Murder Mystery Tween Birthday Party

When your favorite board game is CLUE, 

it only makes sense to have a Murder Mystery Birthday Party!

Another year older and ready to solve a murder!

The goal was to create an interactive CLUE game.  

Clue Board Game

I found a ton of pre-made party options for sale.  Especially for an adult murder mystery party.  

But, I wanted to make this something I knew my daughter and her friends would enjoy.  

So, here is what we came up with:

Her name is blurred out of this picture.
We also added some finger prints to add to the theme of the invitation. 

The envelopes were themed with color and the bee.
Of course, this blurred out picture looks horrible...

We needed a main character so we dressed my daughter up and took some pictures.  

I present to you, Ms. Betty Sue BeeKeeper.

My daughter's character was Betty Sue's daughter so you may see the resemblance  - LOL!

Plot cards and assigned characters (I highlighted the character they were assigned) 

where given to those that RSVP'd.  

The guests picked their own names and why they might be a suspect in the murder of Betty Sue.

There were some great costumes and personalities that arrived to the party!

I wanted the board to be similar to the real game.  

Player pieces.

Board Game - a foam poster board.
We decided to keep the color basic.  

Weapons:  we found a few things around the house (like a toy knife and a rope) to represent each of the weapons.

Player tracking sheets:

I added the initial to the "Killer" section so the players could remember who the real person was playing each role.

I also made blue cards for each of the killers, locations, and weapons (just like the game has for cards).

We started with a "fancy" (my daughter said it could look nice but she wanted food that everyone would actually eat - so pizza it was) dinner.  Then, the "real reason" for the gathering began.  

It was time to solve a murder!

Guests brought their completed cards with them to the party.  

Prior to starting the game, they shared their name and reason for being a suspect.

The game turned out to be a lot of fun!

Next, the reading of the will!  

I played the lawyer.  In character, I read the will and gave out cheap prizes 

(mostly to make the guests laugh).

One of Betty Sue's bees.

Everyone still talks about how great this guest played her role!

Each guest received their own Clue game to take home.

It was a success!!

Favorite Things Birthday Party

When you have too many favorites to decide on a party theme....  

You have a "Favorite Things" birthday party!

That is what we did for my daughters 11th birthday party.

Here are some of her favorites.

Chocolate Fondue (or fountain in this case) with all kinds of things to dip in it.

Eventually I gave them plastic spoons to dip in the chocolate and decorate for use in hot chocolate later.

My kiddos don't really care for cake.  So, we celebrated with her favorite - 

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

This girl loves to craft!  So, she decided to teach her friends how to do string art.

I had them pick their design out ahead of time so I could have the nails in place before the party.

They all turned out great!

Finally, a game of Clue!

New York City: Central Park and Home Alone 2

Central Park!!!
My #1 goal during this trip was to visit Central Park!
This popular outdoor area has been featured in many movies.
One of my favorites being Home Alone 2.

Home Alone 2

There are many tour options for movie locations.  You can also Google to find a ton of listings on where to find movie sites on your own.

Online Map

We decided to take the subway to the park.  There was an easy entrance from our hotel so we checked out the map and hopped on.

The subway was nicer than I had expected.  But, a young child got sick as we were getting on. Which, had my kids freaked out some.

We realized that there was more than one way to take the subway.  One is a speedy track with less stops which would possibly have us missing the area we wanted to visit.
The other was a slower option with more stops.  

We were a little confused by which train we were on so we ended up just getting off before we expected to.  Thankfully, we ended up right where we had hoped to start!

On my "bucket list" was to see the hotel that was featured in Home Alone 2.
The Plaza Hotel is located at the south end of Central Park.

Also on the south end of the park was FAO Schwarz.  Notice the use of the word "was".
The day we visited was the second to the last day that they were open.  

Now, on to the park.  Unfortunately, rain was predicted for the day so we weren't able to spend as much time exploring as I had hoped for.  But, we did see some of my favorites, all on the south side of the park! 

Lots of horse drawn carriages waiting to take visitors on a stroll through the park.

One of the Home Alone 2 sites.

There was a little fair going on that day.  I'm not sure if it is there often.  

Dairy Visitors Center and Gift Shop

The Ballfields Cafe - The food was delicious and the prices were great!  We still refer to this little find as the best food we had in NYC and it was way under priced compared to everything else in NYC.

And the rain began during our lunch.

Some other mentionable things to see:

Central Park Zoo - this is in the south side of the park.
Unfortunately, the rain prevented us from visiting the zoo.

There are MANY statues and even a castle!

Tavern On the Green Restaurant is further north from where we ended up.
It was featured in Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Mr. Popper's Penguins