Murder at the Cherry Creek Saloon – Another Murder Mystery Party

Hi, my name is Jessica, and I apparently throw Murder Mystery Going Away Parties for young adults entering Carmel… 🤔🤦🏻‍♀️😅 I haven’t blogged the other two yet, but I threw one in December of 2022 for my girls’ dear friend Rosie when she entered Carmel, and another for their friend Ben when he entered a Carmelite Monastery in December of 2023. When I heard that Ben’s younger sister (another dear friend of my girls) was entering Carmel as well, I asked her at our 18 year old’s graduation party this summer if she’d like one too. The answer was YES!!!

When I offered, I didn’t know yet that my brother had just passed away, and that the following weeks would shift to funeral planning while also getting kids back to college… and so much heartache … but distractions and staying busy has been good for me, and we were able to pull the party together for last Saturday, just before she enters Carmel this upcoming weekend! (At least that was the case at the time I started writing this post… she entered yesterday!!)

We decided on a Western Theme (perfect for her!) and she and our oldest daughter worked on the guest list and assigned the suspect roles while I worked on the rest of the planning. It was so much fun, and the “best one yet!” according to some of our guests. I hear that each time!

This here gathering is in honor of a (sweet girl), who’s hangin’ up her cowboy hat and boots to take up the Carmelite habit and veil.

Saddle up in your best Old West attire and be ready for a night of mystery, laughter, and cowboy send-offs before she rides off into the cloistered life at Carmel.

Party Supplies & Decorations

This was the 6th Murder Mystery I’ve used from Shot in the Dark Mysteries. I always make sure I pick out a “Clean” Murder Mystery – always a 4 or 5 on her Angel Rating Scale.

We always use the Mingle format and it’s like a live game of Clue! Everyone is mingling, asking questions, and trying to find out who had the motive, means, and opportunity!

“Mingle” Mystery Games

This is our baby. Leigh created this format over 2 decades ago to cure all the things she disliked about traditional murder mystery games, so if you see these terms on other mystery sites, this is where the format came from… and yes, we did innovate the entire mystery party game industry, as many of our competitors have since taken our format and tried to duplicate it.

The Mingle Mystery format is designed to have everyone up off their bums, mingling (hence the name) to find the suspect with the motive, means and opportunity to commit the murder or crime. While other formats of mystery parties (turn-based and dinner, for example) have guests reading clues in turns in a certain order or acting out scripts (as in a script-based mystery), Interactive Mingle mysteries are quite different. Your Suspects will be up and mingling around, and it’s up to the other suspects and any non-suspect Investigators (aka ‘Sleuths’) to question each other to piece together the mystery. (More FAQs here)

Things I rounded up or purchased for this party:

• Murder at Cherry Creek Saloon Party Pack (for 18: 9+9) & Optional Witness Pack (This includes the “notes” pages, maps, accusation forms, name tags, suspect guides and all the host materials.)
• Vintage West Saloon Backdrop + Backdrop Stand
• Wanted Frame
• Hobby Lobby for Paper Plates, Napkins, Table Runner, Favor Boxes for prizes, Wanted Posters (more options here)
• (2) Black Plastic Table Cloths (for under all the food)
• Poker Set and Card Table
• A few costumes for my kids and a couple stick ponies

Wanted Posters

I had so much fun with this! In addition to including our guest of honor, to make wanted posters of some of the young adults who have attended our parties in the past and wouldn’t be at this one! I included my two college kids plus the Carmelites I had hosted parties for in the past and one other young man who is now in seminary!

I used the Crayolas website to upload their photos and create “coloring pages” to use for their Face Sketches.

Suspect Guides & Name Tags

The name tags come with the download. We use Badge Holders and Clips from Walmart, though you could order some online too. I had been reusing my original ones for each party, but after the one I hosted in December of 2023, I missed taking the name tags out (I had just gotten over shingles and then broke my leg/still in rehab… so many things got forgotten!) so the ink bled onto the plastic and we had to replace them this time. At least we got a lot of use out of them first! So, tip, if you want to reuse, remove name tags before storing! 😉

Costumes

My kids rounded up costumes from what we had around the house with the exception of the following things that we ordered/picked up a couple days before the party:

• Victorian Dress for Women
• Lace-up Corset Belt and this Dress
• Stick Ponies for the Little Girls (from Cabela’s)
• Fun Press on Nails from Walmart (Kiss imPRESS in Pepper)

Our older girls were the following suspects:

Kitty Flores – Wife of Abe Flores, Kitty helps Abe run the saloon. She is strictly in charge of renting the rooms above the saloon, and ensuring any male patrons are well taken care of. Kitty is tender and classy, wearing a high-necked dress and tight corset. She knows how to gauge the tension in the saloon in order to make she and the saloon girls scarce when the men are threatening to break out into a brawl.

Cassie Flores – Daughter of saloon owners Abe and Kitty Flores, Cassie is almost twenty years old, and is tenacious and rebellious. Because of this, her parents keep a strict rule over her and insist she remain in her room on the second floor of the saloon during the evenings. Cassie is young, sweet and innocent, and wears a modest dress with a high collar.

Our Guests Arrive

The Suspects and Sleuths

The Menu

I planned to make Chili for a Crowd (double batch), Cherry Punch (Mocktail), Texas Sheet Cake, Cowboy Caviar, and pick up all the paper goods/silverware. But with a crowd of 35 expected, I used Sign-Up Genius to make providing food and drinks for such a large crowd easier on me, like I did for the other two going-away Murder Mystery Parties. The guests were all more than happy to help and we had plenty of food and drinks to last through the evening!

• Chili for a Crowd
• BBQ Meatballs in Crockpot
• Homemade Mac-N-Cheese Casserole
• Cornbread Muffins
• Dinner Rolls
• Hearty Appetizer of Your Choice (2) – ended up being Amazing Sliders and Deviled Eggs
• Cole Slaw
• Cowboy Caviar with Tortilla Chips
• Veggie Platter – Cactus or western theme!
• Fruit Platter (we ended up not having this)
• BBQ Chips or Kettle Chips
• Cherry Pie
• Apple Pie
• Pumpkin Pie
• Texas Sheet Cake
• Brownies or Cowboy Blondies
• Fall or Western Theme Cookies
• Iced Tea (Sweetened & Unsweetened)
• Lemonade
• Henry Weinhard’s Root Beer (Glass Bottles)
• Henry Weinhard’s Black Cherry Soda (Glass Bottles)
• Cherry Punch (Mocktail)
• Paper Plates & Napkins (I got ours at Hobby Lobby – more options here)
• Paper Bowls (I bought these 12oz bowls)
• Silverware

A Murder Is Announced

After everyone had a chance to mingle and eat I called their attention for the “Announcement of Murder.”

After I read through it I had each of the suspects introduce themselves by reading their bios.

The culprit doesn’t know they are the culprit!

Some mysteries inform the guilty party that they are guilty. We don’t do this for two reasons. First, not knowing allows all Suspects to be completely honest with the information they receive. Second, it allows all players to piece together the mystery equally. With one Suspect not investigating, it quickly becomes clear to the other players who the culprit is and your mystery ends up ruined. In our experience, your mystery is more successful when the culprit isn’t aware they are the culprit.

I really love this aspect of these mystery parties! So fun for everyone and I never peek into “The Big Reveal” until I read it at the end, so I don’t even know who the culprit is! Surprisingly, of the five parties I’ve hosted for this crowd, I’ve had one of the guys end up the murderer twice now, and one of my daughters (off at college for this one, hence one of the Wanted images!) has been the murder twice as well!

The Investigations

After the Announcement of Murder it was time to start the investigations. Once again I set a time limit of 90 minutes for everyone to question all the suspects!

The Big Reveal

After I had had everyone cast their accusations (and also vote for their favorite costumes) it was time for “The Big Reveal!”

I’m not going to tell you who the murdered was, in case you give this party a shot, so let’s move on to who had the popular vote for best costumes.

Voted Best Costumes

I whipped up some slips for everyone to vote for their favorite male and female costumes.

There were so many great costumes, but “Tom Willis”, The Sheriff, and “Penelope Gold” were voted first place followed by “Hettie Coulson” and my youngest son who was just an investigator/gambler for the night.

And some more pictures with our guest of honor… because backdrops are so much fun! … and so everyone wanted some last pictures with their friend. God bless her!

Scroll through more of our past Murder Mystery Parties…

… and Birthday Parties in the archives!