9184

Murder Mystery -13yr- Red Carpet Event

July 2004

Brenna in Arizona, USA

Special Mention

For my 13th birthday party, I had a murder mystery sleepover. This party proved to be a great success, and I would recommend it for any teenager. We ordered a murder mystery kit from host-a-murder.com. This site will customize any package, which is great if you are having all girls. They have many scenarios to choose from. The scenario we selected said that we were attending a award show after-party on a MTV yacht called the Queen Brittney (after Brittney Spears). During this party, Brittney is murdered, and we had to figure out who committed the crime.

INVITATIONS: The invitations to my party were created on our computer to reduce costs. The front of the invitation said "Birthdays can be murder..." with a picture of a cake and stars. The inside described the basic plot of the party, and it gave the date, time, place, etc. The invitations were printed in color on bright yellow paper. If people RSVPed that they were able to attend, we sent them a letter that included who their character was, how they should dress, and a brief description of the murder. This was provided in the kit we ordered. All the character names were similar to those of a famous celebrity, such as Hillary Duffer, Lucy Lie, Christina Agulira, etc. This was quite fun, because everyone really tried to get into character.

DECORATIONS: Because this was supposed to be a elegant red carpet event, the decorations were classy. For centerpieces we took cans of food and wrapped them in shiny cellophane so that the cans were completely covered and the extra was left at the top. Some of them were silver, the others gold. We then stuck two candy flowers (hard candy flowers- very pretty and about $.50 at a candy store) on each wrapped can. We then tied 3 different colored helium balloons to each can. There were ten cans in total that were placed throughout the house. We took silver and gold crepe paper and draped it in various places throughout the house. On the door that guests would be entering, we placed a hand-made sign that said "Welcome aboard the Queen Brittany" It was in the shape of the Queen Brittany logo that was used on invitations etc. The table with the food had a silver table cloth with plain paper napkins. We used fnacy glass goblets for the drinks.

THE MURDER: When guests first entered the door, the "cruise director" (my mother) greeted them. She then asked who they were and handed them a name tag. The name tags said "Hi, I am.... (muder mystery characters name)". These were used to make sure that everyone could call eachother by there name used in the mystery. The guest then walked into the main party room and "mingled" with other "celebritys" over hors d'oeruers and spritzers. This continued until all the guests had arrived. After about 15 minutes of mingling and munching, the murder occured. The "captain" (my father) ran out very dramatically and told us that Brittney had been murdered. This is when the game began. Each girl was given a small notebook and a pen.

The cruise director explained that we were going to be given a envelope with a letter that told us if we were the murderer,our motives, weapons, and oppurtunity,  and what we already knew about the crime. Then we were supposed to take about 10 minutes to read it over before we walked around and questioned other guests. After everyone had read there part, we broke up into pairs of 2 or three and chatted. The key to finding the murderer was to find someone who had a motive, a weapon, and oppurtunity, but the twist in the plot was that everyone HAD to tell the truth, but the murderer could lie. About half way through, we broke for dinner.

During dinner the game was off, so we were out of character. After dinner we continued playing for another hour or so. At any point during the game, people could write down who they thought the murderer was and put it in a sealed envelope. The winner would be the person who got the correct answer first. After another hour of playing, we told guests that they had 10 minutes to finalize their answers. We also asked guests to vote for the person they thought was the best actoress After everyone had written down there guess and answer, we opened presents and had dessert. After dessert I opened the solution envelope. There was a small prize for the super sleuth, the best acteress, and the murderess. We then watched movies that included the "celebritys" that attended the party before going to sleep.

FOOD: For hor d'oeruers we had veggies and dip, and cheese (brie, cheddar, etc) and crackers. We also had fruity spritzers to drink. Directions: Take any kind of fruit concentrate. Mix about 1/2 of a can with 1.5 liters of sprite or ginger ale. Spritzers are simple to make, and they taste great and look pretty. Dinner consisted of pasta, french bread, and casear salad served on good china with cloth napkins and silver utensils. This meal was sophisticated enough to be on a cruise, but still popular with teens. For dessert we had chocolate and caramel fondue. We found two good recipes on the internet. To dip we had pound cake, apples, banannas, pears, and other various foods. This was great because it is fun and different, and it takes a long time to eat! If you can't get ahold of a fondue pot, try the same recipe melted on the stove. 

GOODYBAGS: Every guest got to take home her notebook and pen. We also let each guest take 2 candy flowers from the decoration cans. We matted one picture for each girl that was taken during the pary for them to take home  My murder mystery party was really great, and not too expensive. I hope this helps someone with their party!

• Kids Party Home
• Kids by Category
• Kids by A to Z
• Teen Party Ideas
• Adult Party Ideas
• Holiday Party Ideas
• Nutcracker Ballet