Murder Mystery Tea Party -16yr- Character Plots

I just turned 16, oh yes the sweet 16. For my party I wanted to do something new, so this year my party was Murder in Wonderland. The party was like a murder mystery; I had each of my guest (9 of us) dress up as characters from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (only, since I haven't read Through the Looking Glass and I didn't want to base it off the Disney movie). It was the Dormouse, Cheshire cat, March Hare, White Rabbit, Duchess, Queen of Hearts, Caterpillar, Mad Hatter and the Ace of Hearts. The plot of the story was that Alice was murdered. The characters all attend the Mad Hatter's tea party in order to find out who the killer was.  

Invitations-> I made them on the computer, it didn't say anything about the murder details only that they had suspicion of being involved with the murder of Alice, and that they should attend the Mad Hatter's tea party. They were printed on regular computer paper, only I made a design on each using computer graphics. At the top was the grinning Cheshire cat and it had a fancy border, which had a picture from the Alice Adventures in Wonderland of the Mad Hatter's Tea party. That was faded. And on the edges of the paper I put my friend name all around. 

Invitation example->  As the story of wonderland unfolds, hatred, deception and bloodshed follows Lewis Carroll's characters in this adventure of Murder in Wonderland.  Dear March Hare,   We have suspicion that you have been involved with the murder of Alice. Please attend the Mad Hatter's tea party so we can unfold this mystery.   *~Please Dress as the character addressed above~* Some suggestions for you maybe-> rabbit ears, vest, bowtie etc. Be creative and dress fun but comfortable!!   When->  Time-> _:___ ~ _:___ Why-> To celebrate Samantha J Swan's 16th Birthday Party!  Where->  Please RSVP!  Then I rolled them up and tied them up with black ribbion with small white polka dots and made little tags that had their name on them.  

Decorations-> I had the party outside, I set up a long card table, and put a red table cover over it. I got teacups and saucers, each a different design and had one chair at one end and four chairs on each side. All of the chairs were different. Also we placed chocolate spoons in the cups. I make cookies that had bite me and eat me on them. We placed them on one end of the table and on the other side we placed brownies I made that had coconut frosting on them with toothpicks in them that had hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades on them. This was placed on the other side.

In the middle I put a clear bowl, which we put a teaposey in it. ( teaposeys is like a little ball of tea, you put it in hot water and it will expand and will look like a flower, as it blooms the tea will get stronger and stronger) a little bit away from the tea party table was a little table that had a box with a slit in it and a notepad of paper, that had each of the characters name on it and below it says Weapon___________-. And we got glass bottles soda, (like Hank's brand it was orange soda and root beer) and attached to the neck of the bottle was a little note that said, drink me.

Character Plot - I made plots for each character, and then put it into an envelope and placed it in front of their tea cup before they came. In the Character plots it talked about their thoughts of Alice where they where that day and where they were at the time of the murder. It also told them if they where innocent or not and what they had to do.  

Dormouse  You've never really had any pleasant moments when Alice was a round. Getting tea poured in your nose to getting stuffed down a teapot for the fun of it. Which was mostly the Mad Hatter and the March Hare fault. If you even remember Alice, since you were unconscious in most of your encounters with her, she was rather rude to you. And thought little of you, but this is no motive to go against her, or to even kill her. Since you have an alibi, you were sleeping at the mad hatter's tea party the night of the murder.   You are Innocent   

Queen of Hearts  You've never really liked Alice unless she did things your way.  After Alice attended the Mad Hatter's tea party she came to your croquet match. Full of confidence, you were sure you would win, like always. But that wasn't the case this time, Alice won instead. Soon after the event the knaves of hearts approached you and told you that he witness Alice cheating in the croquet match. You very angrily scream Off with her head!, but the mishap was over looked by the king and the executioner and Alice was free to go. Your hot temper and quick judgment on others make you an easy suspect. But you have an alibi, after Alice was free to go you couldn't go after her your self to straighten the matter. Since you had to go to the trial of Who Stole the Tarts.   You are innocent.  

Duchess  Your opinion on Alice has always changed, thanks to your split personality. At times you thank her for transforming your child into a pig the next you are quite rude and despites her for that act. (even if it was none of her fault) The day before Alice was murdered you arrived late to the Queen's croquet match. You congratulated Alice on her victory against the Queen. Shortly after you were asked to attend the trial of Who Stole the Tarts by the Queen. After the trial you heard from the mock turtle and the Gryphin that Alice had told everyone that you helped her cheat at the croquet match and that it was your plan all along. The Queen hears of this and grows quite angry and yells OFF WITH HER HEAD! The Queen's Cards surround you and capture you, throwing you into the castle prison.  Therefore you would have not been able to kill Alice.  You are innocent  

March Hare  You've had your differences with Alice and disliked her in few ways.  Not long ago at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party you saw Alice slip some tea into her apron, before leaving the tea party. The Mad Hatter and Dormouse blamed you for the absent tea and no longer invites you to their tea parties. When you approached Alice to get her to admit to the crime she told you she only wanted to give some tea to Dinah, her kitten when she got home. She apologized and agreed to tell the mad hatter. But when time came to tell him Alice denied it and admitted witnessing you in the act.   You are the murderer   

Later that day when everyone was at the Trial of Who stole the tart. You snuck into the queen's garden where Alice was picking painted red roses. You slowly came up behind her and beat her to death with a cane that the Mad Hatter lent you not too long ago. You turn to leave the garden until you realized that some one was watching you. A shadowy figure in the distance stopped and ran away into the trial area. You ran off as fast as you could in the other direction. While every one is trying to figure out who the murder is, you must find out who the witness is and threaten them to keep quiet before everyone finds out that you did it. 

Chester Cat  You always befriended Alice. Actually you were the only one that ever liked her. Either because you got amusement from messing with her, or unlike the other characters, you actually liked her. Either way you had no motive to go against her, nor the time to. For you have an alibi. You attended the Queen's croquet match and distracted the Queen while Alice, with out your knowledge of the situation. Cheated. Then after Alice won you went to the trial of who stole the tarts with her. She ended up wandering out of the trial and went into the garden, as indifferent as you are, you couldn't have cared less and continued to watch the trial.  You are Innocent  

White Rabbit  You've never really liked Alice; she ruined your house and made you very late on various occasions.  After Alice attended the Mad Hatters Tea Party, she beat the Queen at the croquet match leaving you to attend to the angered Queen and an unpleasant Duchess. Not only did she make your evening worst she also blamed you for the reason she fell down the rabbit hole.   Accused with this ridiculous crime you very angrily storm off to look for her. But wait! You quickly look at your clock and realize your very late and Alice's nonsense will have to waste another day's time. You quickly run off to the trial of Who Stole the Tarts. Which was when the time of the murder took place. Giving you an alibi.  You are Innocent    

Caterpillar  You've never cared much for Alice.  Her non-consideration towards other made you see her as quite rude.  She visited you the day of the murder; she explained that she by accident had drank a bottle that had a note attached that said, Drink Me. Like always she ended up being 3 inches, again. She asked you to give her some of the mushroom you were sitting on. So she could grow taller. She started to complain that being 3 inches was a horrible size to be. You being quite sensitive to your size, grew quite angry and told her you wouldn't give her any of your mushroom till she apologized to you and promise to think before she speaks. Alice did no such thing. She grabbed a piece of the mushroom and ran off to the mad hatter's tea party.  Very mad and discouraged you continued smoking your pipe on the mushroom. Thanks a lot to you're nonchalant attitude you wouldn't have found any merit in going after her or even killing her.   You are innocent  

Ace of Hearts  You never really knew Alice. Hell, you didn't even know anyone hated her let alone that the March Hare would kill her. Since you caught the March Hare in the act hopefully he didn't recognize you. But just incase I'd keep my distances from him.   You are the Witness  

Mad Hatter  Alice was a friend of yours or well, so you thought. As long as you are stuck in teatime nothing could really faze you. You were angry when you found that there was missing tea, and thought it was the tea addictive March Hare. You stayed at the teatime till it was time for the trial. When you were sent for by the Queen and was a witness in the trial. After being quiet nervous, you ended up running out of the trial when you where done. But you did not stay at the trial, you ran straight home. You and the Dormouse resumed your tea party just like every other day.  You are innocent   

Game-  the game started as soon as everyone sat down at the table and read their plots. Then we all mingled and asked each other questions that would help us solve the mystery. They had to find a motive, a weapon and an opportunity. But everyone had to tell the truth the only one that could lie was the murder. And while everyone was looking to see who the murder was, the murder had to find out who the witness was. The witness had to avoid the murder and make it clear that they were at the trail.

When everyone had a pretty good feeling, and knew everyone's story they each took turns and went up to the other table write there name on the card, circled the character they thought was the Murder and write what the weapon was. Then they had to fold it up and put it in the box. (I was the Mad Hatter and since I wrote all the plots I didn't do this part)  Party- after the game we order pizza and did a pinata that was shaped as a deck of cards that were all hearts.

Then before we watched the Alice in Wonderland movie, I opened the box to see who got the Murder. It ended up that only one person, the Duchess guessed the murder and the weapon, and the murder, March Hare guessed who the witness was. They both got prizes, the Duchess got a little clay card box that had candy inside it and a key chain and glow in the dark heart pendant. The March hare got the same thing only a different key chain. After watching the movie we open presents and had carrot cake and then we went out side for a little fire and cooked smores and talked until their parents picked them up.  

Party Favors- we let them take their teacups and saucers (my mother washed them and put them in bags before they left). Each person got a small top hat that had a ribbon around it and a little tag on it but instead of saying in this style 10/6 it said in this style and then the person name. And it was flipped over and I put gum, lip-gloss, mini sharpies, a deck of cards and I made charm bracelets for each of them. The bracelets had teapot and spoon clasps and teapot charms.  

This party was so much fun. The guest enjoyed it so much they can't wait for my next party. :)