Jessica's Murder Mystery Birthday Party!!!

A few weeks before her party, we got an invite from Jessica to her Murder Mystery Birthday Party!! About a week before the party I was able to solidify our plans for the week and RSVP that we would be there!  

Then, Jessica invited us (Billy and me) to participate as characters in the event!!!  I was even more excited!  We'd never been to a party as suspects that wasn't at our house!  It was set in 1850s New Orleans and was a masquerade theme!!! 

In the days leading up to the party, her "Mardi Gras" RTIC cup came in.  It was so beautiful*!  I put her character name on it, so that she could remember her party, where someone(s) died for a long, long time! ; )

Just a few days before the party, we found a stash of beads at a church sale! = )

The party was AMAZING!  They had a photo op wall, homemade crepe bar (savory and sweet!), masks for those who didn't have one, and craft ones for the kids!

And, in an unexpected turn of events, we got to sit with the birthday girl and the rest of the Stepp family!

I was a hypochondriac who loved the social scene, but not my husband = ( and Billy was a judge who sleezy politician.  We were double excited to wear our masks that we procured for our upcoming murder mystery dinner in October!

In between narrations, we were to move about "in character" and answer questions to the best of our ability (given the two or three paragraphs about our character we were provided in the email.) = )

Spoiler: Billy died.  He wasn't the murderer. lol. (And Emily was not thrilled that her daddy was dead)

Spoiler 2: Jessica was a double murderer!!! What an excellent birthday gift! lol

Somehow Emily and Grace ended up with the "dead" sign and wanted a chance to imitate the message.

Juliet spent her time collecting all of the strands of foil that fell from the entrance cover of the door, and ultimately making up a shiny skirt. = )

It was a wonderfully fun time, and I'm so happy that we were invited to celebrate in Jessica's special day! 

later days

 *I'd seen it on the website so many times, but it doesn't look that good in the picture, and Mardi Gras season is such a short time, that I never even considered it.  But, since the party was set in New Orleans at the end of Mardi Gras, it seemed just perfect!  And it was even better than I imagined!

edit: written 6-15-23 backdated for continuity.

Murder Mystery at the English Inn: Pheonix Protocol

For Christmas, Billy gifted me tickets to a murder mystery interactive theater at the English Inn, and I gifted him a night at the English Inn.  = )

Sadly, my mom was out of town, but Sarah stepped up, to sleep at the house with the kids (and was able to slip away first thing in the morning, since it was a Sunday-Monday night stay, but the kids were out of school for the week.)

I was able to reuse the hat that I bought for my murder mystery birthday party and wear my Grandmother's pearls.  I did buy a special dress (that I've since worn again!)

It was so nice!  The food was fantastic, we were each given a pin and pen to commemorate the event. The actors were soooooooo good.  They rotated through the tables and we were able to interrogate them!

I was so excited! We totally guessed the culprit, but got our sheet in too late, so we weren't the 'top team' but we had so much fun.  In fact, we came home and signed up for the next one, in October!

The October theme is a masquerade!  I'd never been invited to a masquerade before, and picked out a mask on the internet that I *loved* but was waiting to buy it.  However, the next Tuesday, while Emily, Grace and I were at the thrift store, we found a fancy mask for Billy (and it was only $4.50!)

I found a dress that would match the mask that I love and since it was only $10, I didn't feel bad about buying the mask in time for Jessica's birthday party (especially since I know I'll have one more occasion to wear it!)

So many murder mystery events lately have me feeling like I am just living my best life! = )

later days

edit: written 6-16-23 backdated for continuity.