What we designed...

• Party Theming
• Event Coordination
• Invitation Design

The brief

Entertaining can present its challenges like how to entertain your guests. A series of games called “How to Host a Murder” is guaranteed to break the ice at any party. Each game comes with 8 player manuals, nametags, secret clues, host guide, invitations, CD of theme music and a map of the crime scene. This murder mystery is called “The Chicago Caper”

The Plot:
September 1928, Chicago the notorious gangster Harold "Hal" Coppone's return is expected to trigger a wave of violence. Instead Coppone has disappeared, mystifying police and the criminal underworld. To the small group gathered in a speakeasy near Coppone's headquarters, the crimelord's whereabouts become only part of the mystery when murder is discovered. There's no shortage of suspects, motives or gorgeous flappers in this crime tale.

The Characters:
MOLLY M. AWBSTER: A rich Chicago flapper with a love of fast, expensive toys and bad boys.
ERNIE "BET A MILLION" G. AMBLER: A flamboyant, outspoken, always ostentatiously dressed gambling gangster.
"SILKY" M. ADAM: A shady lady who owns and operates Everlay Club, Chicago's most prominent private establishment.
EDDIE "SOCKS" R. GYLE: Smooth, fashionable and an avid golfer, Eddie also owns Green Tables Gaming house.
MALISSA F. ORRTHOT "SCOOP": The Chicago Trumpet reporter who suddenly is printing some nasty stories about Coppone.
S. TREIGHTON HARROW: The U.S. District Attorney and chief opponent to the criminal element in Chicago.
ANNA MARIA CARLOTTA SASSINE "TORCHY": A talented jazz singer who is the featured act at Green Tables.
BILLY "THE KID" THROWER: Star pitcher for the Chicago Stock Kings major league baseball team.

As an incentive for guests to dress and act in character, I purchased some trophies for the nights’ "Best Dressed’ and ‘Best Actor/Actress’. These were displayed on a side table used for food. I decorated this table with poker chips, playing cards, toy guns, bullets, wooden ledgers, evidence labels, lace gloves, cigarette holder and feather fan.

Although the game provided invitations and nametags, these were unimaginative and generic. I created my own invitations using the text of the original invitation. For the invitation I sourced vintage paper texture and went about creating a dossier for ‘Hal’ Coppone. I found various photos of the real Al Capone, along with fingerprints and dossier information. I chose fonts which simulated the appearance of a vintage typewriter and handwriting to maintain the theme.

The concept of the original invitation was that someone ‘unknown’ was summoning the guests to the speakeasy/dinner party. I created a ‘hand written,’ ripped note fastened to the invitation to convey mystery. The name tags reused some elements of the invitation. The characters names were included and then the design was printed onto stickers. The secret clues were made more ‘secretive’ by the addition of a wax seal.

Dinner table:
Each place setting included cutlery tied with an ‘evidence’ label, a red serviette and a suspect file/dossier which doubled as a place card.

The paper envelopes (suspect file) were covered with a coffee solution and ironed dry. The suspect file then decorated with a Polaroid of each guest and their character’s name, suspect number and fingerprints. Each suspect file contained a player manual, secret clue, nametag, pencil, notepaper, voting form and a little something extra pertaining to the chosen character. For example, Eddie’s suspect file held a few golf tees and a cigar whilst Ernie’s file had a cigar and four ace playing cards.

The notepaper was dyed using coffee to create a weathered effect. The paper was immersed in a solution of coffee and tea then ironed dry. Once the necessities were placed into the file, the envelopes were sealed with wax.

Dinner:
Entrée: Bruschetta: chopped tomato, red onion and basil on crusty bread.
Main: Veal Scallopini with asparagus and roasted rosemary potatoes.
Desert: Tiramisu with chocolate coated coffee beans.