Thinking on the Fly!

Today saw me in a rush to accomplish the finishing touches to the Mystery Party/Clue Hunt that I was giving for my sweet Great Niece, Aero.  Michael and I have been working on this for months now as we wanted everything to be perfect.  Aero and a group of her friends were to be at the house about 5:30 in the afternoon to start their quest.  They arrived and soon were in the process of trying to solve the mystery. An empty box was their first clue.  With the Bayou House locked up tight, they needed to find a key.

I was impressed with the kids ability to solve the random assortment of puzzles and locks that we had set before them.  Sure, some were tough but with only a few hints they succeeded.  One after one the clues were found and locks were opened.  Things were going swimmingly! Then the group became bogged down.  One puzzle, well, bepuzzled them completely!  It took some doing for them to unravel the clues to continue but they eventually passed each test and were ready for the finale.  This should have had a "wow" factor to it but it sort of fizzled.  Michael and I built a font to be the site of the finale.  It was here that the "ghosts" were to be released.  The font (recycled flower pot) had been filled with dry ice and was awaiting the trapped essence of two souls (aka known as bottles of water).  After much mysterious banter and a long trip down to the Bayou edge, the deed was done.  The water  met the dry ice and..........nothing!  I have never seen such a dead bunch of dry ice in my life!  I had to quickly come up with an alternative ending.  I was sure glad that in the hodge-podge  of weird and wonderful items that I used as decorations, I had included two soles of shoes.  Why may you ask, would I use the bottoms of old shoes?  I have no idea. Still, I am glad that I did.  Quickly, I came up with the excuse that perhaps uniting the two souls was a misunderstanding. Perhaps it was not souls at all but soles!  Yep..it was far-fetched but at least it would buy me a bit of time!  While the group raced about finding shoe soles, Mark slipped back to the shed to grab a fresh piece of dry ice.  We thought maybe, just maybe, something strange had happened to the other that made it not work.  He filled the font once again.  A wispy layer of moss was laid across the dry ice and I gathered the crew together.  We tried to release the "ghosts" again!  Slowly pour the water...nothing.  Once again, no reaction between the water and the dry ice took place.  What is wrong with my dry ice?  It had worked phenomenally earlier during the trial run!

Finding a alternate ending to the Mystery Party was not an easy task.  I made up a story that sometimes, spirits did not want to be released from their torment.  Sometimes ghosts that haunt an area are not ready and need a bit more time.  Perhaps the crew of kids should come back again and find more clues. This bit of an idea was met with excitement that another Mystery Party/Clue Hunt was in the works!  The saga continues! (Perhaps I should find another method of making a ghost!  That wow factor cannot hinge on dry ice and water!)

MacGyver Wannabes!

Back in the day, my kids and I used to watch the TV show "MacGyver".  My oldest son would try to copy most every thing that man did!  Whether it was patch a leaky faucet with bubblegum or snare a rabbit using a shoelace and twig.  He tried out just about every maneuver the character did on the show.  Not that I minded in the least as it kept him out of trouble and kept him creative.  Nowadays, my son, Mark, can just about fix anything that needs fixing.  And his creativity has not been squelched in the least.  I do believe Mark could give MacGyver a run for his money any day.

Now, my other son, Michael has shown a bit of his inner MacGyver.  We are in the final days of preparing for the Mystery Party for my sweet grandniece and things are in a bit of a tizzy around the Bayou.  I want things perfect but I also want things..umm...cheap!  So, out come the MacGyverisms! On the show, MacGyver always did things with what he had on hand.  There was no "quick run" to the store to pick up needed objects.  After all, most of the time he was lost in some desert, on a island in the middle of nowhere or trapped in some unlikely, hostile place.  The local store was not handy! Our excuse is we are just cheap!  Michael has been creating most every "stumbling block" that the kids will encounter during their quest.  We have a multiple of locked boxes that have no apparent locks, unlockable doors and seemingly unattainable clues.  All of this, plus the decorations for the entire house and yard, have cost a grand total of maybe twenty dollars.  Some things were purchased that really cannot be added to the total cost since I would have had to purchase them anyway.  Things like light bulbs and other household items just happened to fall on the list of things I needed.

The "Mystery Party" Herb Potting Shelf.  I do believe it is just cluttered enough to make searching for the clue a bit difficult!

The entire Apothecary Room is filled with found or made items.  The Herb Potting Shelf was built from salvaged lumber.  The Outdoor Wash Basin is an old ice chest that now looks remarkably like a porcelain sink. It is complete with a working hand pump that was also a salvaged item!  Even our clues are written on scrap paper that is dyed with coffee and "aged" with soot from the fireplace!

Mystery Party Wash Basin!  Quite a bit of grunge going on here!

Today, I transformed an old plastic flower pot into the basin of a font where the mystery will culminate.  The once peeling paint has been replaced with a beautiful copper coating.  A copper chain from a broken belt suspends a funnel to add a bit of interest.  The funnel at one time was bright orange plastic!  This will be mounted on top of an old bird bath pillar.  The concrete pillar, itself, is being recycled as a freeze a few years ago broke it into several pieces.  All of these seemingly unrelated pieces are now married together in a single unit that will be of great significance during the quest.  (I can't spill secrets just yet!)

The recycled flower pot that will soon become the Mystery Party Font!

Yep, MacGyver might just be a tad proud of our meager attempts at "making do with what we have on hand"!  I can use all the money I saved on the food to be served after the kids complete their mystery quest and rid the Bayou of its ghost!  Why am I doing all of this?  Well, I could say that it is to prove to the younger generation that there can be "homemade" fun.  Or, I could say that it is so I will be the "Greatest Great Aunt" ever!  Truth be known, I am probably just crazy!  But live on, MacGyver!  You inspire us all!