO SEE!

That’s why I always recommend that when people are talking with someone about hiring them for entertainment, that you ask them a ton of questions. (which is a tips covered in another video. You can find all the video tips linked below)

One of the questions you may to ask is “what exactly are you going to do? tell me about your show! what are some of the tricks that you will perform?” This will give you a good idea of how visual the show is going to be.

Like in my show I do a magic illusion where someone’s head appears to GROW to the size of a watermelon and people can see the illusion from very far away. Even a very wide spread audience is able to see the magic happen.

Make sure they they have a good sound system, make sure they have a good show, MAKE SURE they have references and insurance.

You don’t want to regret hiring a company because they weren’t up to par to your event.

Another thing to consider is, What makes them special?? What makes them different? Why should you hire them over other people that offer what they offer.

You should look for entertainment that is unique, different, better than other options

One of the things I did to separate myself from other magicians is I trained my hands with a steel deck of cards in order to break the Guinness World Record for the most 1 handed playing card cuts in a minute.

I literally trained for many months & hosted a record breaking event for the sole purpose of letting people know that when they hire me, they are getting something extra special something different than all the other people that offer entertainment services.

Another thing I offer that I think is important is a money back guarantee. This is not always possible with every company, but I offer a 100% satisfaction money back gaurantee. I only want to be paid if I have exceeded my clients expectations.
I recommend you ask companies youre interested in working with “do you guarantee your work/do you offer a guarantee?”

Here’s a review from a client that was very happy with the entertainment her group recieved

” I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Ivan for a wonderful magic show. Everything he did was age appropriate. He were extremely professional and intuitive to the needs of the audience. To witness their reactions, laughter and the sheer delight on their faces was absolutely priceless. Amazing Ivan’s Magic was the best special we have ever had at our preschool. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for fun and entertainment. I am looking forward to working with him again in the future.”
Cindy Russell
Owner/Abigail Bottoms Preschool

So that is the tip:
Consider all aspects of entertainment:

Will it be engaging?
Will they be professional?
Do they have references and insurance?
Will they be unique?
Do they guarantee their work?

You want your entertainment to set up early so that your party goes smoothly. If you are planning different activities for your party you want to make sure you are following a schedule. Making sure your performers arrive early to set up is crucial to keeping to your schedule. You can ask them, “what time are you arriving?”

I always arrive early to set up. Make sure the company you’re working with will be arriving early and that they tell you in writing!

Accidents and delays happen. I’ve even heard horror stories of performers not showing up at all. This is usually the result of poor business practices like skipping a booking or taking a higher paying job instead of one that was committed to first!

Make sure your performer will make it to your party by promising it in writing. (I’m talking about a written agreement or contract)

If you’re planning to have entertainment at a certain time and then there is no entertainment at that time, your guests are just going to be bored. They’re just gonna be sitting around waiting for something to happen. So, make sure your entertainment arrives early!

Here’s a note received from a client that was very happy with my early arrival time:

“Ivan did a great show. He came earlier to the sight to set up, and started well on time. To find a reliable Entertainer was most important for us (we didn’t want to disappoint the guests). He presented fantastic fun show. Everyone was very happy with the result. Very friendly nice person, made our guests feeling very happy.
Definitely recommended!!”
Miki Kenny
NYC Restaurant Owner

That is the tip: If possible make sure your entertainment will arrive early!

It’s Important to have fun activities for your party that guests really enjoy. Now, there’s a lot options during social distancing times like these. For example, you could have a cell phone scavanger hunt! This is where, instead of picking the items up with their hands like in the regular scavanger hunt game, players go around taking pictures of what is called out. It’s a lot of fun!

Another socially distance friendly activity is something like a painting experience a cooking class or MAGIC workshop!

Imagine treating your party guests to learning some amazing secrets of Magic!

One of the highlights of my own magic show is when clients book my magic workshop combination package. Everyone gets to see simple magic, then they get to learn the secrets. Don’t be fooled by the fact that I said simple magic! These are some amazing tricks people will be able to peform minutes after learning the secrets. THEN they each recieve their very own magical GOODY BAG! AND THEN AFTER ALL THAT,You’ll be amazed at how everyone is running around showing their magic tricks off!

It’s really cool! As a matter of fact, here’s recent testimonial from client that had me do a magic workshop at her families communion:

“We had so much fun at my son’s communion party! I’m so happy that my friend told me about Amazing Ivan. All week long my friends have told me how their kids are still doing the awesome magic tricks they learned! My Son had such a great time, as did my daughter, my husband and I. Hopefully we’ll have another big event soon so we can have Ivan at that party as well! Thanks Ivan! for making his communion party a big hit!”
Stephanie Singer
Babylon, NY

So whether you book my magic show or my magic workshop or if you go in a totally different direction, I definately want you to have some socially distanced activities planned. That is really gonna make your party SPECTACULAR!

Activites that you want to try and avoid at times like these are things like piñatas, face painting or bouncy castles since they involve shared materials and shared space (in the case of the bouncy castle)

That is the tip: Make sure you have fun socially distance friendly activities planned for your party and for your guests to enjoy.