Roaring 20's Party

When my husband & I turned 30 last year (have I mentioned before that our birthdays are only 5 days apart?), we threw ourselves a combined Murder Mystery party.

I started out by buying the Murder at the Juice Joint party, and set out to inviting friends and assigning characters.

To help with the 1920’s vibe, we brought our modified 1940’s era typewriter and some antique books into the room.  And the ever talented Hubs built a phonograph iPod dock, just for the party (it’s now a permanent fixture in my living room – I just love it!)  We also downloaded a bunch of ragtime and jazz music onto the iPod to serve as background music for the evening.

As guests arrived (in character and in costume), they had their mug shot taken by the art deco back drop (made out of tissue paper circles) and were handed an envelope with a list of their initial party objectives.

I served as a minor character, as well as the bar tender.  Though I have nice glasses, drinks were served from mason jars and appetizers from mismatched china I bought at the thrift store.

The party guests had such fun getting into character that the appetizer table was largely ignored.  In fact, Hubs started handing guests plates filled with appetizers!  We served Pizza Stuffed Buns, pretzel cigars (chocolate covered pretzels), Queso, and of course, Art Deco Chocolate Kahula birthday cake (check that out over at Amy’s Confectionery Adventures!)

About half way through the party, the light suddenly went out as a shot was fired!  And alas, we had our murder victim!

At this point, the guests, or shall I say, suspects, were handed their second envelope with further objectives and guests set out to find the murderer.  That is except for the unfortunate guest who envelope revealed that he was the murderer, he did everything in his power to cast suspicion on everyone but himself.

Once it appeared that the objectives were complete, guests wrote down their best guess of “who done it” and the murderer was revealed.

After the big reveal, we cut into the cake and brought out props, turning the mug shot background into a photo booth!

Only at the very end of the evening did anyone ask where Dude & Spud were…they were sleeping in the rooms through the entire ruckus!

This year we’re planning another murder mystery birthday!  I can’t wait to share it!