Designing Your Mystery Party
An Overview
Your guests will solve a fictional murder at your locale based on clues presented or deduced during the event. Most of the attendees will be suspects and among them is the unidentified murderer. The murder may have occurred in the past or just prior to the party, and additional murders may occur during the course of the evening. During the party your guests will interact with each other and solve puzzles to discover the murderer’s identity and how the evil deed was done. Guests may also be tasked with personal goals to accomplish during the party. At the close of the party, all guests are invited to identify the Murderer, describe their reasoning and share progress on their personal goals before the ultimate solution is revealed.
Initial Considerations
- Location of the party: An entertaining mystery dinner party can occur in a house or apartment’s living and dining rooms, or be expanded into patios and backyards, offices and spare bedrooms. It is best to have at least one space where people can comfortably walk around, mingle and explore in addition to a dining area.
- Size of the party: The size of your party largely depends on the home or selected location where your event will occur. We find an optimal size for mystery parties is ten to twelve guests, plus hosts. Parties larger than this are possible, but a higher number of guests makes it more difficult to ensure everyone is engaged and enjoys a successful evening. A big crowd can be fun but may be overwhelming. On the other end of the spectrum, a minimum of six guests plus hosts ensures that the mystery remains challenging.
- Length of the party: The event may last three to four hours, depending on how many guests are involved and whether a sit-down dinner or hors d’oeuvres menu is offered. It also depends on the complexity of your designed murder mystery. Fewer important clues and story lines will lead to a shorter evening.
- Flow of the party: The evening begins with guests arriving, introducing themselves to each other, and enjoying a cocktail. Each guest receives a personalized bag (described later) which includes their character name tag, a Character Sheet (see Final Materials section) special props, costume pieces and any “spending money” for use during the event. When all guests have arrived, the host then briefly introduces all and shares the rules and offers tips for the mystery party guests.
Following these preliminaries, we usually offer some designated “out of character” time in which guests can relax and enjoy hors d’oeuvres or a formal sit-down meal. During this time, some guests may enjoy staying in character and begin to chat up fellow suspects, and some will prefer to catch up with friends on a personal level. Setting aside a casual time for eating and socializing creates a great foundation for your party.
Following dinner, the game is truly afoot! Your suspects will travel between your scenes, chatting each other up, searching for motives, analyzing possible clues and solving puzzles to learn important facts. Hosts move among the guests, offering advice, nudging them in the right direction, and arbiting, when necessary. Guests are given a time at which all investigation must end and are then gathered together for each to present their guess at who the murderer is. Guests may also report to the group on their personal goals and their progress on those. Finally, the solution is presented, and usually with it, dessert.
• Time to plan: The more elaborate the event you envision, the longer you will need to prepare. A party with elaborate sets, clues, puzzles and a complex web of characters and motives may take several months to prepare. A less complex mystery with modest plans for décor can be pulled off within a month and still be great fun. We find that the most important step of the planning is early selection of guests and issuing a “save the date” invitation in order to secure a spot on their calendars.