Harry Potter Murder Mystery Party

Last Friday I hosted a murder mystery party that was Harry Potter themed. Everyone agreed that it was fantastic!

A few months ago I had run across a murder mystery game at a local thrift store. M and I invited a few friends over and had a blast solving the murder. I became hooked on the idea of hosting themed parties, mainly murder mystery parties. I immediately began searching for other themes and mysteries that I could host.

That is when I came across the Harry Potter Mystery by justsweetandsimple.blogspot.com. It was written by the blog's owner, so it had a few flaws, but it was fun and family friendly. I went crazy with decorations and planning.

The first thing I did was choose my guest list. This game had 12 suspects and well as a host (who already knew the results) and a helper. I made sure everyone I invited was able to attend before I made character assignments (randomly assigned). Even with the precautions, two guests couldn't come because of illness.

The script is written so the guest move from one place to another. I thought it made the experience more fun, although it also required more decorations. I had the guests start in the backyard in Diagon Alley. I set up a few "stores" where they could choose a wand, a quill, and receive their first character information as an interdepartmental memo.

From there we traveled through Platform 9 3/4 into the house. In the dinning room I had a table set up for the dinner, as well as house banners on the ceiling and windows and a "potion's cupboard" in my china cabinet. In the living room M helped me created 35 floating candles. On the walls were school proclamations and Wanted Wizard posters with funny pictures of my guests on them.

I made a generic colored banner so I could use it again.

Living Room Decorations.

Wanted posters framing a "Free the House Elves" donation center.

I printed so many different things I ended up having to replace the printer ink, twice. It was worth it though. 

For the dinner portion, I found so many fun things to do there was no way I could do it by myself. I am lucky enough that my guests always offer to help, so I decided what would be fun to have and assigned a dish to each guest. We had plenty to go around, an oddly, no leftovers!

I assigned myself the Chocolate Frogs. I bought a mold online and used 64 oz. of chocolate in order to make enough for everyone. I got creative with my candy making and placed different candies inside each of the frogs. I used Jelly Belly beans, Smarties (which people didn't like), Lemon sandwich cookies, massacred Peeps, and M&Ms.

Don't they look so Yummy!

I won't spoil the mystery for you, but we all had a great time.

The Struggle is Real

I just realized that today is actually Christ’s Birthday. I believe that fact was reviled through revelation, or maybe it was just by historical research. Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS! May the Spirit of Christ bless you and your families all year!

I was going through my morning routine with baby J and was getting a little frazzled with the extra things I have taken on this week. I have been planning a Harry Potter Murder Mystery Dinner for about a month and have gone crazy making things so it will be totally epic. It’s only a few days away and I’ve already started decorating the house.

I turned on one of J’s favorite shows and let him have free reign of the main living area while I worked. But as it so often happens, J needed a diaper change. I pressed pause on the TV, and carried J off to the bathroom for a change, bath, and then put him down for a morning nap. If you’ve ever taken care a baby, you will understand just how much work is involved.

J twisted and turned while I struggled to clean up his poopy bum. In the bath he got bubbles on his nose and mouth which caused him to panic. He began thrashing around, creating more bubbles and causing him to slip into the water twice. (Before you think I’m negligent, this all happened in a matter of 1 second.) I pulled him out and wiped his face. After another struggled to dry him off, diaper and clothe him while he again wiggled and squirmed, I finally put him in his crib for a nap.

While the proceeding process only took 20 minutes, it was an exhausting 20 minutes. I trudged back into the living room, grumbling about how difficult J can be at times. Why was he so difficult? Why does he fight me on every step?

I sat down on the couch and looked at the TV. Still on the screen was J’s show, paused with the closed captioning on. It was a picture of a fish who was saying, “I could have done that if I wasn’t stuck.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “No, little fish,” I said to the screen. “You may be able to keep his attention once in a while, but somethings just need to be done by Mommy.”

That one instance changed my entire attitude. I have chosen to be a Mother and a stay at home mom (SAHM). Sure, I could get a job and put J in daycare but that is not what I want for my family. It may be difficult and he will continue to fight me for the next 17 years. I will love him the entire time and continue to fight for his best interest.