News and photos
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Party chit chat
Issue No 12:
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The twelfth newsletter of Merri Mysteries.
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Welcome to our twelfth newsletter. Just to let
you know our news first:
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In this issue, we have articles about:
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Our photo competition winnersThank you for all your wonderful entries. The three winners are:
This time they happened to all be from the USA. We are commencing a new competition with a closing date of 1 June 2002 (see photos.htm for details). Here is Nancy's winning photo of Fred and Ginger from "Celebrity Celebrations":
Nancy sent in this feedback re "Celebrity Celebrations": "Hi! I purchased your "Celebrity Celebrations" for a year end party for our team to celebrate the success of our website. It was a fabulous party!... We had about 75 people there and everyone really got into solving the mystery, and the 'suspects' went all out with costumes and getting into their characters. Some of our best costumes were even from non-suspects. The Mix and Mingle format was ideal for us--we had several different groups involved, plus spouses/dates, so it gave everyone a chance to meet and talk to people. One thing we did which you might pass along to other purchasers... "Patsy Cline" brought her Karaoke machine, which worked great for both the singing of the songs and also we used the microphone for announcements and reading the solutions. No one talked about work, and I got so many complements that this was the best work party many had ever attended. The only problem now is I don't think I can ever top that party
for our next Thanks for a great party! Kandy and Robert Rachwalski sent in this feedback re "Murder On The Prairie": "I can hardly describe what fun we had with “Murder on the Prairie”! We invited friends over to celebrate New Year’s Eve & we wanted to do something different. I gave out the character information a few weeks ahead so that everyone had time to work on their costumes – and I am so glad I did! Everyone was in character long before the party! Annabel whined every time we were together about how someone killed her daddy! It was great!
The moment they began arriving, everyone was in character. Annabel was covered in bruises – so real that I thought she had been in a car accident before I realized what had “really” happened. Lulu Peachy already had money stuffed in her bloomers. And the Sheriff came in ready to drag someone to jail!
In organizing the party, my husband and I found on the internet a picture of a Monopoly game card “Get Out of Jail Free”. We changed to words to read “Get Out of Mitchido Jail Free”. We made three of these and set them around without mentioning them to anyone at the party. It wasn’t long before they were gone – and not one person had mentioned it to the group! When we read the “Whodunnit” envelope the other card was handed to the murderer – “Go Directly to the Mitchido Jail. Do not Pass Saloon, Do not collect $200.” It was a hit! Fortunately for the murderer, they had one of the “Get Out Free” cards!
So, we brought in the New Year with more laughs than we had in all
of 2001! Thank you for giving us such fun characters to play with!
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Toronto Star articleOn Saturday 2 March we were mentioned in Valerie Hauch's home entertainment column in The Toronto Star newspaper. Here is an excerpt: "Gwyneth Spence has had two murder mystery game dinner parties at her Brampton home. The first she bought from a local game store. It was for 13 people and was a big success. So much so, that she knew she wanted to make the second one, held this past Christmas Eve, even bigger. So she went online and downloaded a game from merrimysteries.com for her party of 17 whose ages ranged from 19 to 31... merrimysteries.com is an Australian-based company which caters to a world-wide clientele and has a format in which you can pick a game and tailor it to the number of guests you're having. The kits cost about $29 U.S. to download. Some people really get into the murder mystery theme.... Spence's most recent party also went off without a hitch, with all her guests ``getting right into their costumes and characters.'' The game was called ``Who Killed Santa?'' and Spence had even provided a ``body'' - she stuffed a second-hand pair of red, adult sleepers, bought a Santa hat and bear and taped off the area where the body lay with ``caution tape.'' As for the food, she and her boyfriend provided the main course with the guests bringing salad and dessert. Spence says her friends are already asking if she's having another one next year. Bess Crawford, 55, has held six murder mystery dinner parties over the past 15 years and her daughter, Melissa, in her late 20s, has had three. They've all been a ``big success,'' says Crawford, who lives in Rosedale. She bought four kits from game stores and downloaded two from Tailormade Mysteries. One particularly memorable party had 18 guests, with half in her age group and half in her daughter's. ``Everyone had a blast,'' says Crawford. The costumes, she said, really set the mood and have to be ``overdone to achieve maximum effect. We've had women's dresses cut to the navel, foot-long cigarette holders, crutches and an amputated leg, eye patches and black-haired women arriving in blond bouffant wigs.'' Crawford recommends potluck dinners to keep the party rolling without complications." We would like to thank our clients for allowing Valerie to interview them and for the wonderful comments they made. ********** Bill Bodsford sent in this feedback about his "Murder Of The Great Chef" party, "Good script, good food, good friends, and an overall good time." Here is Bill's winning photo:
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| I hope you enjoyed our newsletter. If you
would like to contribute to our 15 June 2002 newsletter, please let us
know. Click here
to read our previous newsletter.
All the best
Stephanie
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