Saturday, July 28, 2012

My Murder Mystery Birthday Night-- More Fun that I Could Shake a Stick At!

I decided to celebrate my birthday twice this year, and after successfully orchestrating the Harry Potter themed birthday hullabaloo for my ten year old, I figured it was high time for me have a birthday soiree for my own self.  I invited a few of my Michigan friends over for an evening of fun and intrigue.  The theme: Murder Mystery.  The instructions were somewhat vague, leaving tons of room for creativity: "Please come dressed as your favorite murder mystery character."

My friends did not disappoint.  We had a wide variety of characters including...
Dame Agatha Christie and Detective Inspector Jack Frost.
What a handsome couple they make!

Adrian Monk and Precious Ramotswe.
Of course you've read Alexander McCall Smith's wonderful series about the lady detective from Botswana, right??

Dr. Reid and Penelope Garcia from Criminal Minds were terribly impressed with my lifelike pistol shaped ice cubes.

Even Scooby Doo turned up!  And no one was more surprised or nosy than J.B. Fletcher.  
Of course I came to my own party dressed as my favorite geriatric murder mystery novelist.  And obviously since Jessica Fletcher was there, SOMEONE was murdered.  You'd think that the woman would no longer be on any one's guest list since murder follows her like ants follow a picnic.

The guests were aware of foul play as they approached the front door.
We obviously had to investigate and discover who had the blood on his or her hands, but first we served up mysterious food and drinks like Killer Cheese Dip, Mystery Meatballs, Baskervilles Biscuits, Hunch Munch and Magnum's Pina Coladas.  (Hugs, kisses and kudos go out to the friends who helped stock the buffet table!) Thomas Magnum, himself, even turned up to mix his favorite frozen party beverage...
Here he is mixing up some "Electric Kill-aid" with Lula from Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series.  We soon learned that anything mixed up in a blender or jug would be quickly consumed by our party guests. 

Afterwards we played a game which required us to pair up and quickly develop alibi stories so that we could clear our names.  Thomas Magnum conducted the interrogations, and they were pretty intense.
"Answer the question, Mr. Doo or you will never see another Scooby Snack again!"

In the end a perfect booby prize was awarded...
Detective Frost and J.B. both agreed that the writing in this NY Times Bestseller was criminal!

Best of all Jessica Fletcher and Magnum P.I. got to re-enact their high five from 1986.
And I got to play house with Magnum, which most certainly fulfilled some childhood fantasy I didn't even know I had.

I think I may have started something here!

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