News and photos

Issue No 61:
1 September 2010

Welcome to our sixty-first PartyChitChat.

Here is our news:

• For halloween, you may like to consider Celebrity Celebrations for 8 to 100 guests.

• We have a Merri Mysteries page on Facebook. We would really appreciate it if you could "Write On Our Wall" about any of the parties you have had using our kits. And/or if you could click "Like", we would be so grateful.

In this issue, we have articles about:

• Our photo competition winner
• Our decoration competition.

Our photo competition winner

We had four entrants this month, so there are four prizes that have been given. Don't forget to send us your photos and feedback.

The winners are:

• Dawn House (USA)
• Traci Stevens (USA)
• Tara Hendrickson (USA).

We are commencing a new competition with a closing date of 1 October 2010 (see photos.htm for details).

Decoration competition

The winners are:

• Traci Stevens (USA)
• Tara Hendrickson (USA).

We are commencing a new competition with a closing date of 1 October 2010 (see decor.htm for details).

Here is a group photo from Dawn's "One Of The Girls" party:

Dawn sent in this feedback about her party:

"I purchased the play, "One of the Girls" for our Red Hat Chapter. We performed it for a group of 35 red hatted ladies in May and they were all so happy to have the challenge of "who dunnit". This was our fifth play, but the first purchased from you. They all said, it was the best yet. We would like to enter your contest and I am attaching a picture. You can see that the gals had fun dressing the part and using props to enhance the story line. Hope to hear from you.

Dawn House
Queen Mother"

Here is a photo of the "Little Mermaid" table decoration from Traci's "Mystery In The Library" party:

Traci sent in this feedback about her party:

"We had a wonderful time decorating and putting on this mystery dinner! Our youth group hasn successfully used the mystery dinner for two years now, as a fundraiser to pay for our mission trip this summer. I have a number of wonderful pictures, especially one of the cake that our talented rector's wife created for this event!

But I can only attach one, and was so proud of our youth for coming up with the idea of themed tables and creating runners for each table with drawings of different stories (they used many Disney stories and fairy tales). The attached Little Mermaid theme was one of my favorites!

Again, many wonderful costumes, but we had a costume contest and these two were voted the best overall! Wish I could send more!"

Here is a photo of the Papa Bear and Dr Watson from Traci's "Mystery In The Library" party:

Here is a photo of the hand-drawn pictures of storybooks and Sherlock from Tara's "Mystery In The Libary" party:

Tara sent in this feedback:

"Hi all!

My name is Tara Hendrickson. I purchased your Mystery in the Library kit and we just had the party today! The party was a huge success! I had 23 people participate, including myself.

The costumes were so creative. The acting was amazing. People really got into their characters...sometimes to their detriment because they were making up information before they had heard all of the clues! It was great to see the dedication though.

I didn't actually play the game, but was there as Sherlock Holmes to help make sure it flowed smoothly. I loved hearing everyone come up with theories about the King and whisper to each other behind other characters' backs.

For decor I made 10 hand-drawn pictures of storybooks with the suspects missing from the pages and hung signs from the ceiling with Dewey Decimal sections of the library listed. With a bunch of books strewn throughout the house, it really made you feel like you were in a library! I have attached a few photos for you of the costumes and the decor.

Thank you so much for a great time had by all. I look forward to future parties with you!

Tara Hendrickson"