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Using sleight of hand, misdirection and illusion skills you can perform simple magic tricks with dollar bills. Some tricks require gimmicks from the magic store, others just require a bit of practice. Try these dollar bill tricks:

1. The Disappearing Dollar. The magician holds three bills of the same value in his hand for the audience to see. One will magically disappear. Prepare a bill before the trick by folding it over two thirds across. With a second bill, place it over the fold, hiding the crease, but making it look like there are three bills in your hands. In front of the audience, say that you are going to make money disappear and show the two bills (which look like three) to the audience. Hold the top of the dollar bills between your thumb and forefinger and shake them so as the folded bill unfolds. The illusion of three bills becoming two is complete!

2. Magic Money - this works on pure trickery! Get an audience member to lend you $20 to put in a matchbox. Show the audience that you will also put $20 in the matchbox. Now tell the volunteer that you will sell them the matchbox for $30 - a bargain! Pay $30 to get $40 - they are winning! Or are they? You get $30 for a $20 outlay and the volunteer has actually paid $50 (first $20 plus the $30 for the box) for the $40 in the box. Time for you to go!

3. The Jumping Paper Clip. This trick is where paper clips are attached to a dollar bill that link together and jump from the bill. You will need a bill and two paper clips. Curve the bill into an "S" shape. Place the paper clips over the top of the "S" to close it. You place one paper clip over the top loop of the "S" and the other closing the bottom loop of the "S". Now slowly pull the ends of the bill. This will make the clips slide towards the center of the bill, when they meet they will link up and jump off the bill!

Other easy money tricks you can investigate further are ones like the Pen through the Dollar Trick and the Folding Paper Bill Trick. Imagine how surprised your audience will be when you ask for a $20 or $50 bill and place a pen directly through the center of the bill? And they will be even more surprised when you remove the pen and guess what? There is no hole or mark of any kind left on the bill.

The self-folding dollar bill is another popular trick used by magicians. Take a dollar bill from your pocket and lay it across your palm. Suddenly it begins to move and then fold over! The bill creases over all by itself. The levitating dollar will get the same results. Imagine your audiences’ reaction when they see a bill mysteriously lift off your palm.

These bill tricks are special ones bought from the magic store. Many are available. Choose the ones that appeal to you most.

In truth, magic is really the art of illusion. It's all about making you believe something happened when perhaps it didn't. Magicians create illusions to make the audience believe they are seeing something impossible happen.

Believing you saw something happen is a sensory illusion. Magicians will use mirrors and hidden gadgets to create these illusions. Mirrors, in particular, fool the human eye into believing that space or an object is there when it's not. For example in the trick "the disembodied head" the use of mirrors and reflected light makes a head appear to be floating by itself.

Another magical illusion is the "the light and heavy box" trick that was originally invented by the father of modern magic Jean-Eugene Robert Houdini - a French conjurer and magician who died in 1871. Harry Houdini (Erich Weiss) took on his stage name to honor this French magician.

An observer easily lifts a large box, but when the magician says his magic words, suddenly the box is too heavy to lift. This trick uses hidden magnet devices to pull the box to the floor when a switch is thrown. Although nowadays this isn't a sophisticated trick as people are aware of magnetic properties, it was a popular illusion when Robert Houdini first started using it in his magical shows.

Levitation is an illusion used by many magicians - but just how do they get the body to appear to rise? One simple levitation trick, the Balducci method, involves using angles. The audience has to be on a 45-degree angle and your trousers have to be long! You pretend to levitate a couple of inches off the ground by standing on your tiptoes of one foot, with your other foot slightly off the floor. You will appear to rise slowly, your trousers will cover the toes still on the ground and the angle will fool the audience.

Levitating objects is also a simple illusion. Invisible threads can be attached to small objects and the magician can make them appear to rise unexpectedly. The movements required and the positioning of the thread need to be practiced, but the effect will have your audience amazed.

Your magic show can have lots of illusions. You may even like to start off with some optical illusions drawn on paper. Simple tricks using drawn arrows are easy and fun to do. Try this optical illusion trick:

Draw an arrow on a piece of paper that has been folded in half. Have the arrow pointing left or right. Stand the folded paper on a table. Place an empty tumbler in front of the arrow. Ask a member of the audience to turn the arrow around without touching the tumbler or the paper. They can't do it - but you can! Fill the tumbler with water and Abracadabra! - the arrow turns the opposite way. This simple illusion will amaze your audience.