This year, our murder mystery party was set in a ski lodge!
For the past year I've been collecting all things "lodge" including skis, flannel, and every now and again a tapestry:
After our garage sale, Emily came with me to buy some chairs and a settee from the church rummage sale in downtown. I couldn't help myself and had to see what it would look like! So we pulled all the chairs from the shed to stage the space!
That evening, we went searching for side tables, that my neighbors had out curbside, for free. We scored another coffee table, and some planters, and a cool clock shelf, and even one more chair, that didn't even need a cover! But failed to find any more side tables.
Emily helped me put down some 'natural' bug repellent: cinnamon, lemon juice, and a few other recommendations from online. We stacked and covered all the furniture in the carport and covered it with tarps and more cinnamon.
During the week leading up to the party, Emily was with her BFF, but Grace helped me make the fake rocks for the chimney.
We started with hundreds of medicine inserts.
We squished them into balls, and brought them out to the carport.
Then we painted them "rock colors" using spray paint that I'd collected during the year.
Once they were dry, we used a TV box that Kristy gave me, and cut it into a fireplace shape. Then glued them down with glue adhesive, along side other papers we'd collected and wadded into rock shapes on the cardboard.
Turns out the adhesive was worthless. It felt really sticky to our fingers, but wouldn't hold the rocks in place worth anything, so we ended up using copious amounts of tape to get the fireplace to stay put.
Inside, I was making the roast beef for the cold sandwiches on the menu the next day.
The leather of some of the chairs that my mom and I found for free did not smell great, so when she found some spray, as some point in the year, she bought it! It did improve the smell, which was good, since we weren't able to cover the entire chair, just the seat.
We got all the seats and tables in place, making sure that everyone could reach a table to set their drinks down.
The overnight rain stayed away, thankfully, so everything stayed dry and legible for the party.
Sadly, the fireplace fell in the night, but only so far as the moose head, so we ended up back out in the carport with the ladder, and more tape!
One more picture with all the covers on, and candles and pillows in place!
Party time came on super fast, but everyone looked great! Matt was the owner of a ski shop, Deb was a police doctor, Scott was in charge of a local government lab, Billy was a private detective, Emily was his daughter, training to be a private detective, I was a flight attendant, Jessica was a bohemian who floated between ski resorts, and Jared was Scott's body guard!
Deb with all of 'her' bottles. lol.
I'll reveal the murder in another post, at the beginning of July. It was a fun time with lots of laughter and accusations! Only one person correctly guessed the identity of this years' murderer! I don't want to post too many details, because of spoilers, but just know it was really fun!
Emily said she had fun, but next year would prefer to spend the evening in the company of her BFF instead of in the cast of the party. She worked super hard helping me set up everything for the party! I think she was over it by the time we finished the party though. ; )
I'm so thankful to all of our friends who come and play each year! I can't believe we've been at this for six years now! I don't have next years' theme yet, but I need to decide soon.
At the end of the party everything went out on the curb! Our guests are awesome and help us move the big things and bring in dishes each year! It was dark when things went out to the curb, but by the time I went out to start moving things around in the morning, many items had already been claimed!
The super cool stem glasses, that were made to look like antlers(!) that I scored at Jellystone (on clearance) did not get photographed, except for in this picture of them on the curb. lol. I bought six of them, but one shattered in my hand, causing a fair amount of bleeding and a delay I didn't need, as I was drying it before the party, so we only had 5 to use on party day. = (
Three of the chairs (all free) are heading for the dump, as well as two pairs of the skis, but all the rest was claimed by passersby, or fit into a single donation box!
Another year of murder and fun! I can't wait to do it again next year.
later days
link to the murderer reveal here.
edit 7-20-24: backdated for continuity.
