For my daughter Renee's 9th birthday we are having a masquerade murder mystery party. The invitation will invite the children to a masquerade ball and will also tell them that the jeweled necklace that Renee got for a gift from her parents was missing. Therefore, she would like everyone to come and help her solve the mystery of the missing necklace. Little do they know that they will also have to solve a murder. I will be decorating the entire house in purple, turquoise and gold. I will hang balloons, streamers and masquerade masks throughout. I have bought various masquerade and venetian masks for the children; peacock, tiger, bat, dragon, butterfly, jester, angel, raven etc... When everyone arrives I will tell them that the night the necklace disappeared one of the maids was murdered and we did not inform them of the murder on the invitation because we knew that they would not come. Each child will be taken individually into the "mask room" to choose their mask and they will be given their new name, for example if they choose the Angel mask they are to go by the name Angelica; Peacock(Princess Peacock), Tiger (Tigress), Bat (Black Bat) and so on and so forth,,, I will already have a particular mask chosen to be the murderer or as I'm going to call him "The Phantom." The child that picks the Phantom mask is the Phantom. I will inform that child that they are the Phantom and tell them to keep their identity secret if they want to win a great prize.I have enlisted my sister and her two friends (who happen to be theater actors) to be the "maid, butler and cook" of the house and they will be serving the children throughout the night. Unfortunately, not all three of them will make it through the night because I plan to have them killed off one by one by the Phantom in a very dramatic way (poisoned, strangled). Since the kids are still young I think I will avoid killing them in a way that might be too scary or bloody but if it was an older crowd I would probably use fake blood and more detailed death scenes. They will serve them dinner out in the garden and their first clue will be left under their chairs. I will read the note that the Phantom left by the body. The note will state the rules of the game and tell them not to trust anybody because one of them is the Phantom. The Phantom will be hiding clues for the children in the pinata, fortune cookies and will be sending them on a scavenger hunt. The children will be given a list of eachother's names and after each clue they need to mark off who that clue has eliminated. Example Clue: I do not have wings- So that eliminates Raven, Angelica, Princess Peacock, Dragon, Black Bat etc... The first child to tell me the right answer (they only get one guess) after they have been given the last clue wins! In between clues the kids are gonna have fun time. I'm going to have a big room cleared out for the ballroom so they can dance. I have a disco ball and bubble machine (oriental trade)to make it more fun and at some point I'm going to have all of the lights go out so that the "maid" can be "strangled by the Phantom." I have so many more things planned but this is the basic idea.