Popcorn! Cotton Candy! Peanuts!

*** Find out how to win a FREE party at the bottom.

Food Ideas for your

Murder Under The Big Top Party!

One of the wonderful things about the circus theme is that the food is SIMPLE and yummy to make. Here are a few ideas of quick, easy food that screams “CIRCUS” all over them:

-       Corn dogs

-       Hot dogs

-       Corn on the cob

-       Soft pretzels

-       Peanuts

-       Popcorn

-       Lemonade

-       Candied or caramel apples

-       Cotton candy 

-       Cracker Jacks

-       Animal crackers

-       Giant lollipops

To some, this may seem too simple, and for those of you, we offer ways to “dress up” your food to help set the mood for your party guests:

To make simple serving trays for your food, find crates, box lids, fruit boxes, etc. ...

Here's what we found laying around and at the local grocery store

...and spray paint them white. To the trays you can add a number of labels in any circus font you want. {Click here to find FREE circus fonts.}

Once made, your trays can serve for serving on the table or with vendors.

To turn your box lid into a vendor tray, just add some prices and suspenders.

For the corndogs, we wrapped them in foil  to help keep them warm and add that extra circus-y feel. We also put a very thick piece of styrofoam in the bottom to help the corn dogs stand up.

Ketchup or mustard, anyone?

 

You can find simple bottles almost anywhere (we found them at our local Dollar Tree). Print out this pdf and voila! you've added a little circus to your condiments!

Don't forget the hot dogs!

You can find hot dog liners for as little as 1¢ per liner!

Get your fresh, hot peanuts!!!

Again, simple as can be. Cut about 1/3 off of the top of a paper lunch sack. Roll down the edges (we did ours 3 times) and slap a label on it. We have created the labels for you. All you need to do is print them out (on label paper or regular) and stick them on the bag. 

What is a circus without popcorn?

Locally, we found red and white popcorn bags at our Dollar Tree. You may also be able to find them at various party stores and random places. If not, you can always order them online. If you are not up for spending the money, simply download our labels, print them out and stick them on a brown lunch sack to serve your popcorn.

 Ways to enhance your popcorn:

•  Use scalloped scissors (can find at local craft or scrapbooking store) to cut the top of the bag.

•  To make it look EXTRA buttery, you can add yellow spray on food coloring.

 
You may want to consider renting a popcorn machine for both decoration and to pop some good, homemade popcorn. Not only will this serve as good munching food for the party, but the smell will add to the ambiance of the party! 
Think this is too hard? We're here to help. We have created the images as labels for you. All you have to do is print them out, on label or regular paper, and stick them where ever you want.

Use them as table tents

Or to label your drink...

...or your food.

Brand your refreshments!

Price your concessions

The options are endless!!!

 

Downloads to help create all these effects

• Drink Labels
•  Peanut Labels 
• Food Labels
• Blank Labels
• Ketchup & Mustard Labels
• 25¢ templates

***Here's Your Chance To WIN***

Become a follower of this blog (don't worry, there are no obligations, no email reminders, nothing) by clicking here  and then leave a comment below on some food ideas YOU would have for your circus party. We will pick the best recommendation for food ideas and award them a Murder Under The Big Top party! We will pick the winner Wednesday, September 14, 2011.

We hope this helps with the planning of your Murder Under The Big Top party! Please leave comments below on if you like these ideas, how to enhance them, food ideas of your own, etc.

New Mystery Released!

Come One! Come All! To the Hargrove Family Circus!

Ever want to run off and join the circus?

Here's your chance!

Jump on the circus train and become an elaborate performer, a sensational sideshow freak or possibly one of the rambunctious roustabouts that make the whole circus work! 

This mystery offers endless possibilities for costumes and decorations to set the scene and take you back to this fabulous period of illusion and intrigue. With an elaborate stage set, there are endless possibilities of motives for murder - from stealing money to stealing one's heart to stealing the center ring position! It will be up to you and your guests to play the part and find the murderer!

• 8-12, 10-15 and 15-20 guest parties are now available!
• Clean and Regular versions available!
• 20+ version available by September 15, 2011.
• Check back weekly to our blog for:
• Murder Under The Big Top party food ideas
• Murder Under The Big Top party decoration ideas
• Chances to win a FREE Murder Under The Big Top party! (see below)
• More information on the party!

CHECK OUT THE FULL SCOOP AND PURCHASE ON THE WEBSITE! 

Here is your CHANCE TO WIN!!!
Two simple steps.

(1) Become a follower of our blog and "like" us on Facebook (if you haven't already).
(2) Leave a comment below on why YOU would like to throw MURDER UNDER THE BIG TOP! 

We will award a FREE Murder Under the Big Top party (any size)
to the best comment. Winner chosen September 7th.

Party of the Month- August 2010

Every month, we highlight one mystery on our Party of the Month link on our murder mystery message board. This is August's winner!

P.A. Comes to Whitby!

My Best Friend, her hubby and myself regularly co-host parties together (my husband just comes that night LOL). We each have our own role to play in making each party a success. I'm the organiser ie: idea's, invites, all the good give-aways and any kind of craziness, my girlfriend makes the food and works her butt off thru the party to ensure our guests have enough drinks, snacks etc and her husband makes some pretty awesome props. We regularly throw Halloween parties for both the kids and adults.  
This party we decided to throw a Murder Mystery (our first). I think that this was the best party yet. 

We made authentic looking invites by putting tea on them and baking the paper in the oven,

we made booty bags out of crushed velvet to fill with our booty (coins from the party store), we had a kewl pirate chest filled with pirate loot,

wooden (styrofoam) shutters on the windows and a large pirate flag on the way in. We served Stew, chilli to make it look like slop in plastic silver, bowls and lots of Bread. (there was even some riping of bread and tossing it across the tables happening LOL).

All of our guest put a lot of effort into their costumes,

they also all seemed to really get into their characters.

Over all it seemed to have been an amazing time by all. In fact they all are asking when our next party is.

For more pictures from this party, please see the posting in full here.

To enter comments and pictures for your party, please register on our message board and post your comments under the party theme that you hosted. You will automatically be entered to win!

Beauties Galore!

We are happy to announce that Killing For The Crown-- our very popular beauty queen mystery-- now has a large version! Like our other parties, Killing For The Crown is now suited for anywhere for 8-80 guests or more!

This game has been popular with everyone from pre-teen...

Click here to read about "A Killer 11th Birthday"

... to their parents...

Click here to read about a "Murderous Mom's Night Out!"

...and everyone in between!

Click here to find out about another killer success!

The game comes in a teen version (formatted clean and set at the Miss Teen USA pageant), a clean version (formatted clean and set at the Miss America pageant) and a regular version (formatted at the Miss America pageant with a little naughtiness involved).

Until now, the game only came suitable to play with up to 20 women and up to 5 men. Now we have expanded it so that more women can be involved-- this will be great for large gatherings! To find out how these large parties are now customizable and a little bit about how they work, check here.

To check out the mystery, DOWNLOAD A PREVIEW TODAY!

Customizing Characters For Large Parties

Our large parties have always been a HIT!

Since inception, our larger parties have contained 20 suspect characters (that you see highlighted in the introduction files) and a number of other general characters that can be duplicated to fill the guest list.

A little info about the extra characters:

• These general characters have their own name tags, history and objectives to complete.
  
  
• These characters will act as sleuths and help bring to the surface some of the hidden motives of the suspects in question.
  
  
• With larger parties, we find that it is important to have these extra roles to make sure everyone is involved with the murder without complicating the storylines and making it too confusing for everyone.
  
  
• These versions are also a great way to accommodate guests who are last-minute add-ons or guests who are unsure if they are going to be able to make the party at all.

In the past, the general characters are labeled something like "Saloon Girl A" or "Passenger B", and the guest will keep their birth name throughout the party and just act as "Saloon Girl A" or "Passenger B".

HOWEVER, with the new versions of the mysteries, you are able to customize these general characters with character names that you provide for the guest. No longer will your guest be known as "Passenger B", but by the name you choose for them. We find this will cut down on the general characters feeling somewhat disconnected since they are not given a proper character name.

Now, when your guest receives their invite, they will not be "Saloon Girl A". Instead, you can input a new name into the file, print (or email) it out, so the invitation they receive says they may be... "Lily Lightly" (or another name) and their description will inform them they are a saloon girl- along with other information about their history. 

Do I need any special software in order to input new names into the files? NO. We have made the files very user friendly so that you can input your details in Adobe Reader and even save the file with a new name before emailing it out.

CHECK OUT ONE OF THE NEW CHARACTER FILES (click here).

Hope this helps clear up any confusion on how to customize your general characters! Let us know if you have more questions!

Another jumpin' large party!

Ho Ho Homicide A HIT!

Thanks for the comments and pictures, you can check out how these HO HO HOMICIDE parties went this past holiday season!!! (Click on the pictures to go to the full story and more pictures!) For accounts of other parties-- click here to go to our Murder Mystery Message Board!

I never had so much fun planning a Christmas party! This was my first
murder mystery party ever, and I was the host!!!
 

It was the bomb!

Awesome Party From Night of Mystery (again)

Ho Ho Homicide Comment Contest

Tell us about your Holiday Party 

and the next one may be on us!

We are looking for comments, pictures and posts about your recent Ho Ho Homicide Party! All you have to do is post our Night of Mystery Message Board here. If you are not already a user, you will need to register for the board. After doing this, you will be 'approved' by the administrator, this is simply so we don't get spammers on our board. Hint: send an email to Ross asking him to approve you right away. He will do so.

After you have been approved, you will have the ability to post your comments, stories, highlight, recaps, etc. of how your party went directly on the forum. Be sure to avoid using any spoilers (ie, don't tell us who the murderer or victim are, kay? We would hate to ruin it for anyone who hasn't played the game). If you are uber-tech-savvy, go ahead and post your pictures with your posting (leaving out any spoilers) OR if you are not, just email the photos to Ross who will add them to your posting.

FINE PRINT

• You have until February 28th to get your postings and pictures in
• Three parties will be picked and highlighted here
• The poster of parties that are picked will receive $50 gift certificates for Night of Mystery
• You don't need to be the host of the party (ie, guests can post their pictures and recounts of the night)