How Much Does a Magician Cost for a New York Event?

Here at NewYorkMagicians.Live by See Magic Live, planners email us every day asking what a magician costs for their event. It’s a fair question, and the answer depends on a handful of things you mostly already know.

You’ll hear back from us the same day, usually with a question or two of our own. Once we’ve checked who’s actually free on your date, real options with firm numbers take a couple more days.

How Many Guests, and How Spread Out Are They?

This is the first thing we ask on almost every inquiry. One magician circulating through a reception can reach a couple hundred guests over an evening. Past that, or when the party’s split across two rooms or two floors, you want a second performer.

This spring we sent Adam Elbaum and Tom Gibney to a conference after-party that ran across two restaurants on West 55th Street, about 400 guests between them. One magician in each room. Had we sent one performer to cover both, half those guests would’ve spent the night hearing about magic happening down the block.

So tell us the layout if you know it! Two rooms, one ballroom, a rooftop with a bar downstairs, it all changes the answer.

What’s Happening in the Room, and When?

A cocktail hour where everyone’s standing and circulating calls for interactive close-up magic, performed for two to six guests at a time. A seated dinner or a program with a stage calls for a group magic show, where the whole room watches together. A lot of our New York bookings combine both, with a magician strolling through the reception and then a show for everyone once dessert is cleared. If you are torn between the two, we compared them side by side here.

As for how long to book someone, plenty of planners have no idea, and that’s completely fine. Tell us what you’re thinking as far as the rundown for the event. For example, approximately when doors open, when dinner is served, when the speeches start. We’ll tell you where a magician does the most good and for how long...or if we recommend your event needs more than one magician! If you don’t know your run of show yet, that’s also fine - tell us what you do know so far, and we’ll go from there.

Which Magician Do You Want?

Both magicians we sent to West 55th Street, for example, are on our New York roster. A few of the performers there have national television credits and guests might already know their name. Others are working New York and New Jersey magicians your guests won’t recognize, and they’ll hold a room just as well. Which one you go with moves the number more than anything else. A New York booking can start around $2,000 for a close-up magician working a cocktail hour and reach $50,000 for someone your guests have seen on television. Tell us the kind of evening you’re building and we’ll point you to the ones who suit it.New York and New Jersey magicians your guests won’t recognize, and they’ll hold a room just as well. Which one you go with can swing the number by a factor of ten, so it’s worth telling us the kind of evening you’re building. We’ll point you to the ones who suit it.

That range is wide because the events are. A 40th birthday for eighteen friends in the back room of a restaurant usually runs $2,000 to $5,000. A corporate function for a hundred people in a rented ballroom, with a magician strolling through the reception and then a show for the whole room, runs more like $7,500 to $25,000, because an evening like that needs someone established enough to hold a room full of people who matter to your business.

Tell us who’s in the audience. A floor of engineers. A room of clients being thanked. A fortieth birthday where half the guests are cousins. A conference of industrial engineers is going to be a different vibe than a conference of school administrators. We’ll handpick performers who suit your crowd and let you compare the options.

When Is It, and Is Anything Approved Yet?

Our New York December fills first, and it fills early. If your event falls anywhere between Thanksgiving and the holidays, send us the date as soon as you have it, even if nothing else about the evening is settled. We can hold someone while the rest comes together!

And no, you don’t need an approved budget to ask. Planners send us details months ahead all the time, with a note that nothing’s signed off and they just need something to bring to their client. We quote it anyway. If you do have a ceiling, tell us, because it changes which performers we send you rather than whether we answer.

So: the date, the venue or at least the neighborhood, a rough guest count, and whatever you know about the run of show. We’ll take it from there.

If you’re planning something in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Westchester, or anywhere nearby, take a look at our New York roster and tell us about your event. We’ll tell you who fits!