Mystery in the Library

Damian and I hosted our 3rd annual New Years Eve Murder Mystery Party with friends from church. This year, the murder took place in a 'library.' Storybook characters 'came out of their books' and congregated in my library (living room) to figure out who committed the crime.

I was the 'librarian.' It's my dream job, truly. I wore some granny glasses, on a chain and my amazing pin collection, on a cardigan sweater. Then, I got silly. I adopted more of a trailer trash attitude, therefore, no one took pictures of me. Just picture me with a tee tucked in and my mom jeans pulled up to my breasts. Don't forget to include my belly that looks 3 months pregnant. I was one classy woman.

We had a regular group of characters: Peter Pan and Tink (my brother and sister-in-law), Granny and Red Riding Hood (Granny is normally a YOUNG man!), The Good Fairy and Pinocchio (The Fairy is a very curly-headed brunette!), The Flying Monkey (notice his wings!) and The Wicked Witch of the West (with the most amazing facial transformation I've seen this side of Broadway!)

Robin Hood and Maid Marian, Baby Bear (more on Goldilocks, to come!), The Monster and Dr. Frankenstein (Dr. Frank is 9 months pregnant!) and The Monkey, unveiled! He's playing with his "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" prop.

Next, The Queen of Hearts and The Mad Hatter, Snow White's Evil Queen and her date, Bashful Dwarf. We have the "Jack of all Trades". . . the couple that came and played all the extra "parts" that were needed, and did a great job of it! Huck Finn adopted a country bumpkin accent and was so funny! And lastly, Snow White and her Prince.

Tom Sawyer, with his overalls is entertained by Peter Pan's antics. But look to the corner. . . Tom's wife, Huck is busting a gut.

The crazy blonde afro dude was Geppetto, otherwise known as Damian. He spoke in a serious Italian accent all night and made us all laugh. Also, we had Cinderella's stepmother and father, Dorothy (with gorgeous sparkly red shoes that I didn't get a photo of!) and Alice and her White Rabbit.

One more shot of the "Princess Corner." The murderer ended up being Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother. That Fairy Godmother has a goatee, but who's judging? I love that the evil stepmother looks very sternly at Cinder, while sweet Snow White fondly gazes at them.

My favorite pictures of all . . .those with Sherlock Holmes and Goldilocks. Oh, what fun we had. It was a wild night with lots of cross-dressing, silly 'acting,' Italian and Arab accents (Aladdin and his Genie, played by our Jack of all Trades!) and other shenanigans. We had 38 friends over, a chef that came and cooked hors d'oeuvres, soup and desserts for us, and lots of laughs.

We're thinking of doing a United Nations Murder Mystery Party Next year. . . we'll see!

Murder Mystery Party

On New Year's Eve we had a Murder Mystery Party at our place. It was a riot with lots of good food, crazy costumes/acting and tons of laughs! I think we'll have to make it a tradition!

Can you see the tacky saleslady, with illegal wares hidden in her jacket, on the front row? That's me! My artist friend, Jen Vranes (on the front row) was a crooked art dealer. Her husband, Matt (the tall guy on the back left) was a sleazy lawyer, with a drinking problem and a gold tooth. He was hilarious. My sister-in-law, Christine is the cutie above Jen. She was a Congresswoman having an affair with the Street Preacher. My husband, Damian is the tall guy on the back right. He was the Street Preacher!! He had sired a baby with the Alien Love Child. Wow, what a night!

These were my "illegal wares:"

Kitty Soap: Just rub on Kitty's tongue and as she licks, it lathers! (I did get the CAT LADY to invest a million dollars in this product!)

Garbage Dispose-All Spray: Never pay for Trash again! Just mist on your garbage and POOF, it disappears. This product was problematic at the party as it had vaporized many children and I didn't want others to know about it.

Bug-Splosives: Sprinkle the crystals where you have a bug/rodent problem. Their saliva mixes with the chemicals and they explode. A little messy to clean up, but the popping sound is very satisfying, as they die!

You can pick out the Alien Love Child on the front row. She was so funny and should have won the Best Costume of the night, I think! It is nice to live where we have so many great friend that know how to have fun!

About an hour after "Getting to Know Everyone," the fortune teller, Autumn was MURDERED!! She played a very convincing dead woman.

My brother-in-law, Jared, an archaeologist and our friend, Ryan, a big game hunter tried to figure out who the murderer was . . .

Christine, the Congresswoman and our friend, Kari, the rich, eccentric CAT LADY couldn't figure the murder out, either.

These are the cute buttons Christine made to promote her campaign for Senate.

The "bimbo" in the back is my friend Kristi, who my Saleslady character hated. Her character had jumped out of cake at my fiance's bachelor party and stole him away, murdering him, as her 10th husband. She came armed to the party with sticky lip gloss, looking for husband #13 and kissed every man there. . . so if you see kiss marks on all the husbands, that's why! That woman has guts. Matt (remember him, the boozy attorney?) had some awesome business cards:

He'd ask everyone if he'd given them his card (a business card with "My Card" written on the back) Then, he's ask if they'd received his other card (another card with "My Other Card" written on the back. He'd also go around slapping people with "Lawsuits" (sticky labels with "Lawsuit" written on the back). He really was funny.

It was especially funny to see him wearing a black wig, since he always had a shaved head!

Jen Vranes twin sister, Val was an actress and her husband, Theron was a psychologist. He used a great German Accent all night and tried to diagnose everyone. They were a funny pair.

Our friend, Mahjinka was a mental patient ventriloquist that would only talk to people through "Mr. Mike" She cracked everyone up. I now know a VERY different side of her!

What a fun night, followed by pan banging and fireworks at midnight . . . check back tomorrow to see that post!