News and photos

Issue No 17:
14 February 2003

Happy Valentine's Day!

Welcome to our seventeenth newsletter. Just to let you know our news first:

• New "Murder" Version of The Case Of The Missing Matchmaker – due to popular demand we have added a "murder mystery" version of this kit. We have also made various enhancements throughout both the new version and the old "mystery" version of the kit. We are sorry this work couldn't have been completed earlier but we had delays due to illness in our family.
• Further Work – our writers have been continuing their work and they expect to have finished updates to the following kits by the end of February: Storm Survivors, Trouble On Board, The Love Letter, Who Killed Santa?, Balmy Bahamas and Celebrity Celebrations.

• If you have had trouble contacting us via email, it may be because you were using one of our old email addresses such as info@merrimysteries.com. Unfortunately, this email address was temporarily removed by our ISP. It is best to email us via info@merrimysteries.com.
• We are planning to add a new section to our web site called "Party Tips" or similar. If there is anything you would like us to cover on these pages, please let us know via info@merrimysteries.com.
• Have you started planning your green party for St Patrick's Day? Don't forget to check out The Luck Of The Irish.

In this issue, we have articles about:

• Our photo competition winners
• Feedback on "Who Defeated The Slimy Monster?"
• Feedback on "The Love Letter"
• Special decoration prize.

Our photo competition winners

This time we have been inundated with excellent photos. Thank you to all the entrants for taking the time to enter. The three winners are:

• Lisa Walsh (USA) for a photo from her Death On The Mound party
• Debbie Brower (USA) for a photo from her Mystery In The Library party
• Tracey Joemets (Australia) for a photo from her Murder On The Prairie party.

We are commencing a new competition with a closing date of 1 April 2003 (see photos.htm for details).

Here is Lisa's winning photo of the group from her "Death On The Mound " baseball party (click on the photo to see a larger version):

Lisa sent in this feedback:

"Hello! I recently had a 40th Birthday party for my husband and we used the "Death on the Mound" party kit. Everyone had a great time! Even those people who are usually a bit reserved really came out of their shell for this one! My son "Doorbell Dunstan" was an absolute riot. Thanks for a great party!
Lisa Walsh
(I purchased the kit, and did a lot of research before I decided on Merri Mysteries)"

Here is Debbie's winning photo from her "Mystery In The Library " party:

Debbie sent in this feedback on her Halloween night:

"We had a great time! The Mystery in the Library was so much fun! This is the second party we have hosted for my daughter and her friends. Of course, some of us moms have gotten into the action, too! We have so much fun dressing up and playing with our girls! Although there were a couple of male parts, the girls just dressed the parts and got into it! Thanks so much for having this wonderful product available. Debbie H. Brower"

See the right hand column for Tracey's photo. Tracey sent in this feedback:

"Hi Stephanie, Thought you might like to see some photos of our fabulous Western Murder night. Thanks to you, it will be the talk of the 'old West' for years to come. Kind regards
Tracey Joemets
PS: Must get some photos of our Kings Cross Girls Reunion and send you too. Equally as fabulous a night!"

Feedback on "Who Defeated The Slimy Monster?"

Linda Engle from the US used the new Who Defeated The Slimy Monster? kit for her son's birthday party:

"Hi, I just wanted to tell you how much my 11 year old and his seven friends enjoyed the Slimy Monster Party. We used the party for his birthday. For the first course we did worm soup (chicken soup with fat home made noodles) and we did the birthday cake after scene two, before the examination of the crime scene. The whole party took about 4 hours.

I put the party favors into the various things that the kids found at the crime scene. For the monster scat I made rice crispy treats and imbedded the favor in there, strawberry jam (in a bowl) was an excellent consistency for coagulated blood and the favor was in it. I had the kids put on food server's rubber gloves and had them enter the crime scene one at a time (it's a small room). Thanks for writing a party that brought so much enjoyment. We laughed really hard.
Linda Engle"

Feedback on "The Love Letter"

Robert and Laurie Sages held The Love Letter party for their daughter:

"Dear Stephanie, Thank you so much for the creative genius behind a marvelous party. Our daughter and 8 of her friends really dressed and acted their parts - they were really into character. As a party favor for each girl, my husband took the first attached digital photograph before the party began. During the first course, he printed copies, and placed them in frames, then popped them into the gift bags that had all been set up ahead of time. We gave a prize to everyone at the end.

This type of party really was perfect - we did not do it on our daughter's birthday, so there was no one guest of honor - a great equalizer. They all had a chance to experiment with a formal table setting, dinner party chat, formal introductions, and so much more. Learning has never been so much fun!!! They want to do another one right away! Thank you again!
Robert and Laurie Sages"

Special decoration prize

Gina Hardin sent in a photo from Tina Vance's party which shows the creativity of their group (see below). For their "One Of The Girls" party about a school reunion – they drew a mural on the wall of school lockers. We have decided to reward their efforts with a special decoration prize of a free kit.

Here is Tracey's winning action photo from her "Murder On The Prairie" party (click on the photo to see a larger version):