Back in the summertime, when we had Billy's coworkers over for a backyard party, we set up a murder mystery party for January. It was set in a speakeasy, so I decided to blackout our dining room! In order to do that, I needed lots of black fabric.
I found bits and pieces, but not enough to cover all five surfaces. So, in November I turned to the internet, where I ordered 18 black tablecloths from the Shein website. They are not known for their quality, but I didn't mind uneven edges or thin panels. I waited an entire month for my delivery, and when a month had passed, I finally contacted them to see if it were still on the way. They immediately refunded my money. = ( I was glad to have my money back, but was left with the same problem as before: I needed black fabric!
So, I turned to yet another site known for their poor quality: Temu. They shipped my tablecloths almost immediately, and they arrived the weekend before the party. However, when I opened the box, I found out that they had sent me 18 white tablecloths. Seriously. I mean, how does that even happen? Even a colorblind person would be able to tell the difference between black and white!!! I double checked my order, and it said "black" on my invoice. so.annoying.
With the same issue looming, and the party less than a week away, Billy drove me first to Fedex to return the wrong order, then to Walmart, where we walked around looking for possible solutions. We finally encountered some contractor's plastic, which would be plenty large enough to cover the walls. We bought four rolls!
At home we started covering the dining room with the fabric first, then added the plastic everywhere else. Sunday evenings Billy plays an online game with his dad, so we ran out of time to set up the "hallway" in the basement, but did finish the dining room, and I was able to add some signs on the doors.
I had agreed to work 3 days in the week leading up to the party, which made for a very busy week, and I didn't get to go grocery shopping until Friday! I did see these cool noodles, that I did buy, but ended up serving basic penne as the noodle side, since we were going for 1920s, long before Aldi finds!
And, once I finished the food shopping, Kristy met me out in Charlotte where I found a pair of suspenders for my costume! (But still no stools)
Once I got home, I was assembling my costume, cleaning, adding finishing touches, pushing through the laundry, cooking, creating the basement hallway, and prepping the dinner for Saturday, so when I turned in at 9pm, I was exhausted!
While I was showering Saturday morning, I had an idea to put some signs up outside, since we notified the guests that they were to enter through the basement storm door. Billy had sent out a secret knock and password for the guests to give earlier in the week. On the day of the party, he sat down in the basement 'hallway'
The drink counter was the only thing that I didn't completely finish setting up before our first guests arrived!
But everything else was ready to go!
It was quite dark, with all the black, so we did end up having to turn on the lights, in order to read our booklets.
Grace and Billy did a nice job setting up the tables! I realized the morning of, that I hadn't gotten a second round of plates for hors d'oeuvres, so we broke out the antique china plates. I was a little worried about breaking it, but really, and truly, why do we even have it if it's just going to live in a cabinet? Grace and Emily were so gentle with them, and Grace washed them several times throughout the night!
The main course was the recipe from the booklet: Scaloppine di Vitello al a Bathtub Gin, though, chicken was an easy substitute for the Veal. Our other special dish was served in giant champagne goblets: lime sherbert with ginger ale. I'm sad that I didn't take pictures of any of this, but I do enjoy living in the moment during the party!
There weren't really good angles for Emily to take a group shot, so she did a panorama, and then a length of the room shot.
At the end of the party, we celebrated Billy's birthday with a Dairy Queen ice cream cake!
Since the party started at noon, our guests were gone by six, leaving us so much time to clean up! It felt like it had been night for the duration of the party, with the sunlight all blacked out.
It was a really fun night; we were the only murder mystery party veterans, so this was the first time all of our guests had attended a murder mystery party, and they all looked fabulous!
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Spoilers to follow: Billy was not the murderer! It was actually 'Silky' played by Mel!
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One last note: I had failed to find Capers at Aldi or Walmart, and while I thought I had some, I didn't realize that they were in a jar that needed refrigeration, so I found mine, two days after the party. = ( The dinner didn't taste off without them, so I guess it was fine.
Everyone enjoyed it enough that we are already coordinating another party, during warmer weather: Murder at the Manor! I'm happy to have yet another group willing to participate in the fun of murder mysteries!
later days
edit 1-19-26: backdated for continuity.
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