News and photos

Issue No 25:
9 June 2004

Welcome to our twenty-fifth Party Chit Chat. Just to let you know our big news first:

• We are thinking of changing the name of our business from "Merri Mysteries" to "Merri Mysteries". We think that it better reflects the spirit of our business especially as we no longer do customized kits. What do you think? We would love to know what you think of our new name.
• We are also thinking of putting our kits on CDs and selling them in stores. What do you think?
• Please email us your opinions to the ideas mentioned above via info@merrimysteries.com. We will give one of the respondents a mystery party kit of their choice (drawn 21 June 04).

• We have decided to make our newsletter mailing list "double opt-in", so you will be receiving an email asking if you still want to receive our newsletter. Please respond to this email or you will no longer receive our wonderful newsletters.
• We have rewritten Murder Of The Great Chef and Murdering The Boss to be "good clean fun" kits, rather than "spicy" kits. However, because "Murdering The Boss" is set in a hotel, there are still the occasional references to alcohol.
• We have a new kit called Revenge On The Goldfields?. It is a fun mystery set in 1912 during the Australian goldrush period. There are standard versions for 8, 9 and 10 guests and a meet and mingle version for up to 30 guests.

• Our photo competition winners
• Feedback on Storm Survivors

Our photo competition winners

We received some outstanding photos for this competition. Thank you to everyone who entered. The three winners are:

• Bonnie Zarrillo (USA) for a photo from her The Luck Of The Irish party.
• Nikki Little (Australia) for a photo from her Celebrity Celebrations party.
• Dan and Marilyn Murphy (USA) for a photo from their Murder On The Prairie party.

We are commencing a new competition with a closing date of 1 August 2004 (see photos.htm for details).

Bonnie sent in this feedback about her party:

Stephanie, Everyone was so excited about the party, here in Chicago, where the weather isn't always that great, the neighbors came out in their costumes and had a wonderful time. I gave many of them your website to check out the other parties, I hope you get some referrals! Thanks again.
Bonnie Zarrillo"

Feedback on Storm Survivors

We received this feedback from Amber about her Storm Survivors party:

I just wanted to say that your Storm Survivors was the best party I've had so far in my 16 years of life.

My guests came dressed up to the extreme, which made the voting on best costume quite difficult.

Everyone had a blast, and when our first guest "died", people reacted so oddly. It was great. When Bernadette came onto the scene, the girl who played her was perfect for the part.

Even though no one guessed who did it in the end correctly, though one guy thought it was the certain person (who ended up being me), but didn't guess correctly of the murderer, it was still awesome. Thanks for making an awesome birthday party game.

- Amber

Here is Bonnie's group photo from her "The Luck Of The Irish" party:

Here are two photos from Nikki Little's "Celebrity Celebrations" party:

Nikki sent this feedback about her party:

"Hi Stephanie,

I had to write and thank you for the great time we had with the Celebrity Celebrations murder mystery party.

16 of us took a trip up to the wineries in the Hunter Valley, and held the party in a Homestead up there. It was the perfect setting for the party, and we all had such fun. Jerry even made an appearance.

I’ve attached a couple of photos so you can see how much fun we had for yourself. All the group are still talking about it, and are hoping to hold their own parties in the future (I’ve given them the link to your site).

Thanks again
Nikki Little
(Audrey Hepburn)
Sydney, Australia."

Dan and Marilyn sent in this feedback about their party:

" Our party was to celebrate our Granddaughter's 23rd birthday.

We started out in the house with drinks and appetizers. Everyone went by their fictitious names and added twangs or whatever little things to try to play what they thought that person would be like. For our meal we had steaks out in the back yard where we had dug a pit and made a grill. We gathered around on the swings or tree stumps to discuss who dunnit.

Later we had dessert outside also as the weather was perfect and no bugs. We gave a prize for the best costume. Frank Reyes and Lulu Peachy tied for first place. We also gave a prize for the ones who guessed the murderer correctly. There were three winners.

Lulu was the birthday girl and we had a cake for her after it was all over. Everyone had about five hours of great fun. Everyone wants to do it again with another theme. The cost was kept down by looking for costumes and decorations at yard sales and Good Will stores. We seemed to find everything we needed."

Here is a photo from Dan and Marilyn's "Murder On The Prairie" party: