Book around the last hiker, not the first one back.
If your Brevard weekend includes Pisgah National Forest or a trip to DuPont State Recreational Forest, don’t make the first trick depend on everybody getting showered, changed, and to the table at precisely six. I’d plan a private dinner show around the part of the evening you can control: when the dishes are cleared and the group wants to stay put.
For an adult birthday, start with dinner, give the guest of honor their toast, then bring the group around a low table for close-up comedy magic. Cards and dice work at conversational distance. The birthday guest can sit in the front or appoint the friend most likely to accuse me of something. Nobody’s age needs announcing a second time.
Two plans for the same dinner party.
If dinner time is firm: seat everyone who wants to watch after dessert. Take a quick look from the farthest chair: can that guest see the center of the table? Moving the armchair forward is often all it takes. I don’t use amplified sound, so turn down the kitchen speaker for the performance.
If arrivals are staggered: set a tarot or magic station in the room where people gather. Guests can drop by between dinner and coffee. For tarot, keep one chair free opposite me and give the person being read a little space from the rest of the conversation. It’s a good way to include the late returners without making the early ones sit through a second beginning.
Send the address of the Brevard venue or rental, the number eating dinner, and which evening plan sounds more like your friends. If you ask me to work around a waterfall outing, I’ll pack the cards. You’re still in charge of the dry socks.