host a murder mystery dinner party

Today we got a thank-you card in the mail from one of the couples at the party. It made me smile. It was written in character. The couple was “Hedy Shablee” and “Otto Von Schnapps”. Sounds like they had a nice night as well.

The party went great. We had three other couples come over, with their kids. The adults really got into it, some even arriving in costume. One straight laced fellow playing “papa vito” through in a great accent and lapses into and out of Italian. By coincidence the fellow playing “Ralph Rottingrape” also speaks Italian, and it was completely in character for the two of them to go at it occasionally in the mother tongue.

Not a third of the way into the party, the kids started drifting up from the ping-pong table in the basement or from the Nintendo or Playstation in the library, to listen and kibitz. Soon they were teaming up with adults, taking turns role-playing and doing dialog, scheming and planning responses, etc. By the end of the mystery, all 16 of us were crowded around the CD player to hear the ending. Now the kids want to do another one, where the kids get a set of materials identical to the adults, and they play in the basement while we play upstairs, and then we get back together for the meals and the four CD playing breaks.

A great time was had by all. Lots of great wine, good fun, laughs, and great food. But almost as important, I can check it off my list at long last.

All the party participants have signed up for a dish, and my wife’s agreed to cover what didn’t get picked, so we’re all systems go for this friday night. The kids are even excited.

Everyone has a character, with some silly beverage-oriented name (the mystery takes place at a Napa winery) like Marilyn Merlot, Tiny Bubbles, Otto von Schnapps, etc. I wonder if anyone will come in (dare I say it) costume?

I’ve even picked up some special wines to serve with the cornish game hens; two sauvignon blancs, two chardonnays and two pinot noirs. If I have the energy, I’ll even make fake labels for them so it looks like we’re drinking the wine bottled at the site of the murder.

Four more days!

Ok, so it’s official. The murder mystery will be solved on the 4th of April. Invitations are out, RSVP’s are all affirmative, and characters are assigned.

Now we need to work on menu items, and of course costumes. I’ll be playing the part of the hardened FBI agent, “Bud Wizer”.

_{anyone who knows me in real life is laughing now}

Despite my hopes to do this in February, it’s been slid to the 22nd of March, and I still don’t have confirmation from all the guests. Ah, well, so much for the “dead of winter” theme. I guess it’ll need to be “death on the vernal equinox” instead…

is to do this after photonics west, and my life returns to something less like a freight train going off a cliff.

I’m thinking mid-February.

The “Dead of winter” party.