Tag Archives: party

Mystery Parties

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How a Mystery Party Works…

Your invitation will include details about which character the guest will play. Encourage them to dress up – this is a big part of the fun! During the course of the evening, an announcement will be made that a murder has happened. Clues will be revealed over time, and characters will get information cards periodically to help them with their responses and guide them on what information they should reveal (or not reveal).

Your Job at the Party
As a good host, you’ll make sure that guests know what character they will be before they arrive (so they can dress the part),make sure that clues are set up along the way, and make sure that each character has the information he or she needs to play their part.

Why is a Mystery Party So Much Fun?
These are a lot of fun, especially if you have friends who will really get into their characters and come dressed for their role.

Sometimes guests who assume another person’s identities, from the way they walk, talk and act. Those who assume accents can be hysterical!

These parties are also fun because they can revolve around dinner, so they serve a double purpose as a dinner party AND murder mystery!

A good game is one where the instructions are clear for the host and the characters, making it easy to play their part.

Party ideas for the Elderly

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When planning a party for an elderly adult, you’ll want to consider having the guest of honour in on the planning. While surprise parties are fun, they can sometimes be “too much”. Only you know what your special person will be able to handle. An important consideration when planning a party is to schedule the party for a time of day that when the guest of honour will be at his or her best.

If a party will be “too much”, consider throwing a playing card party instead. It is a great way to remember the occasion, but without any stress for the guest of honour.

Some fun party ideas…

Before the party, ask guests to tell you something about the guest of honour – something they did, something they said, something funny…anything special that they remember. Compile these and add them to the slideshow presentation, or read them aloud and mount them in a memory book.

Have a sing-along! Try singing gold old-fashioned songs that everyone will know. This is something old folks did for entertainment before TV. Have sheets with the lyrics printed for younger guests. Songs like “Roll out the barrel”, “When you’re smiling”, “It’s a long way to tipperary ” and other similar songs will be fun for everyone to sing.

For easy games, use printable birthday games.

Show a movie. Pick something that is funny or entertaining (and a favourite of the birthday person). How about the Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Hope and Crosby, Red Skelton, Danny Kaye, Abbott and Costello, Lewis and Martin, etc. Classic TV shows, such as “I Love Lucy” are always a hit too, Project it on a wall, a sheet or on a large screen so that everyone can enjoy!

Sometimes it can be difficult to find birthday party games for elderly adults. If you are looking for a fun game that everyone from young to old can play, how about Birthday Bingo? To do this, create bingo cards where each square is something that is of interest him/her, such as “Crossword Puzzles”, “Golf”, “Nature”, etc. Have all the square possibilities written on slips of paper and placed in a bowl, then play like any traditional game of bingo.

Other fun games for older adults include playing trivia games (especially when playing them orally) and games such as Chess, Bridge, and Dominoes. (These are great fun for any party, not just a 100th birthday!)

This is your Life

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It began as a radio show in 1948, and has appeared on television in several countries since that time.
It has even been spoofed on cartoons, comedy shows and other TV specials, and it is sometimes done at the best adult birthday parties!

In the show, the host would read a sort of biography of the guest of honour, who was surprised by “mystery” guests from their past.

We think that doing a “This is your Life Party” as a surprise party is best of all. If the party isn’t a surprise, make sure that he/she doesn’t know the entire guest list That will be part of the surprise!

Make sure that the guests who will take part in the “this is your life” program remain a mystery and stay out of sight! That way the guest of honour won’t know that they are there at the party until the right moment.

When planning a birthday party, seat the guest of honour in a special chair in front of everyone. Have several “surprise” guests from different stages in his or her life hide behind a curtain or outside the room.

One at a time, have each of them tell a story about the guest of honour – some will be funny, some will be touching. Then it is up to him/her to guess who the speaker is.

For This is Your Life Party decorations, you could…

Blow up photos of him/her from different times in their lives – from birth to present!
Decorate with things that the guest of honour loves – for example, gardening, books, travel, etc.
decorate with items representative of the different decades and group them together as a centerpiece, area of the room, etc. Such as stuff from the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, etc.

For birthday party music at a This is Your Life Party, play the favourites from their youth – their teens and twenties. They, and their friends, will love it!

If you wish – tell guests for the birthday party beforehand that a gift isn’t necessary – their presence will be the best present of all!

A Smashing good time

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Greeks smashing plates to accompany musicians is a mental image of Greece practically as common as the sight of the Parthenon. But if it were really as common in Greece as foreigners believe, there wouldn’t be a saucer left intact in the entire country. How did this noisy custom get started?

Ancient Origins
In its earliest form, plate smashing may be a survival of the ancient custom of ritually “killing” the ceramic vessels used for feasts commemorating the dead.

The voluntary breaking of plates, which is a type of controlled loss, may also have helped participants in dealing with the deaths of their loved ones, a loss which they could not control.
Similar offerings may also have been presented at other times to include the dead in festival proceedings, with the result that this custom for the dead began to be tied in with all kinds of celebrations.

Here are some other potential ancient roots for this tradition:

One also has to be suspicious of the ancient wandering potters who used to travel from village to village making their wares wherever the clay was good and there was enough wood to fire up a kiln.

Could the first people to introduce the locals to this exciting custom have been the potters themselves? Could this custom of breaking plates at parties simply have its origins in a shrewd ancient marketing ploy?

Breaking plates can also be a symbol of anger, and the sound of shattering crockery is a classic part of domestic disturbances. Since plate breaking often occurs at happy occasions, it may have begun as a way of fooling malicious spirits into thinking that the event was a violent one instead of a celebration.

Worldwide, noise is believed to drive away evil, and the sound of the plates smashing against the stone or marble floors of Greek houses would be loud enough to scare off almost anything.

There is a phrase used by children about sidewalk cracks: “Step on a crack or you’ll break the devil’s dishes.” (Today, it’s less common than the “break your mother’s back” threat.) In early Crete, ritual offerings and vessels were thrown into cracks and fissures located near peak sanctuaries. These “cracks” would certainly have had “dishes” in them, and later followers of Christianity may have demonized the old practice.

Since the children’s chant is actually a caution to avoid stepping on cracks, it may refer back to ancient associations with these dishes. So breaking plates during a performance may be a way of protecting the dancers and musicians by destroying supposedly evil influences present in the poor plates.

One Greek singer occasionally breaks plates against his head while he sings a song of the pain of love. He enhances the rhythm of the piece with the smash of the plates and, in character for the song, tries to ease the pains of romantic love by countering them with physical pain.

Usually, breaking plates in praise of a musician or dancer is considered a part of kefi, the irrepressible expression of emotion and joy.

A plate might also be broken when two lovers parted so they would be able to recognize each other by matching the two halves even if many years passed before they met again. Small, split versions of the mysterious Phaistos disk are used by modern Greek jewelers this way, with one-half kept and worn by each of the couples.

Viking Entertainment

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Vikings worked hard, but they also played hard, and in much the same way men do today, by playing ball, wrestling and holding competitions to display their strength and skillfulness. Many of their games were violent and often became bloody, sometimes resulting in death. They mainly served to show how “manly” a person was and showcased the competitors’ strength and dexterity

Vikings often tested their physical strength with stone-lifting competitions, which could be considered the equivalent of weightlifting today. One of the most popular ball games mentioned in Viking literature was called knattleikr and involved full body contact.

Sometimes wooden bats, similar to those in baseball and cricket, were used. These ball games also ended violently.

Surprisingly, intellectual prowess was also regarded highly, and archaeologists have found many boards and game pieces from board games at many different Viking sites. Many Viking sagas have described people playing board games as nobles, and it has even been suggested that a prerequisite for becoming a king was being skilled at board games. Not so surprisingly, drinking games were also popular, with the Viking women often joining in on the fun. Finally, Vikings also enjoyed live music entertainment, mummery (similar to a play) and miming,

Why party entertainment is important

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Party entertainment is important as it brings people together and is a good way for the entire family to bond.

It diverts people’s attention from their demanding lives and amuses them in their leisure time. Usually, party entertainment is fun, enjoyable and pleasurable. Entertainment for events can take various forms including music, drama, storytelling, movie, sports, dance and traditional performances.

As life gets increasingly busy, it becomes more difficult for people to spend time with their loved ones. Thus, it is necessary to keep everyone entertained to ensure a relaxing time when a family break does become feasible. Entertainment provides a way to break away from everyday humdrum activity and enjoy a refreshing moment together.

The right party entertainment brings happiness, which is a fundamental and powerful medicine that aids health and wellbeing. It is said “when you are happy, you have everything.” Happiness can even reduce stress and tension. Movies, music and TV series can all create joy in people’s lives. When watching or listening, members of the audience tend to forget the snags, miseries, worries and difficulties of their own lives.

With so many sources of entertainment now available, people have many options to choose from in their precious leisure time. Perhaps the best option is to focus on those forms of entertainment that are educational or inspiring, and which encourage people to achieve success amid their existing or perceived difficulties.

The history of the Birthday Cake

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The origin of Birthday Cakes dates back to ancient times but the cake of then was very different from what we have today. The word ‘cake’ is said to have coined as early as 13th century and is said to have derived from ‘kaka’- an Old Norse word.

In Western culture Birthday Cake is defined as a pastry or dessert served to a person on his or her birthday to celebrate the event. Birthday cakes are usually decorated with person’s name and carry a message of congratulations. Candles equal to the number of years a person has been alive are also placed on the cake. There is also a tradition to place one extra candle to bring good luck. Birthday cakes are usually spongy and the most popular flavour in cakes is chocolate.

The history of Birthday Cake can be traced back to the ancient Greeks who made round or moon shaped honey cakes or bread and took it to the temple of Artemis -the Goddess of Moon. Some, however, believe that the tradition of Birthday cake started in Germany in Middle Ages. Sweetened bread dough was given the shape of baby Jesus in swaddling cloth and was used to commemorate his birthday. This special birthday party cake later reemerged in Germany as a Kinderfest or the birthday celebrations of a young child. Germans also baked another special kind of a cake called Geburtstagorten as it was baked in layers. This was sweeter that the coarse and bread like cake that were usually made at that time.

In earlier times, Birthday cakes were mostly round in shape. This was associated to religious beliefs and technical compulsions for the same. Greeks offered round shape cake to the Goddess of Moon – Artemis as it signified moon. They even placed candles on the cake to make the cake glow like the moon.

Some say that a round cake in the ancient world has association with the annual cycles. Round shapes of cakes were preferred as these represented the cyclical nature of life. Most specifically, the sun and moon.

Technical reason given for the roundness of the cake is that most cakes we know off advanced from the bread. In ancient times breads and cakes were made by hand. Typically, these were fashioned into round balls and baked on hearthstones or in low, shallow pans. Hence, these naturally relaxed into round shapes. With the progress of times baking pans of various shapes were developed and today we see cakes in imaginative shapes and sizes.

Birthday Cake Candles

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Whenever there is a Birthday celebration more often than not there is a Birthday Cake. Have you ever wondered why we have candles on a cake?

The tradition of placing candles on Birthday cake is attributed to early Greeks, who used place lit candles on cakes to make them glow like the moon. Greeks used to take the cake to the temple of Artemis-the Goddess of Moon. Some say that candles were placed on the cake because people believe that the smoke of the candle carried their wishes and prayers to Gods who lived in the skies. Others believe that the custom originated in Germany where people used to place a large candle in the centre of the cake to symbolize ‘the light of life’.

In present times too, people place candles on Birthday cakes and a silent wish is made before blowing out the candle. It is believed that blowing out all candles in one breath means the wish will come true and the person with enjoy good luck in the coming year. Some also smear out the name of the person before slicing of the cake to bring good luck.

In medieval times people of England used to place symbolic objects like coins, rings and thimbles in the batter of the cake. It was believed that those who found coin in the cake would be wealthy while the unlucky finder of the thimble would never marry. A Wedding was signified for the person who found the slice of cake with ring. Even today some people follow the tradition and place small figures, fake coins and small candies inside the cake.

Maypole dancing

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The earliest Maypoles were part of a celebration of Summer which would be linked in with mystical things like tree worship and more basic things like an excuse for entertainment, dancing and having a good time.

They were probably just simple trees cut down and re-erected in the centre of a village green. We know that by the 16th and 17th centuries they were often very tall as we have paintings showing people dancing around them and the Puritans, who hated them, described in great detail what they were destroying, although the actual dances were not recorded.

After the Restoration many Maypoles were reinstated and a notable one was in the Strand. This was 134 foot high (41m) and stood there until Sir Isaac Newton used parts of it as a base for his telescope! Some of the maypoles from that period still survive in villages around the country. None of these maypoles had ribbons so the dances were probably any circular dances that were popular at the time.

The Maypole Dancing that people know today, happened because John Ruskin introduced it at Whitelands College in 1881 and created a series of dances and a May Pageant.

Generations of teachers learnt all about these and took them wherever they went on to teach and by the middle of the 20th century it had become a major tradition, much of which survives to the present day but for some years had been dying out as fewer teachers knew the dances.

Fortunately over the last few years Maypole Dancing has had a bit of a revival for all sorts of reasons to do with a greater awareness of our own culture and the sheer enjoyment by dancers and audience alike. The difference now is that there is a far greater degree of creativity with new dances and styles being invented all the time.

Music
In the early days the music would have been played on instruments like the Pipe & Tabor or the English Bagpipes and we can see these in those early paintings.

By the time John Ruskin came along the concertina or the fiddle would have been added and then later instruments would have included the accordion, flutes or any instruments that were loud enough to work in the open air. That still hold true but now often people dance to recorded music, whether recordings of country dance music and instruments like those mentioned or even pop songs and rap.

Keep the party going

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The ceremony has come to a close, the food’s finished and it’s time to crack open another bottle of bubbly and get the party started. Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy having late night private or corporate events in a hired venue. Even having an event in a hotel, you might find your night winding to a rather quick close when the music is turned off to accommodate the other guests.

First things first, you need to pick the right party location. Here at Red Masque we can recommend some top music friendly wedding and party venues in London.

Smiths of Smithfield
This venue is perfect and is only ten minutes away from Chancery Lane station. Right next to the City of London it’s conveniently located in the bustling hub of the city. The restaurant’s two private rooms can be opened out for larger parties and – most importantly – it is licenced for live music right up until 1am, so you can keep dancing as long as you’d like. The restaurant is even a short walk away from some amazing London clubs so, if you really aren’t ready to stop, you can head on over to keep the night going.

Southbank Centre
Ideal for any celebration – This world famous multi-art centre is known for its unparalleled festival programme, reaching 6.25 million people a year and featuring 5000 events by world-class artists.

The Level 5 Function Room is the largest of their events rooms; it comes with free Wi-Fi, a fully integrated PA system and can be opened out onto a balcony for incredible views of the London skyline.

The room is accessible by lift – so you won’t have to worry about lugging heavy speakers up and down stairs – and comes with a variety of optional hired extras. These include: A sound technician to set up, two radio mics, a plug in and play system for background music. The room is licenced for entertainment until 2am, so the party doesn’t have to end.

Islington Assembly Hall
Outside of weddings, this venue serves as a live music hall so is a great place for any concert lovers or festival fans to throw their big celebration. The hall has a wide range of technology available, for those of you who want to really amp up your wedding entertainment, and their incredible grand stage serves as the perfect place for your band or DJ to set up.

Unlike many other festival halls, they don’t insist on you using their in-house entertainers or DJ, so you have complete freedom when it comes to picking out your party band. Whether you’re into classical rock or are planning to book a world renowned DJ there’s no doubt that this venue will have all you need to accommodate your music tastes.

Bush Hall
The talking point of this venue is definitely the famous faces that have graced it in the past. The venue has hosted such music legends as Adele, Amy Winehouse and The Killers. The hall’s curtained stage is an ideal place for your band and, if you’re planning on using the stage during speeches, the backstage area is perfect for storing the band equipment until you’re ready for them to setup.