It was the winter of ‘16 and as usual I was housebound. It wasn’t the falling the snow but the cold that held me prisoner in my home. November through May had become my sewing season but this winter tragedy struck, not only did I have to battle the icy weather but I had also developed a case of De Quervain’s Tendinosis (tendinitis in the thumb) in January of ‘17. This unfortunate event required the constant wearing of a brace to keep the thumb from moving on my dominant(!) hand. Poof! There went all of my winter time project plans in a single visit to the doctor’s. Admittedly, I was depressed and probably not the sweetest I’ve ever been due to boredom. I was also whiny. After a bit of searching I finally came up with something to do, murder! I think Dave was just happy I had found a way to occupy myself.
I decided to host my second Murder Mystery Party for my birthday in April. I know, it’s hokey but hokey can be fun. I chose the vampire version from Murder Mystery Games on Etsy. The games are light hearted and humorous, which I like. Additionally, they are downloaded as pdfs so I had mine within a couple of hours. The vampire game has five humans and five vampires players, which was perfect. The games come with everything one needs to host a murder, but I had three months to kill and I wanted something a bit more entertaining to send to my guests.
All of the invitations needed to have the pertinent written information, character and murder background, included so I copied what the game maker had so thoughtfully created into the format I wanted then sent it all off to my favorite printer. I realized a couple of years ago, we do not print enough things at home to justify owning a printer. If something needs to be printed, I make a quick trip to the local FedEx store. For larger printing needs such as this, we have a local print shop that I’ve used many times over the years. The pricing is reasonable and the quality is better than what a home printer can produce. As an additional bonus, I can pick up a whatever number of cardstock pieces and their correct envelopes, 12 in this case, that I need so as not to be stuck buying large quantities that I’ll never use.
I wanted my guests to be excited about coming, and I really needed something to do, so I created gifts to include with the invites.
Many years ago, because I have a habit of randomly buying things from thrift stores that I’m certain I’ll use later, I picked up a two volume dictionary set printed in the 1930s because, well, the volumes were beautiful and cost like three dollars. Sadly, they mostly sat on my bookshelf looking pretty.
I decided it was time to put these to use. All I have to say is I’m grateful I didn’t cut myself with the exacto knife while hollowing out the books. I’m not ambidextrous but by the end of my time in a brace, I wasn’t so much of a danger to myself.
I picked up three more large dictionaries from the local thrift store along with small picture frames to hold the mirrors I bought from the craft store where I also purchased a pack of small crosses. A few sharpened branches from the backyard, some glass bottles filled with holy water (aka vanilla vodka) and viola! A vampire hunter’s kit delivered with the invitations.
The vampires were more difficult to decide on what to include with their invitations. I came up with and discarded several ideas, wanting to create something more individual for those. In the end, I landed on making silky cravats for my two gentleman vampires and feather fans for the ladies. And of course, each one also received a small glass vial of AB+ blood, aka red wine, because alcohol distribution should be fair. Finding the components for and making the fans was an exciting challenge being the first time I had made them. Salad tossers provided two of the fan handles while a grilling spatula was used for the third. the medallions and feathers were from the craft store. I did manage to survive this particular endeavour with no more burns from the glue gun than I what normally get when using it so that was encouraging.
I spent so much time on the invites that I didn’t do much in the way of decorations. The party is set around the dinner table so it wasn’t such a crime. My husband , who loves to cook and does so very well, requested he make and serve the meal for the party instead of participating. Who am I to turn down having a servant for a formal vampire meal? Besides, he prefers to mingle at his own pace while spending the rest of the time in the kitchen whenever we have more than a few friends over anyway.
It was fabulous to see how each person interpreted their character. Some dressed up more than others and really got into who they were playing. Most importantly, everyone had a good time.
Now I’m planning an Alice in Wonderland murder mystery for early October. I thought this theme would provide inspiration overload…and it is…for the party decorations. Unfortunately, I’m struggling in with coming up with creative invitation ideas. Even Pinterest isn’t helping as much as it normally does…sigh. I’m sure I’ll come up with something entertaining though, it’s Wonderland after all.
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