5 Foolproof Tricks That’ll Make You the Life of the Party
No matter how self-assured and composed you may be, it’s hard not to be awestruck by a truly amazing party trick. Are they kind of useless? Of course! You will never be in a situation where your life depends on flicking on a lighter using only the jeans you have on. But a social gathering might just depend on it, and that’s almost as important.
We’ve laid out a few easy-to-learn party tricks that will make you the MacGyver of any soiree — but make sure to read the room before you break ’em out. You only want to use these when the time is absolutely right.
Make a Balloon out of a CD
Right time: A kindly competitive round of beers with friends
What you’ll need: A CD and a lighter
Take a CD (you remember those, don’t you?) and scrape the label off until you can see clear through a portion of it. Hold the flame of a lighter close to the section that you just scraped. Leave it there for around 30 to 45 seconds. Quickly bring it up to your face and blow into the warmed up section. It should expand outward like a skinny balloon.
Play the Piano Without Having to Learn the Piano
Right time: The party is winding down, and no one has touched the piano yet
What you’ll need: A piano
Take your left hand and place your pinkie on one of the black keys, then, with your thumb, find the same note a few keys over. Always keep your pinkie and thumb at that same distance. Do the same with your right hand. With the other three fingers on your right hand, hit a few of the keys that fall between the pinkie and the thumb. Now move your left and right hands up and down the piano, never changing the width of your pinkie and thumb.
Balance a Match on Another Match
Right Time: A brother-in-law’s birthday — he probably needs to be taken down a notch anyway
What you’ll need: A coin and three matches
Place a coin flat on a table. Stand up two matches, one next to the coin and the other on the coin leaning the two heads against each other. Bet money that you can take the coin out without moving the two matches. Light the two heads with a third match. As the leaning match burns it should curl and lift right off the coin.
Light a BBQ Like a Chemist
Right time: At a barbecue, when said BBQ needs to be lit
What you’ll need: 250 g of potassium chlorate and 50 g of sugar
Mix the two ingredients together in some kind of jar. Offer to light the charcoal barbecue. Pour the mixture on the coals and stand back. The flames will be fast but huge. That’s how a man makes fire.
Pour Wine Like a Magician
Right time: When there’s ice that needs to be broken at a dinner party
What you’ll need: A plate, a cherry with a stem, wine and a glass
Place the cherry in the centre of the plate and light the stem on fire. Pour wine into the plate, but not enough to submerge
the cherry. Place the wineglass upside down over the lit cherry. Watch as the wine is drawn into the glass. Grab the glass and the plate, turn them over together and drink from the glass, as if you do this all the time.
