Happy Monday, Friends!
I must tell you I had written down in my calendar to blog about something completely different today and had even started working on it. BUT…we had so much fun on Saturday night, I couldn’t wait to share it with you.
Back in November, my mom was telling me about these mystery dinner kits you purchase online, download, and then throw your own little party in the comfort of your home. You guys know how crazy our fall schedule is with Tab gone all the time, so I filed away the information and thought it’d be the perfect evening to host after the new year.
Cue Saturday night. 🙂
{Make sure to read to the bottom where I share all my thoughts and what we’ll do differently next time. Yes, next time. So much fun-we’ll HAVE to do it again!}
We chose a Murder in the Alps theme since it was February. It just felt right.
We tried our best {with some help from Marla} to create the perfect little ski chalet for our guests.
We set the dining room table and borrowed an extra table and chairs so we had plenty of dinner seating. We only decorated in the front room and dining room area. But I thought it turned out super cute…
This room looked pretty normal. 🙂
For dinner, we had brisket, chili, a baked potato bar, and then we also served a variety of yummy appetizers. I made a big batch of chili in my slow cooker, but catered everything else from Market Street, which is a local grocery store.
Our guests began arriving in FULL COSTUME and FULL ON CHARACTER MODE! I’m talking suits to ski clothes and more! The murder was announced and we spent almost two hours questioning each other, trying our best to hide secrets, and identify the murderer. This mystery was a mingle mystery so we were supposed to chat and question everyone.
This crew was on their “A” acting game! They were FABULOUS!
Our story line was surrounding a murder that happened right outside our ski chalet. There were a variety of characters ranging from the caretakers to a big group of skiers just enjoying the slopes along with a few others as well.
We weren’t given the exact things to say, but each character received information they had to share with others and information that was meant to be secret. However, if someone asked you directly you had to be honest.
After about two hours of questioning, we all placed our votes for who we thought was the murderer and then we had the BIG REVEAL!
I really wish I had taken more pictures. But I was full blown detective style and just never thought about it! I was hardcore investigating. 🙂
*I’ve gotten asked several times-WHO DID IT?! haha! And I’m not telling just in case someone reading wants to host this exact mystery. If I tell, it’ll ruin it for them. That’s why I don’t mention the murderer.
Our group was either too smart {totally kidding} or we all watch too much Dateline {or read way too many creepy thrillers} because the vast majority suspected the correct person as the murderer.
To set it up-I purchased a kit from Shot in the Dark Mysteries {I plan on trying a different company next time}, I assigned characters, and e-mailed everyone their information. This way everyone was studying prior to arrival and we were ready! I made sure to purchase a kit that allowed the hostess to participate. The kit told me what to read and what I shouldn’t read unless I wanted to identify the killer. Most of these kits can be purchased for a various number of attendants.
Our mystery gave us all the information up front so after almost two hours of questioning we were “out” of things to ask. But I’ve heard other companies like My Mystery Party have rounds during the night where the characters continue learning new information about themselves and others. We’d all have preferred new clues to keep the game fresh. And I’ve even heard a few of the mysteries include some fun games. Our group would have totally been up for the games.
There are a TON of different themes ranging from holiday themes to era-related themes. So many fun nights to choose from!
Our group had a ton of fun! You should grab some friends and throw one of these parties real soon! We stayed in character pretty much from the guests’ arrival until the Big Reveal.
I’ve already been online searching for what theme we should do next time.
Hope you have a great day!
XO
What a fun idea!!! Btw, your house looks GORGEOUS!
Oh my gosh…this sounds like so much fun!!! I have always wanted to go to a murder mystery dinner. I never knew you could do it yourself. So cool!!! Thanks for this great idea 🙂
This party was SO MUCH FUN!!!! Andrew and I had a blast and cannot wait to do it again!!
SO MUCH FUN!!!! I love that you were hardcore investigating. What a great night!
Oh my goodness! How fun. 🙂
This was so much fun!!!!! We had the best time! Also, the food was delish and the decor was perfect, friend! We can’t wait for next time!!
What a neat idea!!
Murder mysteries are so much fun! We just recently played “Murder at the Four Deuces” which was 1920’s themed in a speakeasy. Highly recommend!!!
This sounds like so much fun! I did a murder mystery party in high school and thought it was a ball. What a fun idea to do it with couple friends. Thank you for sharing!
Best night ever! I think we just need to take a minute to talk about how gorgeous your set up was for all of this!! Starting with the firepit you had going as we walked up the sidewalk! It totally set the mood before we'd even walked in the door! We had so much FUN!! I feel like a broken record saying that over and over but you did a great job! This definitely needs to become a new tradition! That Inspired Chick
It does sound like a lot of fun! A great idea for small groups or I think it would be a neat idea for a teen birthday party. Thanks for sharing, Erika and btw, your home is lovely!
So fun!! We have done murder mystery parties on New Years Eve and they are so fun as long as your group is really good about getting into character!! I think that's the key to a great murder mystery!
My mystery party is great! We did Murder at the Luau Party and the 8-'s Murder Mystery game (which was my favorite!)
I absolutely love this! And they have kids themed ones which I think will be perfect for my daughters upcoming birthday party! Thanks for sharing!
I think it helped that our great sees each other frequently so we never got out of character to catch up. I’m sure you could do this with any group but way better with a group that is all friends. (In my opinion)
My experience: I’ve done the clues through the night kind (with adults) and it reads/happens more like a play. It was impossibly hard to get everything in and we ended up needing to skip sections (five or so rounds is WAY too long). There were also parts that didn’t make sense until you saw later clues. So one person would answer one way (honestly) in round one, then oops, they had lied. It made it so no one had ANY idea what was true or wasn’t. It was still fun, but I want to try your type since we all kind of ended thinking, “What the heck?” Vs “That was fun!”
That’s so good to know! The type my mom did just had two rounds and took like two and a half hours. So maybe that’s a happy medium??
Thank you for blogging this! I was so excited when I read your email that you had blogged about it today! Sounds so fun! I am in the process of buying a new house and this would be the perfect first party to throw!
How does it work with the number of people you want to invite? Are there set numbers? What if a couple cannot attend- do you figure out dates that everyone can attend first, or just send invites and hope they can all make it? I assume all the characters have to be there in order for it to work. This looks so fun! Just curious about logistics with the guest list, and how you know who to invite, where to cut it off, etc. Thank you!
You select the number of guests for your theme. So I sent out save the dates over a month before-just a text and made sure everyone was in before I chose the number of guests for the mystery. I gave everyone 1-2 weeks to prepare so I didn’t send info out super early.
I totally want to do this, it sounds SO fun!!!! xoxo ERIN
We did this in August and did a Murder of a Millionaire theme. It was SOOOO fun. We did receive new information half way through and the murder actually happened during the night. People showed up in everything from formal dresses to bathing suits (the pool boy). I decorated with red roses and used real silver platters to serve the food. I had to give our neighbors advanced notice as well since I strung crime scene tape in the front yard. 🙂 We had the best time. Glad you had a great party!
We also had a lot of fun laughing about all the scandalous relationships that played out through the script since it was a couples party. Luckily everyone was a really good sport. haha
So fun! I did a murder mystery party for my 30th birthday and LOVED it. We did one from My Mystery Parties (Murder at the Luau), and I thought they did a good job. I can't remember how many rounds, but I will say it was pretty easy to figure out who was going to be killed because everyone started the game disliking the person…but I don't think many people figured out the killer. I also liked it because we had a lot of guests and were about to get the expansion pack (the only bad thing is I knew who were "required" guests and so my guesses to who the murdered were narrowed down, I still got it wrong though…..) The best part of it all was that even though we randomly chose the characters and had no idea who was going to be killed or the killer, it ended up being that twins had these parts. Haha, everyone thought we planned that…but NOPE!
What a BRILLIANT idea! And your home looks gorgeous as well! Europafox x
Hi Erika! What a great idea! Just wondering why you are going to try a different company? I'm looking at both that you suggested (and some of your readers). It's a tough decision but your response to my question will be the final decision for me! I don't think I can go wrong with either company. Your house looked beautiful and fun!
Christine
Hi Christine! The company I used gave us information prior to the night and that was it. The other company I mentioned gives clues mid-party. I think that would have helped. We got to a point where we ran out of things to ask. 🙂
Hi Erika, I've wanted to try this ever since I read your post and I just purchased one for this coming Friday! I was curious if you thought we could have normal conversation and dinner at the start of the night and then do the mystery after? I wasn't sure about having to be in character the entire night. What are your thoughts on this? Thank you!!