Murder in Sin City

ENTRANCE

• Create a grand entrance to your casino with a long, red carpet.

• Consider an entryway with and arch of balloons or giant cards.

• Design a large banner or sign for the Paramount with glitter and glue and hang it over your entrance.

• Use large dice as design elements or colums by your entrance. Create dice by covering boxes with white paper and adding black dots.

• Enlarge the “Welcome To The Paramount” sign, included in mystery, and place in your entrance.

WITHIN THE PARTY SPACE

• Have the noise of ringing bells in the background to simulate a casino.

• Use signs (included in mystery) to highlight the different characters in your mystery – Showgirl sign for Lucy Legs and Lounge sign for Paul Piano.

• Set up your venue like a casino:

• Have an area for each of the games– poker, blackjack, roulette, craps. Use signs (included with mystery) to mark them.

• Mark the other areas of your casino with Vegas-y signs as well (included in mystery) – Lounge, Bar, Buffet, etc.

• Use a scene setter to easily convert your room into a casino. Including slot machines for the walls!

• Create a Chapel of Love for quickie Vegas weddings!

•  Cover tables with black or green felt and use a white paint marker or colored tape to make blackjack, craps, and baccarat lines (or buy premade game layouts).

• Outline game tables, doorways, signs, etc. in white lights (making sure to hide the cords so no one trips on them). Set them in flashing mode.

• Create a lounge area for music and dancing.

• Play a “show” in the background on the t.v. Drape fabric around your entertainment center to simulate a small theater stage. Play a Vegas show on the t.v. (Pictured)

• Decorating with a few token Vegas items – cards, gambling chips, fake money and/or dice. You can use these items in a lot of different ways to decorate and pull your theme through your whole party!

• String a few decks of playing cards and stacks of play money (purchased at a dollar store) with clear fishing line. These make great streamers to hang from ceilings! The clear fishing line to gives the illusion of them dangling in space.

• Create poker chip danglers! Designs and directions included with purchase of the mystery. (Pictured)

• Make a card banner using a deck of cards. String with decorative ribbon and hang. (Pictured)

• Glue together some “hands” of poker in a fan arrangement (full houses, royal flush, four-of-kind with ace, etc) and lay out or stand-up on tables as decorations.

• Get creative with some boxes. Cover them with white paper and add black dots to create large dice!

• Create table decorations by filling oversized martini glasses with dice, poker chips, cards or fake money.

• Print card symbol templates (included with mystery) onto cardstock, cut out and string on fishing line (clear) or decorative ribbon to make banner.

• Use a color copier to enlarge regular playing cards and mount on cardstock to hang on your walls.

• Scatter your items throughout your party space, on table tops, as table decorations, on walls, etc. to pull your theme throughout.

• Other red and black items that you can use to decorate:

• • Feathers
  • Beads
  • Cards
  • Dice
  • Gambling Chips
  • Flowers (a perfect accent)
  • Candy
  • Sequins or confetti

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Picking a Color Scheme

In this case, it is pretty obvoious that it would be red and black – optional silver, white, green or gold added in.

To pull the color scheme through to your whole space consider the following:

• When decorating a large area or to make an area look more intimate and festive, consider draping red or black gossamer across the ceiling, walls, and edges of the tablecloth. Combine two colors for a fabulous appearance.

• A little spray paint can go a long, long way. Spray paint novelty items, vases, old wine bottles, etc. to help bring out the color theme and add inexpensive decoration to your party.

• Have a tablecloth—whether plastic or fabric – the colors of your choice.

• Accentuate your tablecloth with the alternative color by using paint pens or fabric paint to paint on decorative accents.

• Create table decorations with this theme in mind. It could be as simple as having a glass container with red and black beads in it.

• Have a candy bar with candy these colors.

• Other red and black items that you can use to decorate:

• Feathers
• Beads
• Cards
• Dice
• Gambling Chips
• Flowers (a perfect accent)
• Candy
• Sequins or confetti

• Table decorations – create simple decorations out of anything you have (dice, money, black and red candles, etc.) to pull the theme through.

LIGHTING

• NEON! As much neon as you can have, you should!

• Turn the lights down low and string twinkly lights everywhere to create mood.

• Use red or black ribbon to attach a few helium-filled balloons with a glow stick inserted to provide another light source.

HOW TO DECORATE YOUR FOOD TABLE:
Perhaps one of the best ways to pull your theme through is with your appetizer/dinner/dessert table.

Create the perfect table by pulling your color scheme through.

• Consider a green, red or black table cloth/s

• Plastic partyware that is red and/or black goes a long way.

• Use green felt for your table cloth and mark on it with paint markers to make it look like a craps table.

• Scatter cards, dice and/or poker chips on the table to give it a more party feel.

• Use cards as napkin rings (pictured below – directions included with mystery).

• Print out the card symbols on colored cardstock (included in mystery) and scatter on table. Alongside, you can scatter red and black confetti.

• Name your dishes to give them a casino flare. Use adjectives that will go with the theme:
  • Elvis’ Egg Rolls
  • Clams Casino
  • Caesar’s Palace Salad
  • Full House Ham Sammies
  • The options are endless!

• Use the menu and food tents (included in mystery) to accentuate the foods that you will be serving.
  
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CREATE A BACKDROP
Give your guests an unforgettable souvenier by setting up a photo area where they can capture a picture of themselves in character.

A few suggestions:

• Pick a place where there will be good lighting.

• You can make it as elaborate or simple as you want.

• Accessories and decorations can make the difference. Have some extra props on hand that your guests can pose with. Boas, fake money, bling!, sunglasses, fake mustaches, etc.

• An easy way to create a background is to use a “scene setter”. These affordable rolls of images transform your room instantly and make for a good backdrop to your picture.

• Use props like oversized dice, balloons, streamers, oversized cards, poker tables, lavish chairs, anything you can think of, to create a staged area for pictures.

• Make sure there is enough room to fit everyone in to the frame.

• For individual shots of guests, designate someone to be in charge of pictures as your guests arrive.
  •  Consider your character list and which character would fit the role of taking the picture. Ie, if you want mug shots, perhaps ask the investigator to be in charge of taking the pictures.
  • If having a party with 20 guests, you may ask Jamie Joiurnalist to take the pictures.
  • For a group picture, take one just before the introduction is read or right after the solution is read (before people may start heading out).o These are two times when you can count on everyone being around and attentive.

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Vegas is known for its elaborate buffets, create the perfect one for your guests. You can have your buffet filled with dinner foods or appetizers and sweets – your choice!

Having your food available by buffet not only goes with the Vegas theme, but allows you the flexibility to plan for a appetizers, a full dinner, desserts or any combination of. Additionally, it helps with food serving and allows ample time for your guests to mingle while eating.

Check out some tips and recipes for making buffets here.

Being that red and black are the way to go in Vegas, consider serving red and black foods! This may be easisest if you are serving strictly sweets.

No matter what you do for your food, there are plenty of ways to make it fit in with your casino/Vegas theme.

Create the perfect table by pulling your color scheme through.

• Consider a green, red or black table cloth/s

• Plastic partyware that is red and/or black goes a long way.

• Use green felt for your table cloth and mark on it with paint markers to make it look like a blackjack table.

• Scatter cards, dice and/or poker chips on the table to give it a more party feel.

• Use cards as napkin rings (pictured below – directions included with mystery).

• Print out the card symbols on colored cardstock (included in mystery) and scatter on table. Alongside, you can scatter red and black confetti.

• Name your dishes to give them a casino flare. Use adjectives that will go with the theme:
  • Elvis’ Egg Rolls
  • Clams Casino
  • Caesar’s Palace Salad
  • Full House Ham Sammies
  • … and more!

• Use the menu and food tents (included in mystery) to accentuate the foods that you will be serving.
  

• Table decorations – create simple decorations out of anything you have (dice, money, black and red candles, etc.) to pull the theme through.

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Casino Themed Drinks! This clever bartender renamed some classic drinks to serve: Up Till Sunrise (Tequila Sunrise), Royal Flush (Cranberry and Vodka), Rummy Punch, Black Jack (Bacardi and Coke) and more! See how she did it here.

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Create a Lounge for music and dancing. Use the signs (included in the mystery – pictured below) to mark it.

Mob Music: Pay tribute to Bugsy Siegel (who founded the first casino in Vegas) and the others that made the town prosperous with soundtracks from Casino, GoodFellas, The Godfather and other mob hits.

The Rat Pack: Consisting of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. The Rat Pack often performed in Vegas in the 60’s and were insrtumental in the rise of Vegas as an entertainment destination.

Elvis: Performing live in Vegas in th late 60s and early 70s. Elvis made popular his trademarked jumpsuits and capes on the Vegas stages.

Wayne Newton: Possibly the most famous Vegas entertainer of all time!

Make your own mix: Be sure to include such songs as: Viva Las Vegas (Elvis), Luck Be a Lady (Frank Sinatra) and The Gambler (Kenny Rogers).

For FREE Music– Visit your local library to borrow copies of any of the music above or your own picks!

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