Hosting a Murder Mystery Dinner Party

Pre-planning

• Read the instruction manual for your particular murder mystery game to determine how many guests you need to invite. Call your friends and ask them if they are interested in attending a murder mystery party and find out a date that would work for them. Once you have a general idea of how many guests are going to show up, you can plan your characters. Send out a character invitation to each guest. The invitations come with the murder mystery game and contain all of the information the guest needs to know about their character. To enhance the fun of the party, request that guests dress the part of their character.

The Meal

• Murder mystery dinner parties are meant to be served with a dinner. The murder mystery game instructions include meal suggestions. Decide whether you are going to prepare the meal yourself or order out. If you choose to prepare the meal yourself, buy the ingredients a few days ahead of time. If you are going to order out, it is best to locate and order with a restaurant or caterer at least two weeks ahead of time. Ordering early gives the restaurant or caterer notice to clear their schedule for a large meal.

Party Set-up

• Set up your house to provide seating for all of your guests. Also, read the game instructions for any special details, decorations or props that should be set around the house. Make a list of all the things you need for the party at least a week in advance. Prepare your house for the party the day before, so that you do not feel rushed on the day of the party.

The Party

• Wait for all of the guests to arrive. Once everyone has arrived, hand each character their booklet for the game. The game comes with a booklet for each player. The booklets let the players know more information about their character, such as background information, motives and if they are the murderer.

  After giving the guests time to look over their booklets, read the rules for the game to everyone. Then, let the game begin. Serve dinner either before, in the middle, or after the game. If the game instructions do not suggest when to serve dinner, the decision is up to you, the host.