Prohibition Adventureparty – Part 2

August 20th, 2010

I know, I know, this was, like, weeks ago.
Remember my original Adventureparty post? If not, start there.

By now you’re probably on to my Lunch Lady themed potluck or you know, your life.
But I told you I’d give you information and I’m sticking true.

So, back from Adventureparty Part 1 – it’s time to talk more about how we put it together.

The facts:
When we met together, we laid ground rules, an important part of any Adventureparty.

Clues and party had to be within walking distance.
We could include no more than 30 people.
The final party place was the big surprise.

The theme:
The team met several times to talk through different story lines.
Other options for stories were – Missing dog, wine making, pirates and scavenger hunt.

Since my birthday was coming up, we decided to hook the party to that event. Remember, our organizing team just wanted to do an Adventureparty – we didn’t really care what the occasion was.

The Prohibition theme worked well for us as it allowed costumes for the guests that weren’t hot or restricting. My birthday tends to fall on the hottest day of the year – so we needed to keep it cool.

The theme allowed the final party place (the Speakeasy) to be a surprise.

The clues:
During all of these meetings we talked through clues that were in great places.
We wanted to do something at the cemetery, but it’s a mile from the main street in St. Helena.
We wanted a balloon clue that guests had to pop to find the clue inside.
We wanted a chalk outline.
We wanted cocktails.

Coming up with a wide wish list of actual clue locations helped us narrow our options. This is also how we plan to approach the next Adventureparty.

We eventually winnowed the clues down to five places.
Three teams would cycle between the first three spots.
All teams would end at the final two.
(This was to help avoid team pile up at individual clue locations.)

We erred on the side of easy when it came to clues. We gave them two hours to complete the course and most came back in an hour. As it was our first time, it was the right strategy.

The structure:
Each team received an envelope with an introductory letter, their first clue and a disposable camera. Teams took off to their first location, where we had hosts waiting for them.

We didn’t intend for guests to race against each other. But we discovered that if you put people into teams that’s what they’re going to do.
(Now be ye warned.)

We also took the team organizing seriously.
We wanted to make sure that each team was well balanced in terms of gender, personality and sense of adventure.

It was a good sign when the teams were announced and no one’s face fell at their designation.

Our people:
Paul played a police officer who had come across a shootout over the stolen hooch.

James played a hobo at the abandoned barn.

Our local bartender Kat, hosted guests who had to complete a task before getting their next clue.
(I don’t have photos of that part, due to the fact that our photographers were in high school – grin.)

After finding the clues at each of the stops, guests were all sent to the fountain at Merryvale winery where three balloons bobbed in the water.

Teams received their final clue to the speakeasy from there.

The Speakeasy:
We met with Farmstead’s Sheamus Feeley the week before and collaborated on some updated 1920s style picnic food. When we arrived, everyone was greeted with a muddled peach and bathtub gin drink.

My takeaway was this, our local chefs love to collaborate on this kind of thing. Give a budget and let them go to town — chances are their ideas and execution will surprise everyone.

We found out that more local business wanted to be involved than we thought.
I can’t wait to collaborate with my community on this kind of party in the future.
Can you imagine?
A town-wide game?

Posted in fun, inspirato, napa | 1 Comment »