Last weekend we hosted a murder mystery party. We’d wanted to do so for a few years now, and thought, why not this year? So, this year it was! Now after the fact, we’ve learned a lot. A few things we’d do again. A few things we’d change. If you’re thinking of throwing a murder mystery party of your own, read below for party planning tips and tricks!
How To Throw a Killer Murder Mystery Party
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The Game
First things first, we nailed down the game. We looked into a lot of different options and ended up going ahead with My Mystery Party.
My Mystery Party seemed to have a lot of flexibility.You could host a small group for dinner or a have a huge party. You could purchase a boxed set or a digital download. You could host an easy game or a challenging game.
We liked that the host could participate without knowing the outcome – and if any guests dropped out or wanted to join last minute, no problem. Characters were flexible. Overall, a lot of perks!
Tip: We chose the digital download this time around. It’s a great option if you’re planning last minute. Next time though we’d likely go with the boxed set. It was quite a bit of work cutting out all the character role info and stuffing envelopes. Not to mention we probably spent just as much on the ink as we would have if we just went with the boxed set!
The Invites
Next up we sent out digital invites via Paperless Post (we found the perfect murder mystery themed invites!).
Since we live in a historic home, in a haunted town, we found a haunted house theme to be the most fitting – a haunted house theme it was!
We sent out the invites a little over a month in advance and then a few weeks prior, we assigned characters to participating guests along with costume recommendations.
The Decorations
Now the fun part! I wanted to put a little more time into decorating and food, but time got away from me. I guess that’s how it goes for a mom of 7-month-old twins!
Nevertheless, we still made our place look pretty spooky. We decorated the mantle, lit lots of candles, brought in some dark red roses and even made a spooky charcuterie board.
We also picked up some Halloween inspired red wine (7 deadly zins and 19 crimes) and made hot mulled cider. If we end up doing this again, I’d love to make a Halloween inspired cocktail. A sign like this would be fun too!
See below for pics of the decor…