Journeys Are My Diary

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A Heroic Death – A Superhero Murder Mystery

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This was the Introduction information, for our latest Murder Mystery night – A Heroic Death. We were kindly gifted the game from FreeForm Games and I have to admit I was ‘super‘ excited to try it! The game promised to be “an interactive murder mystery game, which means that all the guests have a complete character, with detailed backstory, goals and a list of other people that they know.” I hoped it would be a lot more interesting than some of the games we had been trying recently!

Unlike a lot of the games we’ve done, as the host, I didn’t technically have a part. Instead it was my job to read EVERYTHING and know EVERYTHING and therefore guide the other guests/characters through the murder mystery. I was excited but also nervous – but this meant I got everything organised extra early and didn’t leave any printing till the last minute. As all our murder mysteries are organised via a Facebook event these days, I made images of anything all guests needed to know, and printed off each character booklet in advance so the guests would have time to read through everything. Even as I started to organise this party, I knew it was going to be the most complicated and complex to date – but I had been warned about that too.

The game is set for a minimum of 8 people (plus one host) and a maximum of 12. Our character list looked like this:

The SuperHeroicJusticeDoomSquad:
Captain Amazing!: He thought this name up himself. The exclamation mark is a compulsory part of the spelling, apparently. Not the brightest of men, but has a lot of charisma and is very photogenic, which is probably the most important thing for a superhero, and that’s why he’s the group Leader.
Costume: Red and Blue Uniform
Doctor Robot-Neck: An industrial accident left this qualified doctor with the neck of a robot. He’s the brains behind the group, and more involved with the planning side of the missions than the actual groundwork. He’s Captain Amazing!’s Second-in-Command.
Costume: Grey and Black Uniform. Has the neck of a robot, so wear something silver around the neck.
Bloody Mary: Likes fighting villains and drinking cocktails. Often at the same time. Always the first to get into a fight and frequently very argumentative, but she’s a good person to have on your side when the going gets tough. A long-standing and respected group member.
Costume: Red and Black Uniform
WhizzoGirl: A very girly superhero who is as photogenic as Captain Amazing! and likewise possibly more interested in being in all the newspapers than in the actual crime-fighting aspect of the job. Usually to be seen giving interviews to adoring news crews just after a fight that she did very little in to avoid breaking any nails. A long-standing group member.
Costume: Pink and White Uniform – very girly style
Shaman: Once a librarian, Shaman is possessed by the spirit of a powerful Native American shaman. Very regal and wise, and 100% accurate with a bow and arrow, so often used to provide covering fire in missions. A middle-ranking group member.
Costume: Brown and Orange Uniform, Native American style.
InvisoGirl: A shy and retiring character in large groups, but with a few close friends she is known for her mischievous sense of humour, and takes full advantage of her powers to play practical jokes on them whenever possible. A middle-ranking group member.
Costume: Blue and White Uniform.
Puss-in-Boots: Nobody knows what Puss is doing here, but you don’t question a talking homicidal cat wearing clothes. A recent addition to the group.
Costume: Boots and a Cape…. Oh, and lots of fur. Ears or Face-paint if you want!
Miguel: The hired help. A Mexican cleaner who seems to mysteriously keep appearing everywhere when least expected. He has a pretty poor grasp of English but a strong work ethic, and it would be a brave superhero indeed that would dare to risk his wrath by walking muddy footsteps over a freshly mopped floor.
Costume: Overalls or an Apron, with a cap and glasses. Usually carries a mop too.
The Masked Crusader: An old friend of Captain Amazing!, who has recently returned from a much praised five-year-stint fighting crime in South America. Co-founder of the group.
Costume: Green and Black Uniform, with a mask.
Host [The Host] – The Computer’s back-up system. A 3D projection created to assist the superheroes when the computer is logged out.
Costume: Silver, Black and White Uniform: Futuristic and machine-like.

Though I said I didn’t really have a part, other than being Host, that wasn’t technically true. The really clever part of this game is that as Host, I acted as the Superheroes computer system. It was a really fun concept and for once I didn’t at all mind the idea of not really participating and instead knowing all the information and being in charge of the game.

On the night I made a buffet dinner, one that people could pick at during the evening, in the dinning room. When everyone arrived we took pictures and after that we didn’t stop for hours and not a single other picture was taken (though again I was warned this might be the case in the instructions!). The basic idea of the game is that all the Superheroes had a party the night before and the next day everyone woke up unable to remember what had happened, or even what the party was for. They also woke to discover their manager, Bernard, was dead – the computer system was on lockdown and they couldn’t get out of the base AND they couldn’t access any outside information. The basic plot was that these characters had to find the computer code, access the news to find out what was happening, figure out who killed Bernard… AND get out of the base to save the world.

I won’t say too much, in case anyone reading this intends to play the game themselves. However I can tell you this – the murder mystery was fantastic and SO much fun. While it was incredibly complicated and it did take a while for me to get my head around it all (the clipboard helped, but the sheets and sheets of paper let me down at times), everyone at the party loved it! Sadly at the very last minute, my brother’s girlfriend was unable to make it and my eldest daughter Megan stepped into the role of InvisoGirl. While it was really much too complex for her, the fact I was Host and knew everything anyway, enabled me to help her somewhat throughout the evening. All in all though, everyone loved it and we’re all keen to try a similar one next time.

While there is nothing wrong with the regular type of Murder Mystery – either a box set or a download and print, the same old scripted/ask this question, answer with this answer, is getting a bit tired for this group. While we have tried mingly types before, none of them have been quite so interesting as this game. We would all strongly recommend A Heroic Death (providing you have some previous experience of Murder Mysteries, Role Play games or even D&D) and most definitely would try another FreeForm Game in the future!

All that was left to do, after the game, was eat cake…

Murder at the Manse – our latest murder mystery*

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A few weeks ago, it was my brother’s girlfriend’s birthday. In honour of that, we of course, threw her a murder mystery party! When I say we, I mean me… but hey, you know ;)

This murder mystery was kindly gifted to me by a lady named Jo, over at Red Herring Games. The game itself is no longer available to buy (or at least not at the moment, it might be back) but we were offered it any way, in exchange for a review. Always being one to love a new type of murder mystery layout, I jumped at the chance and we were given, Murder at the Manse to try!

When the pack arrived, it looked very well organised. There was a main hosts book, booklets for each character, invitations, along with envelopes and then another sealed envelope with the Inspector’s information in it. This was only to be opened on the day, containing the CD and a booklet for the inspector.

The parts were fairly simple, which made dressing up in costume easy. I have to admit I felt a little bit sorry for Erika as we usually go all out for Birthday Murder Mysteries (previous ones include Alice in Wonderland, Hunger Games, Fairytale etc.) but as with Amy’s a few months before, we did the best we could and it actually turned out great.

Father Twitcher – The Priest of Treddlethorpe All Sinners. A keen birdwatcher, Father Twitcher always comes with a pair of binoculars as well as a dog collar.
Jenny Wren – Newest member of the congregation, Jenny has only recently joined Treddlethorpe All Sinners and is somewhat a mystery but, despite dressing quite plainly to suit her shy nature, she is a bit of a looker!
Eve Stropper – The live-in Irish housekeeper of Father Twitcher. With cloth hat and apron, Eve is a force to be reckoned with, “Will you have a cup of tea? Go on, go on, go on…”
Arthur Jobdone – Caretaker and Handyman. With a tool belt and pockets full of interesting “might come in handy’s” Arthur is a somewhat grubby fix-it man.
Richard Branston – Church Treasurer. Always in a suit and tie, Richard is a bit of a flashy business man.
Teena Biscuit – The church member responsible for tea and coffee. Warm, cuddly and comfortable, Teena is always available as a shoulder to cry on.
Ivan Anorak – Church secretary and avid train spotter. With pen and paper to hand, Ivan is always available to take minutes, devise a rota, or sort out room bookings. With his trusty thermos and wet weather gear, he is prepared for any conditions.

The theme was basically a murder within a church congregation, though at the Father’s house instead of in the church itself. Theming the evening wasn’t very easy but again I tried and I think it turned out okay!

A few days before, the girls and I made some stained glass windows. Although it wasn’t set in the church itself, we figured the Father’s Manse might still have stained glass windows. Then we pinched one of mum’s palm crosses which she still had left from Easter and that was pretty much our decor.

With the table I went for a fairly simple look. It was just a plain tablecloth, with a sort of bring and share to the food, feel. To reduce washing up I chose to have paper plates but in the end I used so many serving plates that it probably didn’t make much difference!

One of the great things about the Red Herring Games, is that their murder mysteries are just slightly flexible with their numbers. For example, our group is usually an odd number and its actually hard to get that. Recently though, one of our friends has not wanted to participate (dressing up and acting got a bit too much I think) so he still comes along to eat and socialise, but doesn’t partake in the game. With 8 people actually attending to play and a CD for the inspector, I was all set to go. However the great things was that the Inspector can actually be a read-in part, so I gave our friend the option to play along (without dressing up!) and he did. This made an 8 player game, 9 players, all at the drop of a hat!

Though I was worried about the theme of the game – I shouldn’t have been. It was actually pretty funny. Everyone seemed to enjoy the simplicity of the style, nothing too complicated or hard to work out. That said, only one person guessed the “murderer” so there was definitely plenty of throw off clues.

The highlight of the evening for me, was by far my brother’s costume AND his acting. He was hilarious and had all of us in stitches all evening. To be honest, we can always rely on him for a good show.

The food I did in three courses, despite it being buffet style. As the rounds are broken up, its always easiest to fit them to courses, so I just had to figure out a way to do that. First round of food was nibbles, second round of food was more the mains and third course was sweet stuff and cake. Everyone was completely stuffed though and our family was eating left overs for days!

It was a great night and though for the most part I know that’s because we have a great group of friends, I also know a good murder mystery helps! While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend Murder at the Manse for a birthday party (it is hard to make the theme feel special), I would definitely recommend it for a random dinner party evening. Red Herring Games has a circus themed one that I would definitely love to try, but for now it will have to wait as we already have the next two plans in motion…

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Week 18 – Monday Round-up

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So its that time again! Trying to do it on time this week. I’m also going to try and make it quick as I’ve got a lot more to do than originally anticipated.

Last week was a good week for the most part. I full week of work and school, unlike the week before, but good nonetheless. There was nothing particularly notable about the beginning of the week, other than another Disney Princess picture from Megan.

My brother came around Tuesday night to catch up on OUAT and the rest of the week, evenings were spent either watching TV with Chris or doing stuff for my blog or the upcoming Murder Mystery. Thursday night I worked, which was both tiring but also nice because between work (ending at 2.30 and starting again at 5) I had the opportunity to wander into town which is rare these days. I picked up a ghastly dress for Saturday night’s murder mystery at £1.99 and also a cake book for £3. I also treated myself to a copy of Elle, because it had a free Benefit Porefessional sample with it. I popped into see Chris at work too (which has been a while since I did) taking him a chocolate love bird from Thorntons.

I was glad to see Friday as this week has seemed very tiring, probably because of working the extra shift on Thursday. Friday evening Megan and I made stained glass windows, ready for the Murder Mystery the next day and I have to admit they turned out good.

Friday night, Nat came around. We had a good chat and a catch up, also starting on baking the cakes I needed to make Erika’s cake. She stayed until pretty late but it was nice, despite the fact I was desperate to crawl into bed.

Saturday was a busy day. Needed to pop out to the post office, start making food for the murder mystery and occupy the kids all until my mum arrived. I baked some fresh bread which turned out beautifully too. Mum came for the girls around 2pm and when she left I went food shopping. The rest of my day was then spent baking, cooking and making food for the Murder Mystery that night. On top of that, I also finished off Erika’s cake, as you may have seen in my post yesterday.

The murder mystery was fun but that was really because of the people not the murder mystery itself. The food was all good but loads left as usual! At least we all have a lot of nibbles for the week! Yesterday, Chris and I got a bit of a lie in as mum had the kids. However when we did get up, we only bummed around and watched TV anyway until the kids got home. In the afternoon Chris went to see his sister, nephew and gran, all up at his Gran’s house. I was going to take the girls swimming but in all honesty I was still feeling exhausted so I gave it a miss.

We got ready for the girls to go to their dad’s, packed a bag and had dinner. However when he arrived there was a bit of an argument, Megan got upset and didn’t want to go. Because Megan didn’t want to go, Lily didn’t either. I hated that they were both missing out on going to their dad’s but at the same time didn’t want to force Megan if she was feeling upset. Despite inviting their dad in for a coffee while Megan decided how she felt, the girls ended up staying here last night. That means that everything I had planned for today is out the window, but I suppose its actually pretty nice to have them unexpectedly around for the day.

Now, as I said, I have a lot to do so I’m going to leave it at that. However, though I didn’t mention it yesterday, while everyone was celebrating “May The Fourth Be With You” and all that, it would have been my dad’s birthday. It would have been his 60th. I’m usually okay on May 4th, but perhaps with a mixture of everything else that ended up happening yesterday evening, I found myself quite upset. Luckily today I’ve woken up feeling better but it wouldn’t have been right not to at least give a nod to one of the greatest men I ever knew. Love you Dad.

Death By Chocolate – Our Easter Murder Mystery

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Every time Amy posts about one of my Murder Mysteries before I do, I end up feeling terribly guilty! I swear its always on my to-do list but just not quite done! This Easter just gone, we did a Murder Mystery called Death By Chocolate. It was a box set one which I bought a couple of years ago and just haven’t got around to do. In all the murder mysteries we’ve done over the years, I have to admit that the box set ones usually prove to be the most disappointing. While this one wasn’t awful, it wasn’t the best either.

In Death by Chocolate, it’s Easter Sunday 15 April 1900 and Paris is the centre of world attention as millions of visitors arrive for the opening weekend of the International Exposition. Amongst them is an elite but diverse group of individuals staying at the Hotel Paradiso. As they gather for dinner, however, the peace of the hotel is rocked by an explosion. Billy Bonka, the foremost chocolate manufacturer in America, is found dead in his room, having apparently been killed by an exploding Easter Egg. Suspicion falls on the people around this table. Your task is to discover who that killer is. Fortunately the famous amateur detective Hercule McClue is on hand to assist your investigations.

As always, no matter what, we make the most of every Murder Mystery we do. I actually really enjoyed my part as Dr Doris Johnson, an amateur archaeologist specializing in Aztec culture, and something of an eccentric. I put on a very pompous, loud and over the top British accent, that I actually managed to stick with through the whole evening!

At the beginning of the night, when everyone arrived, we did the usual photo shoot. As it was Paris, everyone posed near my Paris canvas in the lounge, and almost immediately I decided I would add the sepia filter to add a little authenticity.

After photographs, we all headed through to the dining room, where the table was prepared as always. I was glad to be only serving three courses this time, if only for the lack of cutlery and in turn washing up!

For starters we ate breaded Brie wedges (which sort of melted in the oven), paté and french toast. For main course we had Chicken Chasseur and crusty baguette. For dessert we had chocolate (of course) cheesecake along with a chocolate liqueur, which to 9 out of the 10 of us was disgusting! I tried to keep with a french theme of food, while still making sure it was edible for everyone at the table!

The Murder Mystery itself was split into three rounds, which is fairly standard. The booklets give you information on your characters, with stuff to reveal and the answer to things you might get asked. It was fairly simple, a good laugh but like I said before, not amazing either. There was a DVD that went alongside the game, played at the end of each round. This featured Inspector McClue, who to be quite honest, was dreadful.

We had a fun evening and in all honesty the highlight for me was one of my friends called Chris, voicing his sock puppet. He added a definite hilarity to the night for me and I was actually fairly surprised (given how shy he can be at times) how much he threw himself into it!

Our next Murder Mystery is this coming Saturday, for my brother’s girlfriend’s birthday. We doing Murder at the Manse and I’m excited to try one from a company we haven’t used before! After that our next Murder Mystery is at the end of this month for my birthday. I haven’t decided what to do yet, but I’m hoping inspiration will strike soon!

Titanic Murder Mystery – Amy’s Birthday Party

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With another birthday Murder Mystery on its way next week, I really feel like I should get off my butt and catch up on the last one. That said, Amy herself posted about her Titanic Murder Mystery Party, which you may well have read already!

We were kindly gifted this Titanic Murder Mystery game, by a lovely man named Gary. We had originally been interested in his Fairytale one, but as it wasn’t yet completed, he kindly offered us this one in the meantime. We weren’t completely sure that a Titanic Murder Mystery was quite our thing, but in hindsight it was one of the best murder mysteries we’ve done!

In March of 2013, we did an Alice in Wonderland Murder Mystery Party. This was actually from the same website, as this Titanic one we just did. I’ll be honest and say that we didn’t really set out to do the Alice in Wonderland murder mystery with a view to reviewing it though, just because my partner likes Alice in Wonderland.

When you purchase from the Printable Murder Mystery Games, everything is instantly downloadable. The games are $16.95 each, which converts to about £10-12 (depending on exchange rate) which really isn’t that bad. Included in this particular download is; invitations, character booklets, instructions, clues, recipe ideas, labels (to print and use on wine bottles etc), and even a suggested wine list. On top of that are some additional character booklets, in case you have extra guests you want to invite, but that don’t really have a main part. Finally there is even a folder of rag time music, to give your party some atmosphere!

After deciding who should have each part, we sent out the invites, over Facebook and email. In this modern life, I have to admit that majority of our murder mystery parties are organised over Facebook these days. I usually make an event for the day, invite the people who are invited, then post all the info to the event page. If I can, I usually post character info on the wall, if I need to send booklets or private character info, I do that via FB message or through email. It also saves paper haha!

Anyway, the night of the murder mystery came around and I’d decided on an 8 course meal (I know, I’m mental). Luckily we took a lot of short cuts, making my life a bit easier, but orchestrating it all was still hard work, not to mention I was cooking for 10 people.

Setting the table was a lot of fun, though finding enough cutlery for each course was quite interesting. I also found a new trick for table mats – buying square shaped doileys that look like table mats but are cheap and easily disposable! I also bought a lot of plastic plates and bowls for the occasion, hoping they would last more than one use. One day I would love to own far more occasional tableware, but I’m thinking it will have to wait for now!

I borrowed a full set of glasses from my mum, in order to make cocktails for everyone. I bought 10 matching highball glasses, in order to have as water glasses. Luckily I already have 10 wine glasses though, so that was simply! Napkins were paper and disposable, though a little thicker and better quality than normal. I then bought paper napkin rings too, with gold jewels on. Though there was no picture, hanging from the ceiling was a party chandelier, a little like this.

Costumes were fairly simple and not too expensive. With characters like the Captain, and then passengers both rich and poor. I only posted pics of the guys, as I know us girlies aren’t so fussed about having our pictures taken! The main 8 characters were: Captain Smith, Aidan Brogan, Bruce Ismay, Henry Harris, Irene Harris, Molly Brown, Tessie Anderson, and Margaret Petree. As I mentioned before, you can have additional characters, suggested no more than 4, but they are definitely not the murderer and just have extra input and questions they can ask. There are character suggestions for these people, even with brief character bios to make you feel like you have a back story. My brother played Mr. Isidor Straus and I accidentally printed ALL the extra booklets for him, giving him plenty to say each round!

The rest of the pictures in this post, are courtesy of Amy. I was far too busy with food to remember to take pictures and despite being ill right at the beginning of the night, she still managed to snap one for each food course!


As everyone arrived, I served Blue Lagoon cocktail, complete with a titanic and iceberg ice cube. These ice cubes were from a mold I’d bought from Ebay and were both cheap and effective! Everyone’s character booklets were laid out on the table for them, indicating where they should sit. After taking the obligatory photographs, we all sat down and began the murder mystery!

My first and really only grumble, is that the character booklets don’t recap our character information at the beginning. In a lot of murder mysteries we have done, there is an introduction stage, so we can all remember who is who and what we each do. Instead we all referred to our phones (see, modern life!) and to the emails I had sent out. We made up a brief introduction of ourselves, before I began serving the food. As there were 4 rounds and 8 courses, we did 2 courses to each round.

Round One


First Course – Minestrone Soup with Croutons

Second Course – Three chilled appetisers
Parma Ham and Cream Cheese Pinwheel,
Bruschetta topped with Tomato Salsa and Sour Cream,
Cucumber Slice with Smoked Salmon
Round Two
 Third Course – Fishcake on a bed of rocket
Fourth Course – Amuse-bouche/Palette Cleanser of Mint and Lemon
Round Three
Fifth Course – Chicken wrapped in Bacon.
Accompanied by creamed mash potato, long stem broccoli and julienne carrots. 
Sauces of peppercorn, four cheese and gravy alongside.
Sixth Course – Trio of Desserts
White Chocolate and Milk Chocolate Mousse
New York Cheesecake
Fresh Cream Profiteroles
Served alongside chocolate sauce, fresh single cream and salted caramel sauce
Round Four
Seventh Course – Palette Cleanser: Raspberry Sorbet

Eighth Course – Cheese and Biscuits with grapes and celery
In each of the Murder Mystery rounds we were given information to reveal, information in order to answer things we were challenged on and sometimes clues to reveal too. At the end of each round, there was a summary of what we have learnt. For a group like ours, this is ideal. We often get lost in our own little jokes, cudeness, or just straight out tangenting (not to mention we do drink whilst doing these and things become a little fuzzy at times!). This gave us the opportunity to just focus briefly.

After all four rounds, you then guess who you think did it. We rarely fill in the forms provided, instead just going around the table and saying who we think did it and sometimes even why. After that, you read a solution and all is revealed. Amusingly, in this murder mystery there are two conclusions. One if someone guessed the murder correctly and another if we didn’t. Sadly in our scenario, the Titanic still sank. But then again, they do tell you not to mess with History so its probably for the best!
While no murder mystery is perfect, this was a pretty decent one. There was a huge amount of humour in it and even a level of smut that was also amusing. Added to the fact we are incredibly dirty minded ourselves, this made for a great murder mystery all around. The only things I would change perhaps, is the lack of character info/reminder at the front of the booklet. Plus I’m pretty sure the person who turned out to be the murderer, said it wasn’t actually even mentioned in their booklet. I think we all agreed we prefer the ones where you at least know you’ve done it!
All in all a great night was had though and thanks again to Gary who kindly gifted us the Murder Mystery to do!

Week 15 – Monday Round-up

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So I go away today! As such, I’ve been writing this post, every day of this last week, to make sure I keep on top of my weekly round up. From today until Friday, my family and I will be at Butlins in Skegness. We’ll be back on Friday afternoon but then Saturday we’re going to see Cats in Nottingham! It’s going to be a busy week but I’m pleased to say I have some lovely Guest Bloggers to keep you occupied on my blog!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have the lovely Sarah Elizabeth from Scandinavian on the Inside. She will be blogging about one of my favourite topics – Disney! Come back tomorrow for her take on Disney Fashion and the way you can make your own costume from High Street clothes.

Wednesday its Kelly’s turn. She blogs over at Northern Roots. Her post is all about her Handbag Staples and I have to admit I’m tempted to try some of them myself!

Next up is Kariss, scheduled for Thursday. She blogs over at Shy, Strange and a Little Bit Manic and she is also one of the best friends of my best friend, Amy. She’s blogging about Lush’s Solid Perfumes and its a very persuasive post. I think I’ll be visiting Lush soon to try them out.

Finally, on Friday I have Jane from Is That You Darling. She’s written all about Summer and the things she’s looking forward to, in her post “Roll on Summer”.

Once again, a huge big thank you to these ladies for offering to Guest Blog for me! I hope to resume my normal posting by this coming weekend!

Now… onto last week, Week 15 – Round up.

Monday was a fairly uneventful day. The girls were with their dad and Chris was at work for the majority of the day. Game of Thrones premiered at 2am that morning, but we decided to be sensible and go to bed at the normal time. However we did get up at 9am and watch the recording, not wanting to have to wait until its repeat that night. My interesting mail continued this week – with two parcels on Monday. One was a nail file for me to review, and the other was a box of Toffee Crisp cereal, also to review.

The rest of Monday was fairly uneventful. I waited in all day for an engineer visit, to fit us with Fibre Optic Broadband. However he didn’t arrive until 5.30pm and even then he couldn’t actually complete the job! We had take away for dinner and then watched TV for the rest of the evening!

Tuesday was a busy day! Chris and I had to drive to go and get the kids from their dad’s house. Because of that, we planned a family day out at the same time. After grabbing the kids, we headed into Lincoln and took some pictures of both the castle and cathedral. We also visited the tourist information. Lily has homework based on Lincoln, so we decided this would be great way to learn and complete the homework.

We had booked the cinema for 12.30pm so we didn’t spend very long in town. Instead we headed to the Odeon to meet up with Nat and Josh, to watch Muppets Most Wanted (you can read my review at Twice the Mum!). It was free cone day at Ben and Jerry’s, which was great! Both girls and Chris all enjoyed a free ice cream, though I donated to charity for them and didn’t have one myself. After the movie, we headed out to The Collection, a museum in Lincoln. This was because Megan had homework regarding the Stone Age and we decided that this too would be a fun and interesting way to complete it! Finally, after finishing up in the museum, we headed to The Laughing Buddha – a Chinese buffet restaurant.

The day wasn’t over there though. Unfortunately we had to go meet my brother at our storage container, to help him get his bunk beds out! Luckily it didn’t take too long and we were home for about 6pm. Nat then came around in the evening and we had a good old catch up, which was great!

Wednesday and Thursday, Chris was at work. The girls and I did a lot of nothing, though we also spent a lot of time together, played games, went shopping and so on. We bought yet more nail polish (which I’m sure you’ll read about soon) and we also watched the next Harry Potter movie – Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire. Chris and I also watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I’m very sad to say, in my opinion it wasn’t anywhere near as good as the book!

By Friday it was time to get ready for another Murder Mystery! Chris and I spent a lot of the day getting ready for it and Amy (and Little Miss) arrived around half past one! It was a fairly relaxed day, despite the preparations and then the Murder Mystery itself was pretty good. Mum had my girls overnight and that made getting ready a lot easier.

Saturday was relaxed too. Amy, Little Miss and I went to pick up the girls mid-morning and then we all headed to the park. The girls loved it and there were tears when it came to leaving!

Hope its okay to post this, Amy! It seemed fairly discreet.

The rest of the day passed calmly as we headed home and all the girls played nicely together. Amy and I worked on Deckleswood applications, later followed by take away and an OOC in Deckleswood itself. I was left feeling much more organised and accomplished afterwards!

Finally, Sunday was another nice calm day. We spent most of it chilling in the lounge, letting the girls do their own thing, while we did ours. However the girls and I packed for them going to their dad’s and also for going on holiday this week. In the afternoon we took Amy and Little Miss to the station so they could go home and we went shopping for some shoes for Megan.  We headed home, chilled some more, the girls had dinner and then their dad arrived. After they were gone, Chris and I ordered Indian take out and watched TV, before more and more chilling out!

It’s been a lovely week off. While its had some busy moments, for the most parts its been very relaxed. I’m really looking forward to this coming week, as we’re away at Butlins and that should be fairly relaxing in itself. I look forward to coming back and telling you all about it!

Valentine’s Murder Mystery

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So this post is well overdue, but I do like to document all our Murder Mystery parties in some way or another. The day after Valentine’s Day, I hosted a couples Murder Mystery. It was just for 6 of us, 3 couples. The murder mystery that we chose to do was one called Sour Grapes of Wrath and I’d downloaded it from the internet for free, some time ago.

The party was made up of myself and my partner Chris…

… my brother Chris and his girlfriend Erika…

… and my best friend Nat and her partner Tom.

The first thing that stood out about this murder mystery game, was that we didn’t have to dress too over the top for a change. I don’t think anyone spent anything when it came to costume.

Also, because it was only six of us, cooking was so much easier. I did breaded camembert for starters and then for mains we tried out an oil fondue. This is basically the same as any other fondue you might have tried, cheese or chocolate etc. However in the fondue pot you place boiling hot oil instead and you serve small slices of uncooked meat, prawns, mushrooms and onions etc. We had so much fun cooking our own food, using the various dips and more importantly, stealing each others dinner as it fell off our forks!

As for the murder mystery, this was our scenario and characters.

The Scenario:

One year ago, Robert Killingsworth bought the farm. Six months later, he was dead – leaving his widow, Elizabeth, to tend to their fledgling winery and vineyard on the outskirts of California’s wine country. With mounting debts and no clue as to how to run a business, Elizabeth is desperate to sell the farm and recoup her losses. The fierce drought and shaky economy, however, have left the Killingsworth Farm on the market for far too long.

One early autumn day, six people passed through the gates of Killingsworth Farm to see Elizabeth – one of them, a cold-blooded Killer…

Those Present at Killingsworth Farm:

Michael Nightshade: This real estate developer from New York arrived unannounced with plans to buy Killingsworth Farm and develop it into a low-cost housing community. His boss ordered him to obtain the Killingsworth land at any price…

Dr. Chelsea Barren: After suffering a nervous breakdown, this psychiatrist and best-selling author moved to Northern California to relax… but she moved next door to the Killingsworths instead.

Vicki D’Adly: Elizabeth’s estranged sister from New Jersey, she and her husband were traveling on vacation when Vicki decided to drop by Killingsworth Farm for a visit… a surprise visit.

Norman D’Adly: A real estate broker from New Jersey and husband to Vicki, Norman is trying to salvage his job and his marriage while traveling across the country on vacation.

Kathryn Lawless: Best friend to Elizabeth, this local librarian and historian has a flare for the eccentric. She lives down the road with her 15 cats and loves true crime – especially the mysterious, unsolved death of Robert Killingsworth

Enrique Graves: This young drifter wandered onto Killingsworth Farm just as Robert and Elizabeth were moving in. Elizabeth took a liking to Enrique and he has lived on the farm ever since – tending to the fields… among other things.

We had a huge amount of fun and although the murder mystery itself was fairly average, we’ve definitely done far worse. While I love the huge big murder mysteries we do, there was something to be said for a nice small one too.

Watch this space for more of our murder mystery party updates!

Week 11 – Monday Round-up

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I feel like I start off this round up every week by saying “Oh my god what a busy week!” but yet again it has been. The last week of February was dominated by making a cake for my daughter’s birthday, the first week of March by her actual birthday, this second week has been dominated by Amy’s birthday and I have it all to go again next week too!

On the heel of spending a very busy day in Hull and The Deep last Sunday, I jumped into Monday already tired but coming home from work to bake 9 cakes (yep, I said 9!). Tuesday evening was spent making buttercream and icing those cakes (into three tiers) and Wednesday was spent re-icing them as I decided they were rubbish! On Thursday I worked overtime in the evening and so I came home late, finished off Amy’s cake but at the same time encountered a major disaster. However when she arrived on Friday she seemed pretty pleased with it and on Saturday at our Murder Mystery party, everyone complimented it. When she left on Sunday, she hadn’t even let anyone cut into it as she wanted to take it home, but in the end decided she could only realistically take one layer come and the rest was left here!

That was my week with regards to Amy’s cake at least…

In all honesty, there wasn’t a huge deal more going on in my week outside of that. I’m sure I must have done numerous shopping trips in that time, spending money on both cake bits and party decorations. I spent hours browsing the web for various ideas but ultimately came up short since my brain was so focused on the cake!

Wednesday I did get to go to Megan’s assembly at school. That was really nice as now I work, I barely get to attend anything that goes on at school. Her class did a presentation about Ancient Greece which they had all written themselves and it was actually very humorous.

When we got home from school/work on Wednesday, some t-shirts I had ordered for the girls had arrived and they were thrilled. However no sooner than Lily had put hers on, she managed to get splatted by yoghurt all over!

Friday was Amy’s birthday and she arrived on the train at around 5.30, along with my friend Adam. The girls and I had decorated the house with balloons and banners and it was so lovely to actually spend her birthday with her, give her gifts and cards etc. Unfortunately Lily came down ill that evening which lasted for well over 24 hours but luckily she had shaken it by Sunday. Needless to say that caused a busy weekend to be a little more crazy, but it turned out okay in the end.

On Saturday my partner Chris got the job of looking after the girls, especially Lily. Adam, Amy and I took on the food shopping and preparation, then everyone chipped in to get the house ready for the Murder Mystery that night. I will be posting separately about the Murder Mystery itself, but I’m pretty sure everyone enjoyed our adventures on the Titanic and eating First Class.

When we got up on Sunday, there was a lot of washing up to do! Luckily we have a dishwasher but 3 loads later and it still wasn’t done, even after I washed a load of stuff by hand. I feel sure we’ll be getting down it all week. Amy caught the train home in the afternoon (which was sad) and the rest of the day we all spent exhausted on the sofa. That night Chris and Adam played Portal 2 on the computer and I just sat and surfed the net, looking into new cameras.

I look forward to updating you all on Amy’s cake and the Murder Mystery. I know I still want to update about Lily’s birthday last week and next week I’ll have Chris’ to do on top of that! I really need to get organised!

Hope you all had a great week! I know I did, even though it was crazy busy – as seems to be the way this year!

A Taste of Transylville Terror – by Ace Murder Mystery

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Many many times I have waffled on about organising and murder mystery parties. This year there was Alice in Wonderland during March, #YOLO Upon a Time in May, Hamlet in September and now A Taste of Transylville Terror in October!

As you will remember, I posted about my excitement, just a few weeks ago. I was looking forward to our Halloween Murder Mystery, especially the costumes and food. Luckily it was not a disappointment!!

We bought the game from Ace Murder Mystery, a website that currently offers about six murder mystery games. The guy that I dealt with was so so friendly and I would highly recommend their service. The game arrived literally within a day or two of me ordering and it came nice and safely via recorded. I was so excited to receive it that I literally opened it up and wrote all my invitations there and then.

Since the actual characters and synopsis are available on the website, I had already decided who would be who. This made invitation writing really fast and easy. The general look of the box and all the materials inside of it was very appealing and definitely really professional. I was thrilled with my purchase!
Inside the box was everything you need to host and plan the party. Invitations (as I mentioned) and envelopes to send out to guests, these contain a little info on each character and also some costume suggestions. There were booklets for each character for on the night, place settings for on the table that evening, clues for during the game and also a narrative CD for use during the night. Most importantly there was a Host’s booklet with table seating suggestions, menu ideas etc. For some reason, adding of this in any murder mystery, definitely helps me to feel more organised.
As the weeks went on I planned my own costume, along with helping others with theirs. I also planned decorations and food – all the bits I love. Finally the evening came and always, the obligatory photographs were taken! Stupidly we forgot a group photo this time, but here are individual ones.
Top Row: Morticia and Gomez Von Addams (Chris and I), Lurchio (another Chris), Count Dracula and his Bride (Jon and Adam)
Middle Row: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (my brother Chris), Frankenstein (Tom), Wicked Witch (Hollie)
Bottom Row: Kruella Le Deville (Nat, one of my besties), Poison Ivy (Amy, another bestie) and I could resist Dracula and his bride actually kissing!
Everyone made such an effort with their costumes and I was so pleased! The decorations really came together too and it was awesome to actually have a dinning table that fitted all ten of us properly this time.
As I’d been busy in the kitchen, we moved swiftly on to the murder mystery, everyone sitting down and introducing their character, with information from their booklet. I then got the started served up, Pumpkin Soup with added eyeballs…
While eating starters, you are encouraged to start Round 1. There is a CD narrative that goes before and after each round, its really simple to do, just playing one track after another and remembering to pause at the end of each one. I won’t spoil any of the storyline for you, in case you one day feel like picking up the game yourself – but round 1 is basically the first lot of accusations, where each character has several things they should reveal and then also you are provided with the responses to anyone who accuses you. However each round also starts off with a small scripted part, to get you into character.
Once starters were cleared, we moved onto Round 2. This time we had Halloween shaped pasta dishes, one with cheese and bacon in a cream sauce, the other was bolognese.There was also a bowl of salad. Unfortunately I made far too much and we were eating pasta for days afterwards!
Round 2 was similar to the first, but getting a little deeper into the storyline and making more assumptions and accusations. The rounds are also quite long and although you are supposed to try to do it without mentioning which question number you’re on, it does get easy to lose track and several times you end up asking “what question was that?”
Finally Round 3 was done over cake and cupcakes. It was Jon’s unofficial birthday party/Halloween and so there had to be a cake! Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture but it was a coffin cake and I was actually pretty proud of my icing attempt this time. However there were also cupcakes made to look like tombstones and spiders which I did remember to photograph. My friend Nat also made cakepops that looked like eyeballs.
At the end of all the rounds, you basically had to take it in turns to guess who you thought was the Murderer. Once everyone had voted, the Murderer then revealed themselves. Depending on the outcome, there was one of two tracks to play. One for if the majority guessed right and one for if they didn’t. We didn’t! However the evening as a whole was a huge amount of fun.
Plus points for the game was definitely the lovely box, the good quality of materials provided and the great characters, costume suggestions and even host booklet. Discussing it afterwards our only grumbles were that the questions/accusations sections didn’t necessarily flow as well as they could and like I mentioned before, you sometimes had to ask what question number you were up to, despite not being supposed to do that. 
We have done so many different styles of Murder Mystery now, from box sets to downloadables, from dinner sit downs, to mingling free-flow. We can always state what we think could be done better though at the end of the day we’re not the ones sitting down and writing them. There is probably no perfect way to write a Murder Mystery game but this one comes pretty close. If you want a very enjoyable evening with a good group of friends, I would highly recommend an Ace Murder Mystery game (though they can’t provide you with the great friends!). Check out their website for other available titles.
Our next murder mystery will be Hunger Games! Keep an eye on my blog for more information. Already looking out for my Christmas Murder Mystery too so by all means make a suggestion! In the meantime, I know Amy will be posting about this same Murder Mystery evening tomorrow and I will add the link here then!

More murder on the horizon!

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After a busy week of posting blog posts last week, I find myself completely lacking this week! It’s not for want of trying though… I’ve just been completely pre-occupied with another amazing opportunity (which I will post about soon!).

Anyway, over a week ago I did start this post – but unfortunately I never actually got around to finishing it. As such, here I am trying to get it done now!

As you will know from my last few posts, we recently had a Hamlet Murder Mystery party, only our third murder mystery party of this year (compared to eight last year, from June onwards). However it seems to have given everyone the bug and by the end of the evening we were already planning our October Halloween Murder Mystery!

Since then, we’ve managed to secure a definite ten players. This left me the task of finding a great Murder Mystery for us to do. The one we did last year, called Halloween Horror, was a great hit and was also the first free-form mingling type one we’ve done. We then did another for November and Decemeber, I think wearing out the novelty. This year I decided that instead of just dressing up for Halloween themed murder mystery, it might actually be fun to take on Halloween/Horror type characters. As such, it lead me to this:-

Source

After double checking this was okay with everyone, I ordered the game box and it arrived within two days! I was so excited when it actually arrived that I took a picture and tagged everyone on FB who was coming!

The box is actually amazing! Its been a long time since we did a proper box set and I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have printed invitations and booklets, instead of having to download them and print them myself.

Of course I rushed to get it all open and look through it. I’d already picked who would be who according to the blurb on the website but it was nice to get a bit more to read on each character, including a character costume suggestion. I wrote the invitations there and then and have already handed most of them out! (2 to post on Monday, which I keep forgetting to do!).

I’ve spent the last week or so looking for the perfect costume and have even decided to dye my hair black (I’m Morticia Von Addams!). I still have a bit more planning to do but I’m already super excited!

Not only that though, but in planning our October murder mystery, I also decided to book everyone in for a November AND December murder mystery too. Our November theme is yet to be decided (though we’re thinking Masquerade if we can find one) and of course December’s will have a Christmas theme! As we’re usually out numbered with more guys than girls, a guy has to take on a female role. First was my brother, then our friend Tom and last was my partner Chris. This time its our friend Adam who will be the Bride of Dracula which I can’t wait to see. Next time should be Jon… and we’re crossing our fingers for our final male (another Chris) to take on the role of Mrs Claus! I suggested that the first one of the next year we should do a complete role reversal one where all the guys are girls and all the girls are guys. I think it will be fun!

Anyway, until next time…!