I have always wanted to host a murder mystery party! It’s been one of those things that I’ve talked about forever, but never really got around to doing it. Well, with everything going on this year (hashtag 2020), I was bound and determine to bring a little celebration & fun to the season. So we did it & y’all…IT WAS AN ABSOLUTE BLAST.
We chose A Murder at The Old Cadbury Mansion from the My Mystery Party site. We definitely wanted something spooky, since we were hosting it the week of Halloween. Here’s the synopsis.
Guests received their invitations to a dinner party at The Old Cadbury Mansion, which some say is haunted. Most had never been invited to such an event, but they put on their best dinner party attire and arrived in style at the mansion. After mingling about and catching up on the town’s events, some guests realized they had sordid pasts together. Dinner was served, which was a much-needed distraction for the mayhem that was brewing.
Seconds after forks were down, a victim was claimed! The guests had to rally together to figure out who did it before the murderer could strike again. Believing they had the murder solved, the guests took turns accusing who they believed was the murderer. Then over dessert, the murderer confessed! The guests were astonished, but overall the night was a complete success.
With this being our first murder mystery party, I really wasn’t sure if our guests would actually dress up & play the part the entire time. But they blew me away!! The prompts & character descriptions definitely helped get everyone in the right mindset. I think my jaw hit the floor each time a new guest entered our home because every single person brought their A game.
Here are my recommended DO’S and DON’TS!
DO allow yourself at least 3-4 weeks of planning. Seriously! It takes a good deal of prep work for the host, but it’s totally worth it. I was pleased with how organized the steps were in our game. It does take some time to read through it, send out invites, assign characters, organize clue cards & props but it wasn’t difficult or confusing at all.
DO have someone in the group co-host with you. I HIGHLY recommend this, guys! It can be a lot for one person to handle it all. So since it was at our house, I decided to take on all the decorating and menu items. Then I asked my friend, Sophie, to handle the logistics of the game. Things like assigning characters, organizing clue cards, facilitating the flow of the game that evening, etc. Together we came up with prizes for the best costume, the best actor/actress, and of course the person who guessed the murderer!
DO assign characters strategically. There are always required characters for each game, so be sure to give those to your guests who you know you can count on to show up & play the part.
DO thrift your décor and costumes! Our storyline was set in the Victorian age and everything was supposed to be a little spooky, which meant that I needed to decorate with items that I don’t typically have in my home on the regular. Thankfully, a lot of the dinnerware & tablescape items I already had (perks of being a wedding planner), but some of the spooky/odd items I needed to go out and purchase. Thrift stores were my best friend for this! I gave myself a budget & went all out with candles, creepy cloth, spider webs, bats & crows, and whatever other creepy things I could find.
DO begin setting up a couple of days before. This isn’t mandatory, but it will relieve a lot of the day-of stress, especially on the décor front. We hosted our party on a Tuesday night, so I began decorating on Sunday afternoon by rearranging the furniture & setting up extra seating areas to spark conversation. We also set up a long family-style table in our living room so everyone would have a seat at the table for dinner.
DO make sure you encompass all five senses. This goes for most hosting experiences, but I especially wanted to accomplish this for that evening. I wanted our guests to smell the musk of the mansion when they walked in, see the dark house filled with dust & cob webs, feel the stagnant chill in the air, hear the eerie music, and taste the spooky cocktail that was served by the butler.
DON’T worry about the extras. Dependent upon the game you choose, they will offer a list extra things you can throw in for the evening. Things like ice breaker games for the group or extra props for purchase. We decided against the games since our group was already comfortable around one another. The extra props were things we felt like we could DIY or find locally, so we didn’t purchase those either.
DON’T stress & just go with the flow. Hosting one of these parties can become very overwhelming if you let it, but if you give yourself enough prep time & involve the right people it can be one of the coolest experiences. I know each of our guests had a blast & we all left the evening asking when we could do another one. I’d say that is a successful night!
I hope this was helpful! Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions, or check out the highlight bubble on my instagram for more behind the scenes.
