Vintage Snack Trays

Our next murder mystery party is coming up soon and we're kicking the decor into high gear. I found these incredible vintage snack trays at an estate sale. I picked up six matching trays for one whole dollar! 

They're really beautiful and the gold and green with just hints of red will go perfect with our circus theme. They already look great with one of the elephants that I've picked up for the party.

The green birds will add just the right amount of animal-ness for the theme. They're so pretty that I'm not sure I actually want to cover them up with snacks! Haha. I may use them some of them to hold the menu placards we put out for our food display. So happy to find these. They're going to look great at the party!

Meat Candy - The Perfect Hors d'oeuvres

A couple of weeks ago, Jay gave you a three ingredient party punch. I thought I'd match her punchy post with a three ingredient hors d'oeuvres. Before we begin, I should warn you - this is in no way health food. In fact, there's not a single healthy ingredient. It is, however, delicious. It might be one of the most delicious hors d'oeuvres in my cocktail food repertoire.

The ingredients:

Bacon

Little Smokies

Brown Sugar

That's it! Three lovely, heavenly ingredients. As a note, I typically use thin sliced bacon as it is easier to wrap. Also, I use the pork Little Smokie sausages because it is super yummy with the bacon. Back to the action!

Step 1. Cut the bacon strips into halves or thirds, depending on how long your bacon is. Dredge the bacon in the brown sugar. Dust off any excess sugar, this should be a light coating.

Step 2. Wrap the dredged bacon around a Little Smokie sausage, spear the roll with a toothpick to keep everything in place.

Step 3. Place your bacon army on a sheet pan. Typically, I use a bit of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan for easy clean up. Foil would also be good. These do get messy. Pop in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes until the bacon is cooked to the crispiness you desire.

The results are amazingly scrumptious. The perfect bite of salty, sweet and savory. I've been making these for years now for our parties (and many other parties) and they've never failed to be a huge hit. The only problem is making enough because they tend to disappear so quickly!

Enjoy!

Meat Candy Recipe

Ingredients:

Bacon - cut into halves or thirds

Little Smokie Sausages

Brown Sugar

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Dredge the bacon in brown sugar. Wrap the dredged bacon around a sausage and secure with a toothpick. Place on baking sheet. Repeat as many times as you need to. Once all sausages have been wrapped, place the baking sheet in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes.

DIY Costume - Half Man Half Woman part 1

It's that time of year again for me to put together a costume for the murder mystery party. Usually I have something started by now, but this year I've had to do some research online to get some ideas. My character for our Carnivale Mystique murder mystery game is a half man half woman. So, I did what most of us do in the nowadays and I Googled images of half man half woman costumes. I figured since I own a sewing machine and I can sew a straight stitch, how hard could this be - right?

Here's what I found. I think this looks pretty great.

Here's another example I found. Now, I'm pumping myself up - If they can do it so can I. I hope...

After finding these examples, I was excited to get started. So, last week a hit no less that five thrift shops looking for the perfect dress and men's suit to piece together. This proved more difficult than I thought. Probably because 1. I've never done this before and 2. I've never done this before. Now, I'm starting to second guess myself.

But then, Flo and I were out on a mission to get something... anything that will work so that I can at least have something to post about today. Here's what we found.

The dress!

The shirt and pants!

Right now they're sloshing around in my washing machine. The upcoming posts with show my attempts to put this costume together. This will be a shining moment for me or an epic failure. Stay tuned and wish me luck!

Fondue Cathrineholm Style!

To be honest I'm not a big fan of fondue. Maybe I should be since I was born in the seventies. I'm sure my parents and their hip and trendy friends were gathering in their sunken living rooms and sharing a communal pot of a melted sauce simmering over a tea light. I just never saw anything appetizing about it. I mean you can never be too sure that they didn't double dip!

All this changed when I found a Cathrinholm fondue pot. All of the sudden my brain reoriented and started thinking that if something was served on such a wonderfully designed piece of crockery, then it can't be all that bad. Right!? Well, I'll just have to let you know after I try it.

Most of our menu for the murder mystery party this year will be "anything on a stick", so I figured the long, slender fondue forks are just the ticket. Now, all I need is to decide if I'm going to do a cheese sauce or a chocolate sauce. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Grete Prytz Kittelsen is known for her work with stainless steel and enamel for Cathrineholm. This wonderful lotus pattern is a big favorite among collectors.

 

I love this little inverted pyramid used as the knob on the pot lid. Absolutely adorable.

Easy Candy Display

Since our murder mystery party that we're hosting this year is set during a 1930's era carnival, we thought it would be a great idea to do a candy display. So, off I go to the dollar store to find colorful candy to put in some containers that I already have at home. I love to use items that I already have this way I can cut down on the cost and still have a fun and festive party atmosphere. This is a really simple and inexpensive way to get a big wow factor at your next party.

As you can see I've used different containers to hold everything. I like the idea of using things for a different purpose just to shake things up a little.

Here I put pixie stix in champagne glasses.

I tossed some smartees into a glass container that used to hold cotton balls.

For the lollipops, I stabbed them all into a round floral foam ball and stuck the whole thing in a ceramic bowl that is balanced really carefully on another bowl turned upside down. (you can see this better in the next picture)

I know you'd expect to see gumballs in a gumball machine, but why not candy corn. I love candy corn!

I put everything on a big tray because I had one and I thought it looked really cool! This display will be sitting proudly at our next party and if the candy doesn't get polished off, then I'll still have some left over for the trick-or-treaters.

Class it up with Candlesticks

Decorating on a budget can be challenging. Decorating on a thirft shop budget can be even more challenging. Sure, you can make a list of the types of things you want to find but as most thrifters will tell you, the minute you start actively looking for a specific item, they disappear off the shelves never to be seen again!

Decorating on a budget takes an open mind. You need to be able to see what random items are available and then sort through them in your psyche, determining how they'll be used. 

I recently came across a couple of great scores for this year's murder mystery party. We do have some specific items on our list that we're looking to pick up for a dime. However, these items weren't on any list, I spotted them and knew they'd be perfect for the party. 

These candlesticks will add some much needed height to any area we need to spruce up. They're heavy cast iron and the details will add to our fancy carnival theme.

Great detail, eh? These little feet look like they might come to life and start dancing around... not that I've been watching any Disney movies lately, mind you.

This next pair of candlesticks are awesome and will look great in a different location from the first pair. I wouldn't put them together because the colors, heights and shapes are just too different.

Look at the details though! Wow! Nothing to do with a carnival/circus at all. But I think they'll work! They look old and interesting and that's what I'm going for. Of course, if I did find some candlesticks with marching elephants or something it'd be like hitting the jackpot!

But I love the medieval look going on here and think they'll make a great addition to the party decor. I can't wait until we actually get to set up for the party and can show you some shots of all these vintage and thrifted decor items coming together to give our themed party a real feeling of authenticity! 

A Piano playing Blacksmith

Every time we start to write a new murder mystery game the first order of business is to come up with an idea that the game and characters can revolve around. Back in 2005, we wrote my favorite murder mystery game, Boomtown. I had so much fun writing this game because it revolves around an old western town. We created Boomtown as the backdrop for some of the most sinister and conniving characters around. We researched all the old western folklore that is so prevalent in the southwest and decided to take bits and pieces of our research and combine it with our fictitious characters.

One such character is Hans von Dietrich, a piano playing blacksmith that runs a smithy in Boomtown and plays piano at the saloon every night while tossing back whiskey shots. A great way to start planing a costume for Hans is to look at pictures of notorious figures of the old west. I enjoy putting my costumes together taking details from any pictures I find and using what I might already have at home or thrifting for items at local thrift stores.

Here is a great example of what was found online.

Taking that information, here is what can be put together with thrifted items and clothes that might already be hanging in your closet.

You can see that by throwing on a pair of worn jeans with a white button down shirt and topping it off with a red vest, garter and bow tie he has the perfect look for a piano playing blacksmith that fits right in with the Boomtown theme.

When the Carnival Comes to Town...

....there will be elephants! I've been scouring thrift shops for items we can use to decorate our carnival-themed party this year. So far I've found a couple good contenders!

This large red and grey elephant appears to have been used to hold some sort of mammoth candle. I'm thinking of using it to hold a bright candy dish. He'll look wonderful on the table with his incredibly large ears and rearing trunk.

This next elephant is very small. I'm not sure where or how I'm going to display him yet. The detail is amazing.

This elephant is far more somber. He's looking at you out of the corner of his eye right now. The bloke riding him looks nice and relaxed. Way to hitch a ride, buddy. My favorite part is the draping over the elephant is the small bird. For some reason it just ties the whole design together. The smallest details are often the most important!

A big congratulations to Scarlett Loves Elvis who won the murder mystery party giveaway! Yay Scarlett!

Linking this post up to Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!

Punch Up Your Party

When's the last time you attended a party where they served punch? If you take a look at vintage entertaining cookbooks, they all have variations of recipes for punch. They were prominently displayed as a centerpiece. Usually with decorative ice cubes or mounds of floating sherbert. Maybe punch has fallen by the wayside at parties, but I say bring the punch back!

Personally, I like my punch spiked while others may prefer virgin punch. Either way, this recipe is sure to please. I really love making this punch since it only has three – that’s right THREE ingredients! If you’re like me and want to spike your punch then technically there are four… but who’s counting. I like to serve the punch without the alcohol and have a bottle of coconut flavored rum next to it for anyone who wants the option to spike their own punch.

Here's what you'll need.

One carton of orange juice, a 64 oz. bottle of cranberry juice cocktail and a 2 liter bottle of lemon-lime soda. Feel free to get creative and use any cranberry juice cocktail blend that you like. I like to use cranberry-pomegranate, but the cranberry-blueberry is also amazing.

Start by mixing the juices in a large container, then add the lemon-lime soda. Transfer the mixture to a punch bowl or a beverage dispenser with a spigot, whatever you're using to display the punch. You could add some sliced fruit for some color or float a ring of ice with frozen fruit.

Remember to set a couple bottles of booze next to the punch so your guests have the option for a non-alcoholic punch or something with more of a zing. Time to enjoy!

Bearded Lady Costume

I'm a little obsessed with facial hair. I love it when my boyfriend grows his beard out, and I try to encourage him to go longer and longer (which never works!). I'm a huge fan of Whisker Wars, which is my favorite new TV show. I'm just obsessed! Which is why I'm so very, very happy about putting together my Halloween costume for this year's murder mystery party. As previously mentioned, we're putting on depression era carnival this year and yours truly is going to be the Bearded Lady! I am so freaking excited!

So here is a little research! I checked out some true Bearded Ladies from back in the day. Some of whom lead astonishing and inspirational lives.

I really love the fullness of this beard and the elegantly trimmed mustache.

This beard is a little short and thin for my tastes but I really love the dress she is wearing. Especially the sleeves and the neckline. I might look for something similar that I can put together.

So after doing a little research, I wanted to check out my options. I could buy a pre-made costume but that's never much fun.

Besides, this costume is super sleazy. It's so LOOK AT MY BOOBS! How could anyone even notice that I have a beard with those bazongas in the picture? Pass!

Now here are some really great options!

This handmade beard created by CynCerelyCrocheted on Etsy sells separately from the Viking hat also pictured. I love the length and fullness of this beard but it might be too hot for the night of the party. I don't want to suffocate myself. I know the party is at the end of October, but sometimes in Arizona it's still over 100 degrees in October! This beard would be so perfect for a chilly night though.

I like this bushy beard created by PoorGirlCouture, but unfortunately it comes attached to the beanie. This would be a great way to wear the beard.. but I'm going for high-class, elegant lady with a beard. Not a bearded lady lumberjack.

Ahhh... this might be the one! This is the Bearded Lady by TheMonkeyCannon on Etsy. I wish it were a little longer and fuller, but I love the bushiness and kind of whimsical feel to this beard. It ties at the back with a strap, so I don't need to wear a hat AND it nearly matches the color of my hair. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we're in business!