Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Haunted Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Party


This past Halloween, my sister Bethy threw the most amazing Disney Haunted Mansion themed murder mystery dinner party. Beth had put on a Victorian themed murder mystery a few years ago, and it was so much fun that she decided it was time to do another one. CLICK HERE to see pictures from our last murder mystery.


True to Bethy form, every single detail of this party was amazing! She incorporated things from the Haunted Mansion ride in Disneyland that we all went crazy over, since every single guest was required to be obsessed with anything Disney.






The character I was assigned was the world renowned fashion designer Ms. Alby Stitchen.





Madam Leota was an honored guest 



I didn't have a lot of time to put my costume together since I had been out of town so much recently, so I headed to the party store to see what I could come up with. I found this spider web table cloth that I thought I could somehow turn into a skirt. It turned out super fun, way better than I thought it would!



Miss London Wilton, spoiled heiress 




Beth and Reece are geniuses and figured out a way to get the singing heads from the Haunted Mansion to attend the party! So fun!




Professor Alberta Newton, Biology professor



Recreation of one of the changing portraits from the ride, seriously the details at this party were outstanding!



We also had a real life version of the portrait


Ms. Rita Bookaday, librarian 





 The terrifying Dr. Doctor Dijon Neurosurgeon, the no-nonsense Ms. Amethyst, high school principal and the Mayor, Mr. Paul A. Tisshon






Once all the guests had arrived, we were all gathered together by our Ghost Host. We had a three course meal, and with each course we were handed a scroll with our names inscribed on them that gave us instructions on questions to ask and information to spread with our fellow guests.




During the main course, one of our fellow party goers was tragically killed. I wont reveal any of the details in case some of my readers decide to purchase the same murder mystery kit, I wouldn't want to spoil any of the fun...



During dessert, we all sat deep in thought as each guest wrote down who they thought the murderer was, in which room the murder took place and what the murder weapon was. Then our Ghost Host revealed all the details of the gruesome murder and the motive behind the dreadful act.

I made the red velvet cheese ball pictured above, and Laura, who played Ms. Sugga Ann Flour, made the almond finger cookies. Once you got passed the idea of eating an incredibly realistic severed finger, they were so amazing I think I ate half the tray.



This was such an unbelievably fun evening, such a fun way to ring in the Halloween season!
Many thanks to Bethy and Reece for throwing such a fun and unique Murder Mystery Dinner Party!


Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Burton Family Photos


While we were in Williamsburg, Karin asked if I would take their family Christmas card photo. I love helping people out, and I love photography but I am pretty nervous about taking family photos, especially for a Christmas card or something like that since I have had zero professional training or education. But I happily agreed, she also wanted some singles of all the boys. Not to toot my own horn, but.... I am pretty pleased with the way they all turned out. I owe it all to the fact that their family is so darn good looking!






















Thomas' face makes me giggle every single time I look at this photo




After the tortuously long photo shoot (in reality it was seriously like 30 minutes) the boys just could not take one more photo, so I let them break loose of all the formal smiling and standing still and let them pose for a funny photo. It turned out so AMAZING Karin added it on the back of her Christmas card. It is definitely one of my favorites from the entire shoot.