The Gift Raffle
/I want to start this post by noting that this coming Wednesday is going to be the last regular post on The Jerx for this year. January I am off, but I will stop in occasionally with some updates or to make fun of whatever goofball shit Joshua Jay is up to.
For supporters of the site, a reminder that the new schedule for the book release has the book coming out in springtime. I’m guessing April-ish, but I will keep you updated. Also, there are two more issue in the current volume of the newsletter. One will come out at the end of December or beginning of January, and the last one in the late February/early March time period.
Joe Mckay sent in this idea for a Christmastime effect. I like it.
Have a present addressed to somebody.
Then wrap that present inside more wrapping paper that has no label on it.
Gather a bunch of friends and/or family.
Have the present covered in Post-It notes. Each Post-It note has a different name of it (of one of the people gathered in the room).
Remove the Post-It notes and fold them up.
Place them inside a Karrell Fox Switching Envelope to mix up the names. [Joe suggested an envelope mentioned in Karrell Fox’s book, “Another Book.” But you can use any type of switching envelope, bag, box, etc.
Have a name chosen at random(?).
This is the force name of the person who the present is actually for.
They open the wrapping paper and find inside a present inside that is addressed to them.
The only changes I would make is that I would have everyone remove their own name from the present and drop them in whatever the switching vessel I’m using is.
And rather than having a present labelled specifically for the person I’m forcing, I would try to have a present that would only make sense for the person I’m forcing. To me it’s slightly more magical if your 14-year-old niece wins the “gift raffle” and the gift just happens to be a signed t-shirt from her favorite band, or something like that.
In that way I feel like the mentalism aspect is actually stronger because it feels less presentational. There is no, “Aha! The random slip matches my prediction!” They’re not choosing a slip to see if it matches the tag on the present. They’re choosing a slip to decide who gets the present. And just by coincidence it’s the perfect gift for that person. If, afterwards, one of your big, burly 55-year-old uncles asks you, “If I had won, what exactly did you expect me to do with a size-small, signed BTS tour shirt?” Then you just tell them you don’t know. That you just had “a feeling” that was going to be the perfect gift for whoever won the raffle.
Or you could play up your “powers” to a more absurdist level. After your niece’s name is drawn, you rest a hand on the still unopened present and act like you’re concentrating deeply for a moment. After a little bit you snap out of it. “Okay,” you say, “it’s ready for you now.” As if you are somehow changing the gift in the box to match the chosen recipient.
If someone asks anything about how you did it, you ask them if they really want to know, and then you pull them aside and say dead seriously, “You know that song, ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’? Well, it’s based in reality. Santa loves the ladies. My mom didn’t just kiss him though. She fucked that fat slob silly. He’s my dad. And I have some of the Christmas magic in me. That’s how I did it. Please don’t tell anyone.”