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“Seems a bit high!”

Had a complaint on WhatsApp today from a children’s birthday party enquiry. From a business perspective, I don’t think it is necessary to justify one’s prices but I thought it interesting to make a rough breakdown.

Sorry if the prices of my party entertainment are too high. But the cost to hire magician and birthday party entertainer Ritchie Rosson (me) includes:

DBS criminal records check

Public liability insurance

£2000 sound system; iPad, remote control system, cables, spares of cables,

£1000 second sound system in case of unlikely breakdown of first.

£10,000 magic tricks and props; for every trick you see me perform I have bought and tried out 100 times more that weren’t up to par.

£££ balloons, and other tricks that use up materials in the routines.

£££ costumes; shirts, hats, trousers, trainers; all to be new(ish) to look fresh and fun

££ website

££ reasonably up to date iPhone so that I can do emails/messages and other party business for clear communication with my lovely clients.

Cost of my car which I only have for my shows. I walk and run most of the other days.

£20 per month for Adobe Premiere Pro so I can edit videos of my magic shows to not just show to my clients what I do but the process makes me a better entertainer by seeing myself on camera; what I do well and what I don’t.

£££ Attending magic conventions such as The Blackpool Magic Convention .

£££ dvds, books, downloads to learn magic tricks.

£££ cost of a computer and running it to edit all my sound effects and music.

££ my wages for the hours and hours I spend prepping my magic shows, learning magic tricks, editing music etc. You may think the price is for 1 or 2 hours but it’s hundreds of hours of prep time to bring what you see at a party.

£ It’s my full-time job and I think I deserve a reasonable remuneration for dealing with big groups of wild children as well as parents and missing my weekends for your party.

I’ve probably forgotten lots of other things but all worth it for the brilliant fun we have : )

For Prices And Availability:

Contact Ritchie Now! 

Best ADHD book ever

The Mini ADHD Coach by Alice Gendron. I’ve read a silly number of books about ADHD since suspecting I had it and since diagnosis. I struggle with the dry ones. I need humour to take the edge off this at times dispairing condition and this has it in droves but also super cuteness, straight-to-the-point advice without the waffle and padded-out anecdotes that authors are probably doing to tick the 300-page demand of their publishers.

Coming in a close second is the awesome Faster Than Normal by Peter Shankman. Have to recommend it on Audiobook. He shouts “SQUIRREL!” when he makes an important point to get the attention of the inattentive listener, hi there!

Amazon Music Stop Torturing Me!

I love my Amazon music. Sorry purists, but giving away my massive CD collection was liberating. And as an ADHD person, any way of organising something in my life with my voice is glorious and stops me from buying the same CD again and again when I forget I own it. I had 3 copies of Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits and I’m not even a big fan.

I love music. It fires me up for my shows. It eases life’s pains. I’m in ecstasy with all the wonderful songs I have on my Amazon music BUT! They don’t have a delete button on tracks. There’s a dislike button you can click on a track you have but guess what?! When you shuffle your music; they play your disliked tracks. Amazon, stop torturing me!

You click on a track and an option to delete it should be there? I’ve had that on every music program ever, even the most primitive ones. Spotify app owners, do they have a delete button? Do they? If so I am switching over right away BABY!

For Prices And Availability:

Contact Ritchie Now! 

Birthday Parties 2-Hours

I have entertained at over 1,000 birthday parties over the last 12 years. Children’s parties can of course be utter chaos but I have found a route into making them brilliant fun and super memorable for children and parents. The two-hour birthday party package works so well. Sorry to brag, but I get such great reviews and happy clients when I do two hours. One-hour bookings are ok but it leaves a window for kids to go wild and bring chaos to the party. In the two hours, I’m there 45 minutes early to set up. As the children arrive, I am READY! There is fun music playing. I immediately start joking with them, doing magic tricks, and using my bubble machine. At the end time, they all go home and the packing up happens after they’ve left. I put sooooooooooooooo much preparation time into my magic shows also so much work for me; to travel to, and from the venue. Carry in and out lots of heavy equipment. To prepare tricks, props and costumes,  for the show. The actual performance while I’m there is a fraction of what I give, so I decided it best to do all my children’s birthday parties as two hours. 

Children's entertainer Ritchie Rosson. Birthday parties in halls.

For Prices And Availability:

Contact Ritchie Now!