Bringing My Family Magic Show to the Melbourne Magic Festival 🪄

Bringing My Family Magic Show to the Melbourne Magic Festival 🪄

✨ A Little Note Before You Dive In

I just got to bring my family magic show all the way to Australia for the Melbourne Magic Festival, and my heart is still full! I performed for rooms packed with wide-eyed kids and their grown-ups, got happily mobbed by tiny magicians-in-training, and even picked up the sweetest review along the way.

Hi friends! 👋

I am still floating a little after this one. I recently had the absolute joy of bringing my children's magic show all the way to Australia to perform at the Melbourne Magic Festival, one of the biggest and most beloved magic festivals in the world. As an international guest star, I got to share my family show, Magical Katrina the Whimsical Witch, with rooms full of giggly kids, curious grown-ups, and the occasional very serious five-year-old who was NOT going to be fooled that easily (spoiler: they were, and it was adorable).

If you've ever wondered what it's really like to pack up your props, fly across the world, and perform a family magic show for a brand-new audience who's never seen you before… let me take you behind the scenes. ✨

What It's Like to Perform for a Room Full of Kids

Here's the thing about a great children's magic show: the kids are the show. They're not sitting quietly and politely watching from a distance. They're right up front on the mats, wiggling, shouting out guesses, demanding to inspect my hands, and completely convinced they've just figured out how I did it (they haven't, but I love that they think so).

At Melbourne, the theatre was packed, the energy was buzzing, and I got to do exactly the kind of show I love most: warm, silly, interactive, and full of real reactions. My whole approach as a performer — whether I'm doing a big festival stage or working as a kids party magician at a birthday — is that magic should feel like an invitation to play, not a lecture with a wand. I want kids leaving thinking they were part of something impossible, because they were.

And honestly? The grown-ups get just as swept up in it. Some of my favorite laughs of the whole run came from the adults in the back row. 😄

A Review That Absolutely Made My Week 💖

Now here's the part I've been so excited to share. A lovely reviewer over at Tay Around Town came to see Magical Katrina the Whimsical Witch with her five-year-old (affectionately called "Miss 5" in the review) and her aunty, and then wrote the sweetest write-up about the show.

She described a packed house full of excited kids and grown-ups, and she especially got a kick out of the jokes tucked in for the adults including a bit about the currency exchange and a very relatable moment about eating chocolates in the car. 😂 She wrote about how the show got wonderfully boisterous when a whole crowd of children mobbed me trying to see what had appeared (or vanished) from my hands, and she was kind enough to note that I stayed patient with all those curious little inspectors wanting to check every prop.

What meant the most to me is that she found the show modern and refreshing. She pointed out that I wove in current, relevant references that today's kids and parents actually recognize, instead of the tired old clichés people sometimes expect from magic.

But my favorite moment in the whole review? Miss 5 who is apparently usually shy around magicians made a beeline after the show to get a photo with me, and later named me her favorite of the entire festival. The reviewer even joked she'd better start saving for a family trip to the USA so Miss 5 can see me again. I mean… I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying. 🥹

Her final verdict called the show a total winner with a refreshingly modern take on magic, and said she hopes to see more from me soon. You can read the full review over on Tay Around Town here — thank you so much, Tay, for coming along and for such a thoughtful write-up!

Why I Love Performing Family Magic Shows

Reviews like this remind me exactly why I do what I do. There's something so special about a family magic show, because you've got three-year-olds, teenagers, parents, and grandparents all in the same room, all gasping at the same moment. Magic is one of the very few things that can genuinely land for every single age at once.

Whether I'm the featured act at a big festival like Melbourne, or I'm the kids party magician making one very lucky birthday kid feel like the star of the universe, the goal is always the same: I want people to laugh, to feel included, and to walk away with a memory that sticks long after the show is over. Kids remember the moment they got to hold the magic wand or "help" make something disappear. Parents remember watching their little one light up. That's the good stuff. That's the whole reason. ✨

Thank You, Melbourne! 🇦🇺

To everyone who came out to the Melbourne Magic Festival, to the festival team, and to every single kid who shouted out a guess or came up for a hug afterward thank you, thank you, thank you. Getting to bring my children's magic show across the world and be welcomed so warmly is a genuine dream, and I'm so grateful.

If you'd love to bring a little wonder to your own event whether that's a birthday party, a family celebration, a school show, or a big theatrical production I would love to hear from you. You can find all my shows, workshops, and colorful chaos over at magicalkatrina.com.

Until next time, stay curious and keep playing. 💫