BOX INSTRUCTIONS

The party instructions require that the party begin by playing a cassette in which the voice of French Detective Mistal Dicluse explains the circumstances of the murder. We didn’t think having guests sitting around listening to a cassette was the ideal way to start a party so we chose to bring the voice to life. Having a Detective deliver the information in person was far more entertaining and visually interesting.  

Our Detective in his French Beret and badge walked guests through the details of the crime.  And instead of the Detective simply offering his information, we created a physical crime scene to support his report.

THE WINE CELLAR

The late Mr. Frath was a collector of fine wine and champagne and kept a cellar on his yacht.  We cleared out our coat closet and turned it into Mr. Frath’s wine cellar.  We created the interior look of the cellar by finding an image on Google.  In Photoshop, we changed the size to 3’ X 6’ then printed the image out in sections which were later pieced together and glued to a black plastic table cloth.  We hung it in the closet and when the Detective threw open the door, the guests were impressed with Frath’s wine collection!  The ”cellar” was amazingly dimensional, yet it’s just a big flat image.

THE CORPSE

Appropriate gasps filled the room when the corpse was revealed, the face proving a little too realistic for some.  We started the late Mr. Frath with a mask from Halloween.  It had holes for eyes so we again went to Google and printed out an image of eyes and taped them to the inside of the mask.  We also printed a crest for Frath’s smoking jacket on adhesive label paper.  We stuffed the mask with batting and the body with pillows and foam.  A thick foam pad was used for the upper body.  Slashed with a craft knife, it provided the perfect support for the murder weapon, a jeweled dagger.  

THE FRONT DOOR

Since the party takes place on Frath’s yacht, The Gilded Vessel, we hung a faux life preserver on the front door.  It was made from foam core cut into a 20” circle.  The lettering and gold stars were printed from the computer and glued to the foam core.  A draped length of fancy gold rope completed the image.

THE WINE BOTTLES

Who could conceive of an evening at Frath’s invitation without bottles of his private label wine.  We took a photo of the corpse and used it as the focal point to create wine labels in Photoshop.  Every bottle poured during the party was from Frath’s cellars.