Wondering what to do for your upcoming gathering with friends? Host a murder mystery party!

How to Host a Murder Mystery Party

If you don’t know where to start, planning a satisfying murder mystery party can be difficult, costly, and time-consuming. The Settler’s Landing Blog hopes to make things easier for you by sharing a few tips to preparing the best murder mystery party at your apartment in California, MD.

The first step to preparing for your murder mystery event is to figure out if you’re going to buy a kit (these usually contain a script and possible costume or recipe suggestions) or design one on your own. If this is your first time hosting, we recommend getting a kit. Once you’re familiar with how a murder mystery works, how the story flows, and how the scenes fit together, creating them on your own will be more doable.

There are a lot of kits that you can find online. Many of them even include soundtracks, recipes, and costume ideas that you can use for your night of fun. Check out The Balance for several murder mystery scripts that you can download for free.

After you’ve chosen a script and decided whether or not you want people to wear costumes, it’s time to choose decorations and a menu that fits the theme. The more you dress up your apartment to fit the scene of the script, the easier it will be for your guests to get and stay in character during the party. It will also simply be more memorable. When preparing the menu, decide on a selection of food and treats that match the mysterious theme (Death by Chocolate Cake, anyone?).

When inviting your guests, keep in mind the people that you’re inviting. A successful murder mystery party requires people to interact and at times be put in the spotlight. Make sure that your guests know what to expect before they come. It’s also a good idea to inform your guests which characters from the script that they’ll be playing before the party. That way, when they enter your apartment, they’ll already be in character and ready to start.

Planning a murder mystery can be a challenging experience, but it’s one that’s worth the time and effort. Have you hosted a murder mystery party in your apartment? Share what it was like in the comments. Thanks for reading!