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Down the Rabbit Hole… a murder mystery

Last Halloween, in keeping with a tradition started by our friends the Mosbys, we had another murder mystery party around Halloween time. The hosts, Zach and Heather, remained the same, but the theme this time around was “Alice in Wonderland.” (If you want to read about the last murder mystery party, you can read the post A Halloween Harry Potter Murder Mystery). Now I’m not the biggest fan of “Alice in Wonderland.” Ever since I was a kid, the movie freaked me out, and even as an adult, Trent and I tried to watch the newest version (with Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway), but I couldn’t get through it. Even so, that didn’t stop us from having a great time at this party!

Much like last time, Heather sent out our character descriptions a few weeks before the party so that we could begin preparing our costumes. Trent was going to be the white rabbit, and I was the rabbit’s maid (thanks Heather for always giving us “couples” roles). The night of the party we got dressed up and headed out to find a taxi to get to the Mosby’s apartment nearby in Qingdao (I always wonder what the taxi drivers must think of us crazy foreigners all dressed up).

As always, their setup was amazing! The decorations, the food, their costumes… it really was quite the wonderland!

Everyone else arrived in their costumes. We had the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts (our host and hostess), Alice and Cheshire (our friends Kelly and Antonio from work), The White Rabbit and his maid (Trent and I), the Duchess (who literally “borrowed” our friends’ baby Elijah to use as a prop!), Tweedle-Dum (Matt, another friend from work), the cook who loved pepper, and three detectives (friends from work and church).

Here is a group shot of all of us and a few others of the different characters.

Our wonderful hosts!

Trent and I

Antonio as the Cheshire cat

Kelly as Alice

The duchess (Nicole) and the Queen of hearts

Tweedle-Dum (Matt), Valerio as a detective, and the Mad Hatter (Zach)

Trent and I with the “borrowed” baby Eli. Pretty shortly after this, Catherine and Justin came to get him (they lived in the same apartment complex)

Erik as one of the detectives and the cook who loved pepper

Heather ordered my costume on Taobao, which is China’s version of Amazon, and I think Kelly and Antonio also got their costumes on Taobao. I also know that Heather used it to order lots of the props for this party.

We sat down to dinner and began to let the mystery unfold. As usual, the scripts guided us along, revealing different clues along the way. I have to say that Trent did an AMAZING job acting his part. He kept freaking out and pointing to his clock (which was our bathroom clock that we attached to him with an old chain) talking about the time. The other actors were excellent too. This was one of the best parties as far as acting went! The wine and food were great, as always, and the night unfolded wonderfully. We laughed and laughed! These parties are so much fun!!!

Towards the end of the evening, we broke out the Limoncello, from Italy, brought by the one and only Valerio. Heather even got these cute little cups for the Limoncello shots. Her attention to details is amazing!

After dinner we headed back into the living room to make our accusations and have dessert- Zach made pie!!! I won’t tell you who did it, but I will tell you that I didn’t guess right. I guess that’s why I was a maid and not one of the detectives!

Afterwards, Zach and Heather tallied the votes for the evening’s awards. Trent and Zachary both tied for best actor of the evening, so they decided to each take half (literally) of the award. Trent also won the award for Best Improviser, which he indubitably deserved!

Tallying up the votes

The best actors of the evening- The Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit

We hung out the rest of the evening, talking and laughing and enjoying the camaraderie. Heather and Zach throw the best parties!!!

A Halloween Harry Potter Murder Mystery

22 Oct

Rewind the clock two years to our first Halloween in China. Even though we had just moved there a few months prior, we had made some good friends through church and school. Some of our good friends, Zach and Heather Mosby, hosted this Harry Potter themed murder mystery party for Halloween. These two (well, mostly Heather) are born party planners. Oh my goodness, they are so good!

If you’ve never been to a murder mystery party, I highly recommend them. They are a lot of fun, involve some acting and role play, and are hilarious! Trent and I both received our parts a few weeks in advance and began planning out our costumes. Trent’s role was Ronald Weasley and mine was Rita Skeeter. Now, I wouldn’t call myself a Harry Potter “fan,” at least not in the sense that I know much about it. I enjoyed the movies but I don’t remember many details from them and I never had time to read all the books. Honestly, I didn’t even know who my character was- I had to look her up on Wikipedia to find out that she was an annoying reporter that likes to be in everyone’s business. I did know Trent’s character (I know Harry, Ron, and Hermione at least). After borrowing a few props from some friends, here were our final costumes.

When we arrived at Heather and Zach’s apartment, it was literally like stepping into a whole new world! The decorations and mood definitely transported us to Griffindor. They had candles lit, magic “wands” for everyone, party themed decor and appetizers out on the tables. It was amazing (even more so living in China where you can’t just run to the Dollar Store or Hobby Lobby for supplies). They even had a drink station where you could mix your own “potions.” So clever.

As we arrived, we mingled over appetizers and drinks in the living room. Even the appetizers were Harry Potter themed… she put so much thought and effort into the details!

It was so much fun to see everyone arriving in character and to learn who everyone was dressed as. Here are some group shots of the whole crew.

Characters from left to right. (front row): Professor Snape (Justin), Bellatrix LeStrange (Cat), Rita Skeeter (me), Professor McGonagall (Heather), Mundungus Fletcher (Abigail), Ginny Weasley (Nicole), and Hermione Granger (Kate). (Back row): Draco Malfoy (Justin), Gilderoy Lockhart (Warren), Harry Potter (Erik), Luna Lovegood (Rosana), and Ron Weasley (Trent).

After everyone had arrived, we moved to the dining room where the acting began. Heather had already set each place setting with a character card and the table was decorated with all sorts of Harry Potter themed stuff. The set up was amazing!

Everyone settled into their roles as we began our meals with a salad. Now, like I said, I don’t know very much about Harry Potter, but the cool thing about these parties is that during each round, you receive a sort of guide as far as what you are supposed to do, how you are supposed to act, and what questions you are supposed to ask. It was so much fun watching everyone engage in their roles. We laughed and laughed. We continued on to the main course, spaghetti and some delicious bread. The plot continued to unfold, accusations began to fly, and the banter was hilarious between characters. I have to admit, I was a bit jealous because my husband’s character was being extra flirty with Hermione… but it’s all a part of the game. Here are some pictures of our dinner and the acting that went along with it.

After dinner, we moved back to the living room to make our final accusations. We drank a delicious butter beer that Heather had made while munching on desserts. Everyone wrote down their guesses as to who the murderer was down on a piece of paper and then they were read aloud. I won’t tell you who the murderer was in case you ever get invited to a Harry Potter murder mystery. But I will tell you that it was a lot of fun! There were also awards given out at the end for best acting, etc. I won a small pumpkin for doing such a great job of portraying Ms. Rita Skeeter (I am pretty proud of that fact, since I didn’t even know who she was). We stayed and chatted and laughed until it was late. Then we thanked our wonderful hosts for a wonderful first Halloween in China and headed home.