Wanda Witch Party

Hold on for a few minutes! This is a long post!!! I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!! And this has been so hard to keep a secret. I'm glad it's done so I can talk about this awesome party!

These last several weeks have been so busy for me since I have been planning this anonymous Wanda Witch party! We had a blast! I sent out invitations to lots of people in our ward... most I didn't know and hoped they would show up. They had an email to RSVP to and surprisingly we had a total of 18 couples we planned for. Team captains were assigned along with their teams and they were to arrive at the church in costume, Friday night at 7:00 pm sharp. Our team captain called and said to be there early, not knowing I was Wanda, and I told her I would try my best but I might be late. She said, "That's it, we're picking you up on the way." I quickly told her I would be early. At the church they all received cauldrons with their team color and their first clue. At that point they had to figure out where they were supposed to go and find the next clue which also had an item for the witches brew. They had six clues and some apparently were pretty hard. The sixth clue lead them to our house where we had refreshments and revealed my identity (most of them still didn't know since we only have wedding photos up... we look a bit different now.) After chatting about how much fun we had and different ideas for what the clues could be I announced the winners and gave the best costume award to the Bishop! His 2 face costume was priceless. Someone yelled, "Suck up!" The bishop laughed and said, "All right, I won't call you to the nursery." It was totally worth it just for that comment. Of course we had some problems such as 4 couples bailed out, 2 of which were on the same team and that left one couple by themselves on a team... she didn't know what to do so they ended up going home. If I had known what was going on I would have insisted she join our team. I later went to her house and apologized in person profusely. I asked her to please come to our next party and she could be on our team so we know that would not happen. Another oops... no matter how hard my husband and I tried to slow down and throw off our team mates... they still won. They were way too smart for the Wyne's. And the last mess up was that one team said their clues were screwed up. I later found out as I was gathering left over clues and items, that they opened a wrong emergency clue. One team searched for about 45 minutes before opening their emergency clues... that is dedication! Since some of you have already asked me I am going to post my locations and clues.

Today, many people are surprised to learn that there was a lake in this park, named Lake Ethel, used for swimming and fishing. Lake Ethel was a man-made lake constructed originally to store irrigation water from Mason Creek. This park of 44 acres is no longer home to Lake Ethel. But your eyes can track a few landmarks across its planes. (Lakeview Park has a huge airplane and train which turned out to be one of the hardest clues. The clue was also hidden in a cauliflower covered in red jello so it looked like a brain.)

Located at the Blockbuster on 12th Ave. you will find a movie that made the top ten list for the scariest movies of all time (sorry, it is rated R). This particular movie was made in 1980. We look back on the 80’s as a wild and funny time. However, this movie directed by Stanley Kubrick is not a “joker”. In fact Stephen King, who wrote the novel this movie was based on, said, ''I think [Kubrick] wants to hurt people with this movie.'' King later made his own six-hour TV version in 1997. Once you think you’ve found it take the case to checkout and if you are correct you will receive your next clue. If you are wrong, try, try again. ''Heeeere's Johnny!”
We gave an extra point at the end if you could name the #1 scariest movie of all time.

One clue was a maze with numbers and letters scattered throughout. On the correct path they picked up a phrase and then it ended at a picture of a building. The phrase was 40th president of the US. From there they had to go to the Ronald Reagan Elementary School.

One clue was a bag of M&M's and the actual clue was inside one of the M&M's in place of a peanut. (Mt. Calvary Cemetery) The Bishop ate the clue! Thanks to the blue team bailing out they had another bag sitting there. Another team counted out the M&M's (68) and tried to tie it together with the brew item. Someone said, "Who owns a 68 Cobra?" That was pretty funny!

Whisked away by devils delight
Trouble may be found day or night

Ere you pick one or two
Does not matter for this witches brew

Take Amity and head east to Linder Road
Beware for witches are in haunting mode.

Pumpkins, here you will find many
But keep a watchful eye yours could be any.

Once you’ve found the correct choice
Find the person with a Sherrie voice.

She will be the one to hand you the next clue,
You need not worry, no payment is due.

They had to go to the Linder Farm and find the pumpkin with their team color on it. This pumpkin patch is 20 acres! This also turned out to be a difficult clue. Sorry, again, Smith team!

And the final clue was a word search with a hidden message that said, "Your ending location is seven houses down on the right on Wicklow Avenue." So they still didn't know it was us. Our team mates were saying. "It's the Knapps! Ginger is out of town so it can't be her. It's the Knapps!" After counting out the seven houses and saw it was not the Knapps they were surprised to realize it was us the whole time! Our team captains were the Graham's and they were so smart, and so competitive! Sean had facial hair for 18 years and shaved to look the part of McCain. He even stuck cotton balls in his cheeks!

In the instructions and rules it said we had people on the lookout to report any cheating or tampering with other teams clues... Some strangers helped out in that... I guess. There were some creepy people around who made the teams think they were a spy. So thanks to you strangers... If you are creepy, I really hope you're not reading my blog!

Overall we had a blast and it was a huge success! Thanks so much for those that came and were good sports! I hope you all come to our next party because there is definitely going to be another one soon! Andy is thinking Valentine's Day-ish! It was such a fun way to get to know people in the ward! (For those that didn't know, we just moved in last month) Thanks again! It's been so fun talking to people still about how much fun it was. Someone at the party said the questions of the year will be, "How did you get the clue inside the M&M's?" and, "How did you get the clue inside the cauliflower?" Hee, hee, hee!