20+ years full time 200+ schools every year
School Assemblies & Library Shows
Middle School Assemblies
NY · PA · OH · CT · MA · NJ $500 guarantee, never claimed
20+ years full time 200+ schools every year
School Assemblies & Library Shows
Middle School Assemblies
NY · PA · OH · CT · MA · NJ $500 guarantee, never claimed
Lifelike baby dinosaurs that move and roar, museum-quality fossil replicas they can hold, dinosaur games, and real science told as a story. Not a costume and not a cartoon.
The one who can pronounce “Parasaurolophus” and will correct you if you get it wrong. The one who has strong opinions about which dinosaurs actually had feathers. The one for whom a dinosaur-themed tablecloth is not going to be enough.
This is the party for that child.
Lifelike baby dinosaurs arrive at your house — they move, they roar, and they are convincing enough that grown adults take a step back. The children handle museum-quality fossil replicas, play dinosaur-themed games, and get real information delivered as a story rather than a lecture.
These are not cheesy puppets. That distinction matters enormously to a six-year-old who has watched every documentary ever made, and it is the reason this show works on the children who are hardest to impress.
I arrive dressed as a paleontologist and bring colorful banners and displays, so the room looks like the party the moment the first guest walks in.
Yes, and that is the skill you are paying for. The show is built with structured highs and lows — not 45 minutes at full volume, which is the mistake that leaves a room impossible to bring back down.
Less than you think. A living room works. I need roughly 10 feet by 8 feet and a normal power outlet, and I have performed in front rooms, garages, church halls, back gardens and community centers.
The show moves indoors and nothing about it changes. I plan for that anyway — a summer party in this part of the world is an outdoor party with an indoor contingency.
Roughly 4 to 10 is the sweet spot for the magic show. Mixed ages are fine and normal; that is what tailoring the show means. Adults enjoy it too, which matters more than people expect — bored parents make a restless room.
Yes, deliberately and repeatedly. They get the biggest moment of the show, in front of all their friends, and everybody cheers for them by name.
I have been doing this full time for more than 20 years. I confirm the week before, I arrive 30 minutes early, and I have never missed a booking.
We agree a time and I ask two questions: how many children, and what ages. That is genuinely all I need to tailor the show.
About 30 minutes before start time, with everything — sound system, props, backdrop. You do not need to move furniture or find anything.
The children are dismissed one at a time to the table rather than all at once, which is the single biggest difference between calm and chaos. Then I pack up quietly while the party carries on.
“Hi Cris, I just wanted to say THANK YOU again for an incredible show today. The kids (and parents) absolutely loved you! You certainly have a gift with children and are great at what you do. I think this is a birthday Evan will talk about for a long time! I will keep your contact information for future events!”
Brittany BradleyAllegheny, NY
“Hi Cris, I just wanted to thank you for such a fun filled show for the kids. Peyton keeps saying the magician was her favorite part of her birthday. I think it was everyone’s favorite! Thank you, again. It was a pleasure working with you!”
Kathy GalloClarence Center, NY
Between 45 minutes and an hour for a single show, and 60 to 75 minutes for the combined magic and bubble package. That is the performing time — I arrive about 30 minutes before to set up and I pack away afterward without getting in anybody's way.
Roughly 10 feet wide by 8 feet deep, plus somewhere for the children to sit. A normal living room works. I have performed in front rooms, basements, garages, church halls, community centers, back gardens and one memorable barn.
Around 4 to 10 is the sweet spot, and the bubble show works from about 3. Mixed ages are completely normal — that is what tailoring the show means, and it is why I ask how old everybody is when you book rather than running the same 45 minutes at every party.
There is no upper limit that matters for a home party. Twenty is typical, thirty is fine, and I have done considerably more at larger events. Everybody takes part — that is the point — and the birthday child gets the biggest moment regardless of how many guests there are.
A power outlet and somewhere for the children to sit. That is genuinely everything. I bring my own sound system, microphone, props and backdrop, so you are not hunting for a speaker twenty minutes before the guests arrive.
Before cake, almost always. Children who have just eaten a lot of sugar are a different audience, and running the show first means I can dismiss them to the table one at a time rather than releasing twenty of them at once. That one detail does more for the calm of your afternoon than anything else I do.
Yes, and the bubble show is genuinely better outdoors. But I always plan for the show to work indoors as well, because a summer party in Western New York is an outdoor party with an indoor contingency. A poor forecast does not cancel anything.
Buffalo, Niagara Falls and the surrounding Western New York towns are all routine. Further afield is usually possible — just ask, and tell me where you are when you get in touch.
Weekends in spring and summer go first, and so does anything close to a school holiday. Six to eight weeks is comfortable; a fortnight is often still possible. It costs nothing to ask about a date.
The full-scale version of this show is one of my most-booked school assemblies and library programs — four lifelike dinosaurs and a great deal more equipment than fits in a living room.
If you are not delighted with the show, you do not pay — and I will donate $500 to a charity of your choice. In more than 20 years and thousands of shows, nobody has ever taken me up on it. It is not a sales line; it is how I sleep the night before a party for a child I have never met.
Tell me your dates, your grade levels and what you are trying to accomplish, and I will come back with real answers — not a brochure.
Prefer to talk? (716) 940-8963
No obligation and no sales call — you get program information and a real answer from me, usually the same day.
Cris Johnson's Amazing School Assemblies · Niagara Falls, NY ·
(716) 940-8963
Serving New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Connecticut, Massachusetts & New Jersey