Magic tricks you can perform at a birthday party: classic crowd-pleasers and surprise effects
Are there any of you who are thinking, “I want to perform magic at a birthday celebration for someone special—like a friend, partner, or family member!”?
A magic performance can liven up a birthday party, and if you can pull off a surprising routine, you can amaze and delight the birthday person.
In this article, we’ll introduce a selection of magic tricks that are perfect for birthday parties.
We’ve chosen not only surprise tricks that let you present a gift or a message, but also classic coin and card magic, as well as tricks you can do using items commonly found at a dinner or drinking party.
Use this as a reference.
If you find a trick you want to try, practice it well and add it to your repertoire!
- Magic tricks to liven up a birthday party: Recommended illusions for entertainment and performances
- Hilarious magic! Crowd-pleasing tricks perfect for parties and performances
- [Childcare Magic] Easy! A special feature on magic tricks you’ll want to show kids
- With Explanations: Easy Magic Tricks for Lower-Grade Elementary School Children — How to Do Simple Tricks
- A roundup of magic tricks perfect for one-shot gags. Become the hero of the party!
- [Simple and Easy!] Birthday Surprise Ideas for Friends
- Magic tricks with a handkerchief: crowd-pleasing tricks for parties and performances
- Magic tricks with balls: recommended tricks for parties and performances
- Simple Magic! Fun Tricks Kids Can Do & Revealed Secrets!
- Birthday surprises you can do at school: A roundup of celebration ideas to wow your friends
- Surprise gifts to give on a birthday: touching birthday ideas
- [Surprising] A collection of body-based magic tricks [for parties and performances]
- Easy! Magic tricks that liven up a Christmas party. Simple tricks and their secrets revealed.
Magic tricks to perform at a birthday party: surprise effects and crowd-pleasing classics (41–50)
Love Vanish: disappears when you rub the coin
It’s a magic trick that makes a coin vanish instantly when you rub it on your palm—everyone will be amazed! Even if someone begs, “Do something!” at a birthday party, you can perform it right away as long as you have a coin, so why not take this opportunity to learn it? The secret is to move the coin toward your knee while you’re rubbing it on your palm.
Use your wrist and arm to shift the coin out of the spectator’s line of sight and let it drop onto your knee—that’s the key.
Once you get the knack, it’s an easy trick that even beginners can try!
Magic tricks you can perform at a birthday party: surprise effects and classic crowd-pleasers (51–60)
Birthday surprise
At birthday parties, many people have a great time gathered around a birthday cake.
A birthday cake has a special feel to it—but what if it appeared from a deck of cards used in a magic trick during the party? It would surely surprise and delight everyone, making for a perfect special surprise.
That said, elaborate magic tricks often require preparing gimmicks in advance and spending time practicing.
So, let’s try an easy magic trick using store-bought magic props.
With magic props, you just use a gimmicked deck and perform as instructed.
If a birthday cake appears from the card you marked yourself, the party is sure to liven up.
A pro reveals the secret behind the penetration trick.
This is a very popular magic trick that makes it look like a coin passes through your hand.
It gets the crowd going even if you do it early on, and it would probably be a hit as a surprise, too.
Like in the video, if you say, “Why are you wearing a coin?” and suddenly produce one, it would likely catch people off guard.
The coin teleports while both hands remain open.
It’s a coin teleportation magic trick, and what’s amazing is that you can actually see the moment when one card becomes two, which makes it all the more astonishing.
The hardest part is holding two coins in one hand, and it takes quite a bit of practice, but you can do it with 500-yen coins, so definitely give it a try.
A magic trick where a cut banknote is restored to its original state
Don’t you think there are many people who like money? Magic tricks that use money are sure to draw attention.
Here’s a trick where a cut bill is restored.
You use two bills and make it look like one gets cut.
Beforehand, fold one bill in half and place it into an envelope.
Then, without folding it, put the other bill into the same envelope.
The secret is that the back of the envelope has a slit the same size as a bill.
Through that slit, you slide half of the bill out and fold it.
Inside the envelope, you’re left with one bill folded in half, and another bill with half of it sticking out of the envelope.
All that’s left is to cut along the slit with scissors.
With this simple setup, you can perform a popular money magic trick.
Magic that turns 1,000 yen into 10,000 yen!
It’s a dreamlike magic trick where a 1,000-yen bill turns into a 10,000-yen bill.
In fact, a 10,000-yen bill is folded and attached where the thumb rests, and as the 1,000-yen bill is folded, the 10,000-yen bill emerges and is simply unfolded.
Still, it’s a trick with a very strong impact.
No setup! The ultimate mentalism that predicts a thoroughly shuffled deck
This is a magic trick where you deliberately create a situation in which it’s almost impossible for you to guess the card, have the spectator choose a card, and then still manage to name it correctly.
The method is clever; with practice you can perform it, but it’s a bit complicated, so you’ll want to make sure you won’t panic during the actual performance.