We celebrated Halloween this year with one of our oldest, but one of our favorites — Murder at The Deadwood Saloon.
Here are some western saloon decorating ideas for those who truly want to go above and beyond (and don’t mind putting a little bit of time and effort into it). Believe us- it will pay off!
Make Your Own Saloon!
We made this saloon out some picket fencing, plywood and palettes! We accentuated our saloon by adding a scene setter of room roll on the back wall and creating a shelf that we filled with the “old liquor bottles” — you will find designs and instructions on how to make those with your murder mystery packet! Next we added some old bar stools, chalkboard with all of the “saloon specials,” old pails to hold bottled beverages and had a great time! This all made the saloon a very inviting place for guests to hang out! (***see directions on how we made it at the bottom of this post.)
Saloon Doors!
We can’t take the credit for this one — we found these awesome saloon doors from Shindigz.com! Then added our own “Wanted” signs printed off from the mystery materials! (Click on the picture to order your own!)
Authentic Saloon Signs
We simply took some palettes, cut them in half and painted some saloon sign designs on them. Need help thinking what to put on them? No worries, there are saloon sign designs (to print out) included with the mystery. You can use those designs to inspire your hand-painted designs.
Use Cable Spools for tables!
We found these cable spools and were able to use them for the night – they made the perfect saloon/drink tables!
Lighting is everything!
We lit up our saloon with mason jars filled with gold (spray painted rocks) and pillar candles. It was the perfect way to create the mood lighting we needed!
Photo Spot? You BETCHA!
WANTED phot prop:
All you need is a piece of cardboard and a sharpie!
Create a Jail!
What better way to catch those bad guys?!?! And have a fun photo prop. Directions on how to create this jail (or one like it) are now included with the Murder At The Deadwood Saloon
Award Ideas?
We purchased some inexpensive cowboy hats, spray painted them gold, added a bandana and a sheriff’s badge and woohla! You’ve got an award AND a fashion accessory!
THERE YOU HAVE IT! Some fun tips and tricks to help you go all out with your next party! For party details, and MORE party planning ideas, check out murderatthedeadwoodsaloon.com !!!
*** How to make the saloon seen above: Since we do not have a saloon, or even a bar, we struggled with how to do so. Then, in one trip to the Home Depot (or your local home improvement store), I had a solution. I took a 4 x 8 picket fence (approximately $22 USD) and some boards (approx $1/board). I had collected a few pallettes that were 42″ in height, so I trimmed the fence and the boards to 42″ tall. My husband then nailed the boards in-between the pickets, to create a continuous facade. We placed the pallettes on either side of the saloon front to create the sides and my husband secured the pieces together using a sturdy 2 x 4. Note: We had to cut one palette in order to allow room for someone to enter behind the bar.
To create the bar top, we took a piece of 4’x8′ plywood (strong enough to hold the top) and cut out the top, allowing for 2 feet on every side. We painted the top brown and secured it to the top of the saloon walls using screws and placing some posts (also found at local home improvement store).
Once construction was finished, we accentuated our saloon by adding a scene setter of room roll on the back wall and creating a shelf that we filled with the “old liquor bottles” — you will find designs and instructions on how to make those with your murder mystery packet! Next we added some old bar stools, chalkboard with all of the “saloon specials,” old pails to hold bottled beverages and had a great time! This all made the saloon a very inviting place for guests to hang out!
