The circus came to town (more specifically, my living room) for our annual murder mystery party last night. Apparently the red and white stripes I hung over the walls and windows were visible even through our closed blinds, which actually worked out well: one guest who always has to doublecheck our address said she wasn’t totally sure she had it right until she saw the circus tent in the window.
What I loved about this theme was the awesome combination of colourful decor, fun food, and outlandish costumes (though that smiling clown was so so creepy!) We even played some carnival-type games—they weren’t technically part of the mystery, but I thought they really added to the evening.
One of the best!
I had to cut and hang each stripe individually, but it was so worth itWe used to move the china cabinet out along with the other furniture, but now I just incorporate it into the decorI was the contortionist and had to be talked into wearing a spandex bodysuit, but it actually wasn’t too badThe wax museum curator…I swear Chris was born to wear this outfitThe ringmasterThe bearded lady…it blended with her real hair amazingly wellThe painted person and the acrobatThe daredevil and the fortune tellerSo creepy!I love, love, love this shotCheating at ping pong toss
There’s nothing like preparing for a luau when it’s -25 outside. Until about a week ago, people could’ve come in their shorts and hula skirts without much of a problem, but that changed rather suddenly. So we had our Hawaiian themed murder mystery party on the coldest day of the year. I’m sure the neighbours thought we were in denial hanging beach towels in our living room windows.
But who wouldn’t want to escape to the tropics during weather like this? And I have to say, this was easily the most colourful decor we’ve had for a murder party. Those plastic scene setters really do transform a space. We couldn’t quite get the palm trees to line up, but we figured after a few drinks they would look just fine.
The costumes for this one weren’t as outlandish as for other mysteries (my instructions just said “casual yet trendy beach wear”) but people still came up with some impressive stuff. The clues were easy to follow and people really got into character—though it was funny when I had a second helping from the buffet and *then* received a clue card telling me my character was desperately trying to stay thin. Oops.
We ate, we laughed, we played some Hawaii trivia, one person got killed by a coconut, and the murderer eventually confessed (but still got away).
A great night!
The sunset scene setter was amazing!Black plastic tablecloths, beach towels I already had, and tiki banners from Amazon completed the lookHula dancers Poni and Holi MulokeliFisherman/pirate Jack Marrow, heiress Lovey Howell, and waiter Ano HaloaLifeguard Tiki Hutman and donut artist Sol BoatmanCollege student Coco BeachesHollywood actors Robbie Peters and Kirsten Withers. We were travelling under aliases, but those aliases were included on our name tags, so not much of a mystery thereThe trivia winners
Our Vegas-themed murder mystery party got off to a bit of a slow start due to a combination of confusion about the meeting time and a raccoon that was scaring people away from our front door. But everyone did eventually make it, one of us killed another one of us, and we all had a blast. This was the 10th anniversary of doing these parties, and we commented on how things have changed over the years: more elaborate costumes and decor, no need for babysitters, more need for reading glasses.
You’re never too old to have fun!
Our casino setupCheck out that headpiece!Elvis was most definitely in the buildingCheese dice! (And crackers arranged like poker chips)You can’t tell from the photo, but the lights around the sign actually blinkedGetting started…The high rollerElvis and Hustling HaileyThe awesome cast
This was our first in-person murder party in two years, and I was almost afraid to look forward to it in case it didn’t actually happen (we postponed it a couple weeks so people could have a chance to get their boosters, plus we had everyone take an antigen test the day of the party…if anyone had come up positive, we would’ve been screwed!)
But it all worked out in the end. I went all-in on decorations, as usual, which this year meant getting Justin to spend three hours helping me put up stone walls. The overall effect was so amazing that I’m seriously considering painting that whole room a darker colour.
I managed to repurpose some items, too. The long table with the burgundy tablecloth, greenery, and candles is exactly what we used for both the Roman party in 2018 and the farytale party in 2013 (yes, we’ve been doing these parties for that long!) The wall banners with the shields were originally from the Roman party, too; the opposite sides feature a gold laurel wreath design.
Food was great: chicken drumsticks, cabbage, beef bourguignon, bread, and a delicious apple-cinnamon type dessert. No one seemed to mind that we didn’t have forks (in true medieval style). We got by OK with just knives and spoons.
Over the years we’ve set a pretty high bar for costumes, and this year was another showcase of awesomeness. One of the knights teaches at a high school that has an actual medieval armoury class, and he was able to scam some authentic armour. It was impressive, but seriously heavy, and he could only get out of it with the help of two people. Guess that’s why knights had squires.
A couple months ago, with Chris’s birthday approaching and the pandemic still making life difficult, I decided to plan another virtual murder mystery party.
And since this year is the XX anniversary of his high school graduation (face it dear, you’re old)…I chose the 80s prom theme.
Zoom-based parties will never be as good as the real deal, but we still got to dress up, act silly, and figure out whodunnit!
With no one allowed to share breathing space with other human beings, I knew there was no way I could have my traditional murder mystery birthday party. And that was seriously depressing, since the party is often the one bright spot in what otherwise tends to be a very bleak month. But hope was restored when a friend of mine told me about some companies that offer virtual parties led by professional actors. The concept was intriguing and the price was reasonable, so we gave it a go.
We didn’t really have much of a theme; I was just told it was a modern-day twist on the movie Clue. So a bunch of characters were being blackmailed by an unknown individual. Finnish-American relations played a surprisingly large role.
I gotta say, it was nothing like an in-person experience. A few technical glitches got in the way, and to be honest I’m usually more interested in the theme and decor than the details of the mystery. But it was still fun to dress up and have a few laughs. Certainly better than yet another night of Netflix.
It was a bit tough to get a handle on the storyline for this year’s murder mystery party: it was set in the year 2099, with a retro steampunk (?) theme, and featured historical characters pulled from different time periods. I knew zilch about steampunk when I chose this one, but the notion of having characters like Einstein, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, and Ivan the Terrible in the same room intrigued me. So we gave it a go.
People really outdid themselves with costumes this year! The mystery itself was well thought out and a few people managed to follow the logic to the correct conclusion. I even threw in a trivia challenge to keep things interesting, so that was pretty cool.
We had a most excellent evening in ancient Rome at this year’s murder mystery party. Battles and betrayal (not to mention bedsheets) abounded. Who could have guessed that bringing senators, merchants, and slaves together for a celebratory exhibition of gladiator warfare would lead to someone’s untimely death? Oh…right.
Decorating for this one was fairly easy. I rented some columns, bought lots of fake greenery, made a few paper torches, and turned a shower curtain into three wall banners that a friend of mine very kindly painted for me. I even used my wood burner and some styrofoam to make signs that looked like chiseled marble (did you know melted styrofoam gives off some seriously toxic fumes? Whew.)
We’ve done these parties for six years now (click here to see past posts) but it never ceases to amaze me how creative and innovative people get with their costumes. The charioteer arrived on a broomstick-chariot, the grand champion gladiator created a suit of armor that was 80 percent duct tape, and the lanista’s wife packed a teddy bear under her skirts to simulate pregnancy, thus inspiring a never-ending stream of bear jokes.
We had ourselves a Roaring 20’s evening of mobsters and murder at my house last night. When two rival crime bosses meet at a speakeasy to talk about bootlegging practices, and bring their heavily armed henchmen, and mingle with an assortment of molls, film stars, singers and reporters…what could go wrong?
After clearing almost all the furniture out of our living room, we set about creating our speakeasy. We turned a couple walls into brick, added some bullet holes, and hung autographed pictures of famous gangsters. We even rented round tables and lit them with table lamps for ambience. I was worried that the lighting would make it hard to take photos, but it all seemed to work out pretty well.
Since I’m a history nerd, I printed out a bunch of newspapers from the 1920s and made a collage over the buffet table. I just did it for fun, but some of them actually came into play when part of the mystery involved figuring out what year certain events occurred.
We had a bit of everything: waitresses who wanted to be singers, singers who wanted to be molls, a pilot who couldn’t find north and a murder victim who drunk-texted his wife from the bathroom (long story). We even ended up with three murders instead of one, which was a pretty cool twist.
Crystal's Commentary 