# This year's party theme - funeral!



## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

Okay, so it's 1:30 in the morning, and I have to get up for work at 6:30 am, and OF COURSE I can't sleep. 

SO I start thinking about what the theme should be for this year's party IF we decided to have it (leaning towards "hell, yeah!" but might change depending on the amount of props I end up getting on my to do list and how the year plays out).

A funeral. A funeral where there is a coffin, a victim that died under mysterious circumstances, and clue/red herrings scattered throughout the house for the guests to read and decide on if they ARE a clue or red herring. With 6-8 "suspects" and cute little ballots that they can pick up to track their clues.

A coroner's report in the bathroom. An angry letter from the brother. A few background dossiers on each suspect... all left in different areas, so no gaurantees that the guests will actually SEE every clue... and be able to solve the crime.

The coffin will be a closed casket (we already have a toe pincher that is full sized) set up on the back porch, to be opened by the "winner" to claim their prize (and get shocked by Mr. dead guy as well).

It won't be a mandatory participation game - just something that if they feel up to it, they can wander around and look for clues and then we'll hold the funeral (check the ballots and fill in the blanks before announcing the winner) after a few hours. 

The invites will be an OBITUARY.  Details of the deceased's death, survivors (suspects) and time/place of the funeral neatly set out in newsprint (or something similar, haven't gotten THAT far). The house will be decorated like a funeral parlor and I'll have to work on names, since I do so love my puns. 

No idea what the hubby and my costumes will be. He usually doesn't follow any theme, but I'm leaning towards funeral director, but feel like that's too boring so I might just do whatever non-themed I feel like.

This is going to be fun to figure out! Please let me know if you have ANY suggestions - decor, invites, murder mystery....


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## datura (Sep 26, 2008)

sounds great !!!!!


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## Dutchess of Darkness (Dec 6, 2007)

Hi Frankie's Girl. Your Party theme sounds delightful! I'll have to give it some thought when it's not right before I'm heading off to bed,lol, but here's a few things that come to mind.

What about a sign in Table for the guests. And perhaps next to it you could have a picture collage of the suspects with the first hidden tips in it, most would never think their first clues would be posted so early in the game.

For music may I suggest Nox Arcana, they're pure gothic Royalty music and would fit perfectly into such an occation.

For Decor, if you know anyone who could park a hearse in your driveway that would be wicked. Don't forget plenty of gothic style crosses and Black and blood red roses, plenty of Candelabra's with lightly scented Black candles & Mourning angel orniments, always easy to find in spring and summer at garden centres. And perhaps some gnarly branches creating an arch over the entrance way.

And you could always dress in a gorgeous sinister mourning gown complete with veil "black" of course. You could be the Sinister Funeral Director.

Anyways, I'll give it far more thought, should head off to bed. Oh and be sure to ask FeelNecro & TC I'm sure they'd have some wicked ideas for you, seeing how they both know the business from the ground up 

Best wishes on it


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## dixie (Jan 30, 2009)

What a great idea.... thats one of those that just sticks in your head, and ideas flow at the strangest times... at work, its lunch time, and you are crowded around the communal microwave, and suddenly you holler out, "you could make a reading of the will turn into cute little door prizes for the guests!" then suddenly, you realize all your co-workers step away slowly from you, and hide all the knives in the drawer...


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## JamieMT (Sep 29, 2008)

What a great idea!!! You'll need an embalming room (or table, at least), and a crematorium as well. Black roses *everywhere*...and I love Dixie's idea of a "will" for door prizes. 

Maybe a video "will" of someone in costume bequeathing his/her belongings...the same costume that will be on the dead guy in the coffin, of course...


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## dixie (Jan 30, 2009)

Oh.... good touch on the video will, Jamie... that rocks! Good continuity is always creepy!


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## Scatterbrains (Nov 16, 2008)

you'll need an incinerator too....slide in dead guy, and BBQ ribs come out the other side.


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

You guys are so funny! 

Dear, darlingest hubby just sort of grunted at me when I nudged him and said "What about a FUNERAL????" (well, I guess since it was the wee hours of the morning and he was SLEEPING and it's MARCH might have something to do with his lack of enthusiasm) 

He's going to hate that I have to get all new different decorations to make a funeral home in the main room. 


I'm loving the ideas - keep 'em coming. 

I've got so much time to really do this up big, so I may just have to see about renting stuff like a hearse, etc....


(and I'm a graphic designer professionally, so this is going to be wicked fun to design the invites and clue stuff. Last year's party was a haunted "Open House" with me as a Surreal Estate agent. The invites had door keys attached, and one of them opened a locked door containing the previous owner. The open house flyer invite is floating around here somewhere... I love weird themes!  )


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## Scatterbrains (Nov 16, 2008)

Frankie's Girl said:


> He's going to hate that I have to get all new different decorations to make a funeral home in the main room.


don't forget the new furniture to make it look like a funeral parlor


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## dixie (Jan 30, 2009)

Yeah.. I was thinking a some new cabinets and countertops would give it that "classy" funeral parlor look....

(I'm getting how this works!)


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## yardhauntjunkie (Feb 26, 2009)

(and I'm a graphic designer professionally, so this is going to be wicked fun to design the invites and clue stuff. Last year's party was a haunted "Open House" with me as a Surreal Estate agent. The invites had door keys attached, and one of them opened a locked door containing the previous owner. The open house flyer invite is floating around here somewhere... I love weird themes!  )[/QUOTE]

Surreal Estate agent!!! Awesome, hilariously awesome.


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## Scaredy Kat (Sep 17, 2007)

Wow! All those are great ideas. JamieMT pointed out an embalming room. You could have a different body on the table being prepared for the next funeral. That give me another idea, though, it probably works better if you were doing a mortuary versus a funeral. Anyway, serve drinks from some sort of container that's clearly marked embalming fluid. I'm not quite sure exactly what sort of container you should use though.


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

dixie said:


> What a great idea.... thats one of those that just sticks in your head, and ideas flow at the strangest times... at work, its lunch time, and you are crowded around the communal microwave, and suddenly you holler out, "you could make a reading of the will turn into cute little door prizes for the guests!" then suddenly, you realize all your co-workers step away slowly from you, and hide all the knives in the drawer...


Haha that it too funny dixie!


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

OMG Frankie's Girl, I was thinking along those same lines as a theme.
Last year when we made the organ and organist, we had to choose between a wedding, funeral or theater. We ended up going with the theater. But in order to get the most mileage out of the organist, we thought we'd do one of the other two this year.

Considering all the ideas given already, the funeral theme is looking better and better lol

MsM


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## datura (Sep 26, 2008)

ah ah ah...dixie that's exactly what happens to me every day


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## B Scary (Sep 8, 2007)

As always Frankie - it sound like you've come up with another great theme! What fun and creepy way to bring a murder mystery into your party. Can't wait to see how it comes together. I borrowed your Surreal Estate theme and it was fabulous!


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

MsMeeple said:


> OMG Frankie's Girl, I was thinking along those same lines as a theme.
> Last year when we made the organ and organist, we had to choose between a wedding, funeral or theater. We ended up going with the theater. But in order to get the most mileage out of the organist, we thought we'd do one of the other two this year.
> 
> Considering all the ideas given already, the funeral theme is looking better and better lol
> ...


Oh that is so awesome! I LOVED your organ and organist, and I remember thinking of your project when I was trying to think of ideas for a funeral and wondering if I had the chops to build something similar...

I know you'll come up with some spectacular ideas if you decide to do a funeral theme! 





> As always Frankie - it sound like you've come up with another great theme! What fun and creepy way to bring a murder mystery into your party. Can't wait to see how it comes together. I borrowed your Surreal Estate theme and it was fabulous!


Awww, thanks! I hope a few others do this general theme so we can all borrow and share for our parties. I remember your Surreal Estate party turned out pretty good!


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## cinders (Oct 12, 2003)

Floral sprays on those stands with little cards of who sent them. Out here, nothing says funeral like Gladiolus. If you make artificial arrangements then get some obnoxiously cloying scented room freshener or plug ins to put near them. You could have memorial cards at the sign in table maybe explaining how the game works or with some other pertinent details. Your husband could dress as a probate attorney...that's just evil anyway! (No offense to female attorneys--they would be just as evil.) Have coffee and maybe sweets in a separate room, where the "family" takes a break.

How about a freshly dug open grave outside (simulated, of course) awaiting its newest inhabitant.


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## Spookilicious mama (Feb 27, 2008)

*Oh I just love this idea, I cant wait to hear more. I totally love the idea of clues to view if you want to figure out who did it??? You could have a great prize for the first person who figures it out as well.*


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

*more stuff I thought of...*

I've been thinking about this theme more, and here is what else I came up with:


Tentative Cast of Characters:

Victim: Mortimer Widows

Mary Black-Widows: Morty was her third husband, all of the previous of which met with untimely deaths)

Vincent Widows: 
ne'er-do-well brother of the deceased. 

Boris Deeth: 
law partner of the victim, with apparently shady dealings that were running their business onto the wrong side of the law. How convienient for Morty to kick off just in time to take the blame.

Penny Dreadful: 
Niece of the deceased. She holds her uncle responsible for the death of her mother in a driving accident.

Delilah Fatale: 
Mistress of the victim. The wife of prominent judge. Apparently being blackmailed by the victim to keep the secret of her checkered criminal past from her husband.

Abraham "Bram" Fatale: 
Golf partner and social aquaintance of the deceased. Prim and proper judge with a real moralistic bent. Would be enraged at discovering the manipulation and blackmail as much as his wife's past - and the damage they could do to his reputation.



We're still figuring out how it was done and by who - but it's going to be interesting to see what mystery plots we can borrow from. I'm an Ngaio Marsh/Agatha Christie/Sherlock Holmes junkie, and have read all or almost all of all three of their books. Don't want to make it too obvious or "the least likely person" as that would be too easy.

The winners of both the murder mystery and the costume contest winners will get their prizes inside coffins. I think it would be pretty easy to put together small coffins out of balsa or some other lightweight wood and stain them and attach hinges so they are working little boxes. Lots of goodies would fit inside a 1 foot long toepincher. 

I'm going to start hitting the resale and thrift shops to find urns/vases and candleabras for decor. I think closer to time, I'll price some real flower funeral wreaths at local florists to give an authentic odor and look.


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## jekyllandhyde (May 6, 2008)

Sounds exciting!!

Along the same vein.... We do a scavenger hunt for our party every year. A few years back we did Clue and had everyone running all over town to try to solve the mystery. Loads of fun. The guests loved it so much we were asked to donate it for another event so we're doing it again in a couple of weeks.


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## victoria1313 (Jan 29, 2009)

is this tacky or ok? go to the cemetary and get old arrangements they have pitched- usually in a pile-
grrreat 4 spooky decorating- will give it that funeral home smell


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

victoria1313 said:


> is this tacky or ok? go to the cemetary and get old arrangements they have pitched- usually in a pile-
> grrreat 4 spooky decorating- will give it that funeral home smell


I wouldn't do it without asking permission, but I doubt it's any tackier than dumpster diving... not that I've EVER done that... no, that wasn't me.... honest. 

Great ideas so far! I really appreciate it!


I did think of something else after I got back from the funeral museum. I am going to search around at flea markets and thrift shops for old stuffed birds and maybe even see if I can track down a Moose head to hang on the wall. I came across lots of bug/spider mounted displays on ebay that would be appropriately creepy wall decor. (remember the Bates Hotel's creepy birds that Norman had all over the walls? Dead things just staring at you... shudder)

I'm thinking of going with more of a fancy parlor - the way they used to hold funerals. Get some heavy velvet curtains with the fringe and lots of dead things displayed on the walls and some old painted portraits (my next prop project) and drape the mirrors with black cloth... 

As far as the invites, I'm at a impasse. I want to find hearses to roll up the invites into and mail them out that way. I fell in LOVE with these beautiful die-cast scale models, but the price is WAAAAAY too high to use as a delivery method for an invite. 

UndergroundHumor.com: 1966 Cadillac S&S Landau Hearse: Buying Info

If I had unlimited resources, I would TOTALLY use these. So I'm searching for alternatives like maybe the Matchbox cars (which do have a hearse in the series, but good luck finding more than a couple unless you go to ebay  )

So I still have time, but it's going to be slow to come together an some of it is either going to have to fall into my lap or adapt.


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## Junit (Sep 1, 2008)

I love that idea!


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## Scry (Oct 22, 2008)

A memorial book? allowing guests to write the usual platitudes and ofc you could fill it with messages from the suspects?


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## moocheex55 (May 8, 2009)

here is a link to a site that has DIY paper boxes and such (coffins, haunted houses, ect.) there is a hearse, but it's a bit complex...some of these may work for your invitations.

I just love the artwork! They are pretty amazing!

if you go to ravensblight dot com / papertoys dot 

sorry, this is my 1st post and they won't let me make it a hyperlink yet...


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## moocheex55 (May 8, 2009)

Haunted Paper Toys

that's the actual link! 

Have fun!


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## TheGothicPrincess (Sep 7, 2007)

A eulogy would be great, as an introduction. Remember to always have the funeral music playing in the back ground. What about setting up a MP3 player in the bathroom, with the sounds of crying. 

Random gunshot sound here and there, would scare the hell out of your guests, then followed by a scream. Or this could take place right as the most members of your party gets there. Then you could start on your murder adventure. 

I have been working on my own murder mystery party for this summer and one of the things we made/bought/ and found were some murder weapons, that each person would choose from a pile as they came into the party. Then they would be responsible for keeping up with all night.


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## Pirate Chris (Aug 20, 2007)

FG - I'm loving this idea so much. I wasn't able to afford to do the theme i had wanted to do (will do it another year) and was facing the possibility of redoing the theme I did last year. I mentioned this theme to a couple of friends and they all loved it. I think I'd like to completely steal your idea (if that's alright with you). More over, I'd love to work with you on some ideas for it instead.


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

TheGothicPrincess said:


> I have been working on my own murder mystery party for this summer and one of the things we made/bought/ and found were some murder weapons, that each person would choose from a pile as they came into the party. Then they would be responsible for keeping up with all night.


Could you explain more how this works?

MsM


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

> Originally Posted by TheGothicPrincess View Post
> I have been working on my own murder mystery party for this summer and one of the things we made/bought/ and found were some murder weapons, that each person would choose from a pile as they came into the party. Then they would be responsible for keeping up with all night.





MsMeeple said:


> Could you explain more how this works?
> 
> MsM


Me too! I'd be interested in the details. 





Pirate Chris said:


> FG - I'm loving this idea so much. I wasn't able to afford to do the theme i had wanted to do (will do it another year) and was facing the possibility of redoing the theme I did last year. I mentioned this theme to a couple of friends and they all loved it. I think I'd like to completely steal your idea (if that's alright with you). More over, I'd love to work with you on some ideas for it instead.


I wouldn't even consider it stealing. 

As I get closer to figuring out all of the details like invites and decor, I'll post files of my art stuff - feel free to borrow what you want!

Also post any ideas or stuff that occur to you so anyone that wants to work with this theme can pick and choose - I figure the more the merrier! 


I'm in the working stages on building a moving eyes portrait. I've got an awesome guy building some eyes for me, and I'm going to paint a creepy old man (the deceased that the funeral is for) to hang over our mantle, but it's going to have cut outs to make it look like those portraits in the old movies where there is a secret peephole behind the eyes.  

Still have to sit down with the hubby and start brainstorming the whole mystery angle.


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## Pirate Chris (Aug 20, 2007)

Great idea with the eyes and the portrait. I'm thinking I may have to make an organist, not sure though. My friends are very much about the idea of going with a Jack the Ripper timeline. 1880's. I'm going to be doing some research very soon. I also finally have a reason to build a horse drawn hearse and a full size coffin. So excited.

I'm hoping next week to start really playing with some ideas. So far, all I have is candles and lots of spiderwebs. And lots more tombstones. So happy!! 

Thanks so much for the idea!!


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## HappyScientist (Aug 24, 2008)

I had a fun idea, and even though it doesn't quite fit the 'feel' of your party, I had to post it. 
A good scene setting for taking the guest's pictures would be a mug-shot setup. Make a lined wall with height marked on it and make a letter board detailing the date of the party and the location. Take their pictures when they arrive and make them "look forward, now turn left, turn right." You could end up getting some pretty silly photos!









Also, I stumbled on this website yesterday ☠Artsy☠Chiqua☠ - The Embalming Station She has instructions for making an embalming fluid stand that she serves two types of drinks in. It sounds like what you're looking for. Also check out Victor the edible corpse.


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## mysterymaiden (Aug 11, 2008)

I could definitelt help you with the plot and hidden stuff - it's what I do for a living! Email me and we can discuss it further.


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## Pirate Chris (Aug 20, 2007)

I would love to be in on these emails!


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

Hubby and I had a talk last night about our theme, and we've come up with a slight change as far as our door prize.

Originally, I wanted a murder mystery to be solved, but not require any mandatory participation - it would have been based on a cast of characters with clues and red herrings hidden throughout the house, and if someone chose to play, they could try to track down the clues.

However, we decided that as our party has grown a bit, that even doing this would be a bit too intrusive, so we are going back to the door prize being a random name drawing. We will gather slips from all present, announce at a later time that it was time for the will to be read, and then read various odd bequests (which will be entertaining to come up with), culminating in the random name as the beneficiary of the deceased's will.

This simplifies my work, we still get to do a funeral and I'm more open to design as far as the invite... which I've already started preliminary workups on. 

We're saving the idea of a murder mystery to be solved for maybe next year.


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

Í think you'll end up being glad you changed your mind about the murder mystery. Organizing something like that can be quite time consuming when you're expecting a big crowd. We usually have a more organized activity but last year changed that around because of the large crowd we expected. We did a twist on the 'dare/tempt your fate' game. We had a sort idols for a theater role game. Everyone got a ticket when entering and on the ticket it stated what they had to do to 'audition' to move to the next round. People were free to decide if they wanted to participate or not. The things they had to do for the audtion were all those things listed on the tempt your fate/ dare threads....like howl at the moon, lip syncing various songs, thriller dance, etc. It went over SO well that I want to try to figure out a similiar game for this year's funeral theme. And it was so easy on us as hosts as well. When people were ready to audition, they came and got one of us....we flashed a light to get the guests attention, and they did their thing. Only work I had to do ahead of time was type the stunts on the tickets and hand them out at the door. Oh and set up a jury table with a skeletal judge. lol

So, I was thinking....maybe the same type of thing but they have to do stunts to be included in the will? Or the deceased died before naming his beneficiary and they all have to prove they are worthy by doing stunts? Or they have to find the will before its read to change the name on it to theirs? 

Any other ideas out there?

MsM


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## TheGothicPrincess (Sep 7, 2007)

Hey girls I just read that yall are interested in the murder mystery that I will be doing this summer. Since I am leaving in an hour to head out of town, when I get back I will get all the information together to post. I will even take some photos of what we have for you to visually see where we are.


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## TheEighthPlague (Jun 4, 2009)

So many ideas...

Somebody could dress as the ghost of the departed.

The husband could be the big-belly sheriff.

For urns, any container could be painted with the hammered metal spraypaint. (I actually used to bury dead people, and found that urns come in all shapes and sizes.)

I would also stop by a funeral home a couple of weeks before and as for arrangements, leave plenty of time for them to age and get ugly. You may get run off, but most of those people that I have met have a pretty good sense of humor, and I've met a bunch.


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## TheEighthPlague (Jun 4, 2009)

There could be several beneficiaries picked from a hat and added to the will. Some of the bequeathed items could be gag gifts. A meat grinder from the thrift store, for example.


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## Pirate Chris (Aug 20, 2007)

FG, 

Kinda sad we aren't going to be doing the murder mystery together. We have a fairly large group each year and I'm sure everyone won't participate, but everyone I've suggested it to is really excited about it. 2 years ago we did a pirate party and did a treasure hunt. Lots of people were reluctant to participate but made them. LOL Afterward, everyone told me they had such a great time with it. Hopefully this is the same way.

I'd love to hear any ideas people do have for the murder mystery part. I haven't really started working on it yet, but I'm appreciative of any ideas anyone has.


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## TheEighthPlague (Jun 4, 2009)

I've got a crazy idea, hide the WRONG solution in your medicine cabinet, make it very obvious then whomever snoops gets the wrong idea. hahaha. You can catch the drug thieves and/or busybodies at your party.


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## MsMeeple (Aug 21, 2004)

I kind of like the idea of the ghost of the deceased wandering around.......hmmmm.


MsM


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## indeva (Aug 24, 2008)

I'm hooked now on this idea. I looked on craigslist and I found a guy in Phoenix who rents real coffins. I can't to hear all the ideas! I think I'll also pass on the murder game part as I'll have a large group but keep the decor and party ideas coming!!!


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## Pirate Chris (Aug 20, 2007)

sad that i'm the only one that is still willing to do the mystery part even with the big group. Please give me any ideas you may have.


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## TheGothicPrincess (Sep 7, 2007)

Some ideas on the murder mystery. Lets say you have 25 quests coming to the party. Think of all your WILL attend quests and give them the best characters. 

Now what you are going to want to do is think about what type of character is most likely to fit that person. For instance my friend is very outgoing, and always dresses very well to do, so for our summer party we made her flamboyant Malibu barbie. She likes to be the center of attention. 

So to work this into Halloween, make your most obnoxious/ADD person in the party (who is already the center of attention) play one of the bigger parts of the cast. Think rich uncle who gropes on everyone while at the funeral. Do not stray away from there personality to much. 

We have a friend who lost the feeling in one arm (hangs limp) so we made him the butler. 

Another guy in our group is always talking about S*x so we made his character into Dr. Love. 

My hubby was Driver Duke, he had to shake his keys at everyone all night and ask need a ride. 

Basically you want to create something to happen, such as a murder. Then you are going to want to create a theme around the murder. Ours for instance was Tiki Bernie . A few days before the party since we did not send out invites, I called each friend and told them the plan, we would have a murder mystery/pool party and this was a little about there character, to try to dress as close to the type of character by what I have given you. 

That day we picked up a wooden Tiki Man and had each guest hold onto him for a bit, and then pass him off to the next person. Then Tiki Bernie disappeared. 

We then had an actress discover Tiki Bernie dead. Quite hilarious, watching her act. We then went to having our friends read about their characters, and key words they were to say or act out throughout the night. 

We let each guest pick a weapon that night, which they had to tote around all night and discuss if they were a killer, how they would have killed tiki bernie, So for the rest of the night we had to stay in character (even while in the swimming pool) and talk about who was with Tiki Bernie, who did what with him, who might have killed him) at the end of the night we then opened the autopsy report, and then a final note from Tiki bernie saying who really killed him.. BTW it was the driver duke, the last person you would think of. 

At the end of that night, we gave the best played character the wooden tiki man as a thank you. 



Since my haunt this year will be centered around my cemetery, I am going with a funeral theme party this year as well. I am sitting here thinking of creating coffin invites through the mail. 
My list is reading as: 
Flowers on fresh grave, 
candles all around grave, 
angel and other statues on grave
guest book and stand with table lamp
Funeral program
picture on grave
tent with chairs set up around fresh grave
Having the grave watcher holding the shovel off in the distance
wheel burrow over to the side
flower arrangement on top of coffin
floral sprays around outside of tent
photos on stand mixed in with the floral sprays


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## christmascandy1 (Aug 19, 2009)

hEY dIXIE..I LIVE in texas as well...if u dont mind me asking..where did u guys get your coffin...im wanting a one sooo bad...it would fit into perfect with my graveyard..thx for any info...


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