Murder Mystery Party - Big Top Circus Mystery

I recently hosted an adult murder mystery party at my house. I bought a kit at Walmart on clearance  for $5.00. It was called "Death in the Ring." It took place at a circus.

We sent out the invitations that  came with the murder myster kit we found on the internet. On the invites it had a picture of your character and gave all the details of how you  were to dress and act and where the party was. I had about 3 weeks to get everything planned (&  perfect) I was determined to stick to the whole circus theme. I made 3 tents in the house, I did them  red & white. I made them out of crepe paper. I did one over the kitchen table where we would be  sitting to play the game, I did one in the hallway to the main living space and I did one in the  hallway to the bathroom (the house is very open so u could see them all from where we were  playing the game)

Under the tent to the main living room I made the Elephant tent. I made peanuts  out of brown felt & puffy paint, I put them all over, I made a little flag (bought at Michaels made out  of foam) that said Elephant tent & I glued a little wooden elephant on it then I bought a big elephant  mylar balloon and put that in there. I made all animal cages on my stair case, I have open rungs so  they looked like cages. I did a flag again that said Monkey cage w/ the glued wooden monkey on it,  I made bananas out of yellow felt I put them all around, I bought a foam monkey face at Michaels I  tied to the rung and I bought a Monkey mylar ballon and put that there.

Then I did Lion cage w/ the  flag again and the wooden lion head, I had a lion stuffed animal I had and I bought the mylar  balloon. Then I did a tiger cage with the flag and wooden tiger head. I couldn’t find a tiger mylar  balloon or anything else so I bought tiger print regular balloons and just put those (these were  farthest from site anyway so it was okay) I had put a sign at the bottom of the steps that said "Do  Not Feed the Animals!"

Then the tent that was near the bathroom I did a flag that said Clown Corner  with a wooden clown glued to it, I bought a life-size cardboard clown and taped him to the wall, I  also put red, yellow, & blue balloons in his hand, I bought a clown head decoration at the party  store. I taped it to the bathroom door & I bought a clown mylar balloon that I put there also. On the  kitchen table I put a red table cloth on one side & white on the other side. I scattered circus confetti  on the table. I got all red & white paper goods.

For the food I still stuck to the circus theme. I had  "pickies" already out when the guests came: nachos & cheese, soft pretzels, peanuts and for the  popcorn I made little red buckets (bought from clearance in target 4 for 1.00) with their name on  the front & their character name on the back. I filled some with buttered popcorn and some with  cheddar popcorn. Then for the main food I had regular hotdogs (I placed them on a white coffee  filter so they looked like the holder u get at the circus) hot dogs wrapped in bacon and stuffed w/  cheese, mini pizzas (made on english muffins) and french fries.

For dessert I had carmel fondue to  dip apples in (this was much easier than making carmel apples) cotton candy, animal crackers,  circus peanuts, fruit kabobs, and I made cupcakes w/ clown heads on them. We made slushy  alcoholic beverages that we served in snow cone cups w/ straws.

In the background we had circus  music playing & animal sounds (my husband downloaded them off the internet).  Everyone came  dressed as their character, It was adorable!

I bought a white hat at Michaels craft store and in black  & red puffy paint on the front I wrote "I solved the murder" on the back it said "Tommy & Tara's  murder mystery dinner" I then made a certificate that said Congratulations (then a blank line for the  persons name) solved the murder "Death in the Ring" Tommy & Tara's first murder mystery dinner!