This is a splendid dressing for a sandwich style card effect which is personalised by using people’s names. This works particularly well in family restaurants or at events where there are adults present who have children.

A blank faced blue backed deck is displayed freely and the first names of an adult couple and their child are written on the top three card faces. A situation is described in which the balance of the deck represents a department store and the child gets lost in the store. So saying the child card is pushed into the centre of the deck which is shuffled by a spectator.

The parents need to find the child so the father card starts off at the top of the building, and the card is placed on the top of the deck, and he says he will work his way down to the building basement. The deck is cut a couple of times to lose him in amongst the other cards.

The mother card is put on the bottom (i.e. in the basement) and she will work her way up to the top of the building. The cards are cut again a couple of times.

The magician claims he can make the child turn up all on his own by magic. A snap of the fingers and when the deck is ribbon spread face down, the child card is discovered now reversed writing side upwards in the deck’s centre.

Then it is discovered that the face down cards either side of the child card are the two parents! Then finally, the child is embarrassed about getting lost and blushes – and the child card is turned face down to reveal the card back has changed from blue to red.

Straightforward to do, this plot can be adapted to fit other situations too (three friends trying to find each other in a store, or three delegates at a trade show etc).

This effect is supplied as an E-Routine, which is a downloadable pdf text file.