No Chocolate for Breakfast: All of Liana's birthday parties

So Liana's 14 now. Her birthday was last Saturday. My mom friends shudder when the topic of Liana getting older comes up. I've gotta say: so far so good. The roughest Liana period so far has been ages 8-11ish, and that was probably due to all the changes in her family life at that time. She's a pretty good cookie.

How to Host a Murder Mystery

Liana had been asking to host a murder mystery party since Halloween before last. I had stupidly pitched it as a possibility for a Halloween party and then retracted the offer when I realized how much work was involved. I also didn't want the end result to be at the mercy of a bunch of 12 year olds following a script. When Liana suggested a murder mystery for her birthday party this year I initially groaned but my perspective changed when I found Deadly Ever After : A Fairy Tale Murder Mystery on Etsy.

Purchasing a script was a huge time saver but purchasing an independent one had its downfalls. The writing/grammar made me cringe. The formatting was super basic. The listing didn't actually advertize a minimum age so I ended up dimming down some of more risque things (sleep with -> kissed, in love with -> has a crush on, sexy -> cute). The story was tight and the characters well-developed so I still gave the seller a glowing recommendation.

Pre-event work included the invites, casting, distributing pre-event clues, and preparing envelopes for every character for each of three rounds.

Big thanks to Kevin and Becka for sharing instrumental music that suited an "enchanted forest" setting. Becka also set up a photo booth and took (many, many) candid shots of the party while wearing her Miaou! Photography hat. Chrissy from Cici & Co made vegan chocolate/raspberry cupcakes with blank toppers and complimentary edible markers for the kids to doodle (and doodle they did).

Liana and I decorated. Mostly we cleared stuff out, like we couldn't have our abstract space painting in an enchanted forest. We cleared out some of the furniture in the living and dining rooms. We made a big tree on one wall from brown paper towels and Dollarama shrubbery. We hung up her fairy painting. We placed sparkly flower vines here and there.

I had a blast setting up the food. After shutting down many complicated thematic appetizers I could make, I went with a cheaper and less time-consuming route of purchasing general snack food and giving it thematic names.

The tape lessened the effect but obviously a glue gun was out of the question

Oh there were prestigious awards for best acting, best costume, and best investigative skills (trophy, thematic gift, and $10 gc to the movies) - essentially how I displaced the loot bag budget

The wands had little sandwich bags with Skittles attached to them

There was also chocolate fondue, mmm

The vegan ones

You can't really see but at the ends there are pickles with toothpicks for ears and wrap for bodies

All the little artists

Proof that she still talks to me with her friends around!

Lunch at the Green Door

Sunday we met up with Casey at the Green Door for a birthday lunch. Unfortunately the heavy snowfall deterred the Mountain Grove family from making the drive (will winter never end?!). Glad Casey took some photos!