Being the jaded introvert I am, I never really celebrated Halloween. Until recently, the last pictures of me in a costume of any kind, I was about 2 feet tall and the photos were from grainy kodak film cameras. The single use kind.

Then I met @porkjelly and things changed. It is her favourite holiday and it became expected for it not to be a thing I can just ignore like Valentine's Day and Father's Day. I set up her old apartment in a romantic gesture, and we went out dressed up. I was Data from Star Trek, dressed up as his favourite character Sherlock Holmes, after his face being half-replaced by skin by the Borg Queen. I'm sure that makes sense.

This year was a little different. We were to host Halloween at our apartment now we live in one big enough to do so. I only have 4 friends in total so it was less of a 'call the cops on teens going wild' party, and more of a middle-aged housewife kind of shindig where you play Cards Against Humanity and feel like your answers are somehow uniquely hilarious and edgy.

We didn't play that. But we did decorate. First step was to turn the house red. We got red gels and stuck them on some of the lights in the main area, bathroom and even in the fridge XD

The Room

And... added some weapons, spiders and such...

We've been living in this hell for the better part of a week... I'm not sure when we plan to have normal lighting again 😫

The Food

Next up we made Halloween-themed food:

Witches fingers

Pumpkin Splerghetti

Shepherds Die

Yeah I made up the amazing names.

The Shepherds Die is literally just Sherpherd's Pie with red food colouring in the potato. It was pretty amazing.

The Drink

Well, in my group, one was not drinking generally, one never drinks, another was on Antibiotics and couldn't drink, AND it was Sunday anyway, so drinking was minimal.

That being said, we made Fresh Bloody Mary's, including Virgin...Bloody Mary's... ok that sounds a bit creepy now I've typed it.

Either way, they were amazing. We even made EYEce Cubes, with blueberry eyes in the centre:

yeah that's me.

The Dress

I decided to go with a bit of an Elden Ring Theme, and even got my hand on a Jar-Bairn for our traditional cult rituals!

I, of course, went as Ranni the Witch:

_{Notice the eyeball hiding in the cat bed}

I had the extra hands but they were too pink and weird so I amputated them.

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The Game

This is where my middle-class middle-age housewife vibes come in.

At least, that's how I feel when I hear the term 'Murder Mystery'. Indeed, looking up tutorials on YouTube more often than not greets you with that exact persona.

But to my surprise, Murder Mysteries are taken very seriously in China.

So much so that you can have 3-day, 2-night getaways in which everything around you is part of the scenery, with clues lying around, mansions to explore, bars with ghost bartenders. Everyone stays in character and pays a hefty fee for the price.

I did see some available in the UK too but I've certainly never heard of it in casual conversation. It's traditionally been a lame dinner party idea.

Well, with that in mind I spontaneously (midnight the evening before) suggested it to everyone and then it was suddenly up to me to learn how tf you actually do it, plan it, teach it, prep it.

Long story short it went pretty well! I used the first free resource I found online: Sour Grapes of Wrath.

For a 69-page free document it set us up really well for a 3-hour+ evening of investigation! You can check it out here If you ever find an opportunity.

I was disappointed that because my friends and I were pretty new to it, none of us were in the mindset to think in a Classic, methodological way a la Sherlock Holmes: Whereabouts, Alibi, Motive, Weapon. After the solution was unveiled, it all became so clear how one should have thought of things, and how complex and clever the game actually was to try and derail your suspicions at every turn.

Instead, it just went over my head entirely but I somehow got the correct killer anyway.

Ultimately, it was a pretty fun night! @porkjelly went out to some clubs and such the night before, as the young'uns tend to do, but I won't spoil her costume in case she posts about it. But spoiler: she actually hand-made her own... second face. yeah it goes beyond 'mask'.

The End

P.S. As a result of Halloween celebrations, people going to Disneyland etc, my building is now, for the 5th time, locked down again! So I'm just sitting at home watching the leftover trash rot until the day I can take it away.

Yay Authoritarianism!