"Next time you’re on a bad date or have simply run out of topics at dinner, grab a spoon to impress your companions. With the handle facing up and the spoon positioned vertically on the table, grip it with both hands so the audience only sees the top and bottom of the utensil. Pretend like you’re bending the spoon, while really just allowing the handle to slide back toward the table. It will look like you’ve bent the silverware where the bowl meets the handle. Then shake it loose like a little wave undoes your mighty spoon-bending work."
"If you’ve ever seen this one, you know it’s remarkably impressive when done well. Stand on one side of the room and position yourself so that you’re diagonal to the audience—the closest thing to them should be your back heel. Slowly lift your heels and add some float-like wavering and then gently lift the entire foot closest to the audience off the ground. This will require some practice, but if everyone else is standing, the foot that’s entirely off the ground will block the toe of your other foot (that’s actually keeping you grounded), and you’ll appear to defy gravity."
"The prep work for this restaurant trick might have to be done while your companion is in the restroom. Or, alternatively, reserve it for children who might not already know about the magic of electricity. Take a paper-wrapped straw and rub the paper up and down a few times to create some static. Then place the straw on top of a bottle so it’s parallel to the table. The charge from the friction you just created will be such that when you bring your hands up to the straw, it will rotate like the hands of a clock. With the right moves, you can make it look like it’s bending to your will."
"This one requires only a toothpick and a bit of tape. As stealthily as possible, fasten a toothpick to the outside of your thumb with either some tape or by licking the nail side of your thumb and forcefully pressing the object into your skin. The toothpick should be parallel with your appendage and within the boundaries of your thumb. If you bent your thumb, the toothpick would run off the edge of your knuckle. If you gave someone a thumbs-up with the print facing them, they wouldn’t see the toothpick.
The audience should be directly in front of you for the main event. Hold up the toothpick with your thumb bent and your fingers wrapped around it to hide the tape, say “abracadabra,” and open your empty hand while the toothpick sits on the back of your thumb. It will look like it vanished from thin air."
"For this trick, you’ll need to grab a key ring or even the ring off someone’s finger and a rubber band. Break the rubber band and loop it through the ring before stretching out the band between your hands—one higher in the air than the other. The key for this one is to stretch out only a small portion of the rubber band and tuck the rest of the loose string into the palm of your bottom hand. Slowly let the rest of the band out and it will appear that the ring is climbing the rubber band by itself. As with all of these tricks, don’t forget the theatrics. You’ve got to sell it and take your time."
