where appropriate, I have included links to the items I have splurged/saved on, and these links may or may not give us an affiliate kickback
I am the absolute WORST for party budgets.
While one part of my brain is sitting there in a turtle neck with crossed arms and a calculator all like “We have to stick to a budget” the other part is twirling around in a tulle skirt saying, “I want fabulousness! You’re stifling my imagination, I need to CREATE!” Anyone who has been to one of my parties or events has seen this in action – like that time I draped fabric over the entire ceiling of a venue and then put twinkle lights under it to wow guests at a public event, another time when I bought a helium tank during a helium shortage (That’s a thing!) to live out my vision of having the entire floor covered in balloons for a Murder at the 1980s Prom fundraiser.
This is an area where I admittedly inherently suck. I could go on and on about things I have done (like having the Announcement of Murder pressed onto vinyls by a guy in Amsterdam so my guests could find the records and put them on an antique gramophone to line up with the Gatsby-era theme for a 3 day weekend event using The Sly Mr. Foxx). I could go on and on about how I learned Raspberry Pi to program a door to swing open when you played a tune on a piano, the door of which opened to a hidden film reel room, in which was hidden spooled film reels which guests would then have to put on a film projector to see footage I had shot on a vintage video camera, which took 3 months to have developed and returned…
Run on sentences abound, but I digress.
Sublety is not my strong suit. And while most party hosts aren’t going to such extremes (and those of you who are send us your pics and we drool over them) the message here is the same: sometimes our vision for the experience we want to create for our people is larger than the budget we lay out for the party (if we even lay out a budget).
So all this begs the question: how can we bring our party visions to life without spending the equivalent of the gross domestic product of a small country?
Listen, host, I’m not here to tell you how to cheap out. There’s more than enough of that out there. I’m here to talk about how you can have it all, every last thing you envision for your party without the bank suspending your credit card, thinking it’s been stolen (That has happened to me while doing international events).
I have found it’s a fine balance between the splurge items and the save items. The strategy is simple: you decide what you’re willing to splurge on, the things that will make your guests say “wow, that’s pretty fricken awesome.” I’ll use some real life examples from my 25 years of murder mystery event planning (and I promise you this is all true).
The Party: A 13th Birthday Party – Casino Royale Style
I’m in the process of putting together a fantastic (if I do say so myself) kids party. My 12 year old and his friends have been playing blackjack at recess with leaves (I can’t make this stuff up) so he wanted a Casino Royale/Blackjack theme. After clearing it with all the parents (the most common response was ‘omg can we come too?’) we were off to the races. I pulled out my trusty Red Carpet and Velvet Ropes (one of my best investments, if I’m honest – I use it for parties and for fun… all the selfies taken on it for my Really Desperate Housewives party were amazing, It’s also hilarious when I throw it outside when a bummed out friend rocks up for coffee and suddenly she’s not bummed out anymore – because how can you be bummed out when your friend literally rolled out the red carpet for you?!) and got to work.
The Splurge: Since none of these kids like cake (no really, they all hate it!) I wanted themed cupcakes from the best place in town. Some of these cupcakes have a literal buttertart inside. I simply couldn’t settle for anything else.
The Save: I timed the party between 2 and 6pm so we wouldn’t have to feed everyone dinner. The cupcakes are the food, and they are crowd-stoppers.
The Party: The Really Desperate Housewives Murder
The Splurge: I wanted this entire party to be about the women in my life getting all dolled up and stepping out of their world for an evening. The Red Carpet was out, and I wanted it to be all about cool lights and photo areas. My handy dandy red carpet came out, and I got colour changing beach balls, a light up swan for atmosphere (and pics) and submersible lights for drinks (this is also another of my secret weapons in creating a WOW factor – the way they twinkle off bubbles just makes people happy).
The Save: When people asked what they could bring, I didn’t say “oh nothing” or “just yourself”. I said, “Bring your favourite drink to share”. This is one of my favourite things to do as a host, because everyone loves to share their favourite things, it lets me try new wine and cocktails I never would have tried otherwise, and it helps manage one of the priciest parts of throwing a party – stocking your bar. The creativity my guests have brought to it as well has been incredible, and I have even had people tell me it’s one of their favourite parts of the party – seeing what everyone else brought and hearing the stories behind why people love the things they’ve chosen to share.
The Party: Launching A Gangster Murder at the 1920s Speakeasy in Copenhagen
The Splurge: This was a huge event for me, and Copenhagen opened their arms and embraced this event. It was iconic! I had two splurges for this one, the first one also being the save…
The Venue: I rented the historic Sopavillonen. It’s from 1894, so already the venue is in line with the era – old and classicly decorated, and between two lakes, on which are actual swans, as well as paddle boat swans people can rent. My guests could investigate the murder both inside and out, and there was even a back door we had people enter through – they had to knock and give the secret password. We chalked the sidewalk outside, which was a huge wow factor as guests arrived, and the cause of so many questions from those just passing by.
I also found myself an amazing photographer in Copenhagen to snap pics and footage of the guests investigating, and he was worth every penny.
The Save: With the right venue, even though it cost a bit more, I saved all the decor and decorations. The venue gave us one drink per guest included, which saved us on bar costs, and the bartender was also included.
I’ll also mention that the right venue will also save your sanity, since hiring bartenders, stocking a bar and obtaining a liquor license is a bit of a production at any time, and something most people might not think about when planning a larger party.
Another Save: We did all the printing at the library – it wasn’t something I had thought of before, but a local mentioned it and she was right, it was easy and quick and saved us about 75% of my initial mystery materials printing budget which, when your guest list is over 100 people, comes in handy.
The Party: A Hawaiian Homicide for a law firm’s Christmas Party (in February)
This was such a fun event, and such a fun group. It was the dead of winter and everyone came in tropical dress. In this case, my splurge is also my save – you’ll see why!
The Splurge: Pineapples – 50 Pineapples, to be precise.
I wanted everyone to enter and immediately feel like they were in a tropical paradise. February in the snow belt of Canada is a slushy, dark, miserable mess, so I used a tropical backdrop for pictures and put pinepples end-to-end around the restaurant venue. This meant that I was driving around for days buying every pineapple I could get my hands on. My car was FULL of pineapples. I created a Pineapple shortage, and one of the guests even mentioned that she now understaood why she couldn’t find any pineapples in town that day. We sent everyone home with a pineapple. This was both a splurge and a save, since the decor was relatively cheap and really wow’d the guests as they fell through the doors, escaping one of the biggest storms we had that year.
The Save: A box of Leis
This was such a score, and really set the tone for everyone as they were greeted at the door with a lei, then taken to the photo wall to pose for pictures.
These are just a few examples as to how we, as hosts, can save a little in one area to really go above and beyond in another. And, as I’ve said time and time again, the right lighting and music can go a long way to making (or breaking) the party – and both are free.
What are your murder mystery party saves and splurges? Share them with us on social (@shotinthedarkmysteries) to be featured!
