My husband's 40th is next year. I am trying to get an early start. I don't want to do the over-the-hill theme as this man is actually happy about aging. I am thinking of doing a murder mystery party theme. Any suggestions from those with past experience? Can you offer any specific titles or games to order? Can it be adaptable for more than 8 guests? Any other ideas come to mind?
Shalee
I've hosted at least five murder mystery parties and they've all been big hits. It's fun, different, and lots of people have always wanted to do one but never had. A great idea for 40!
"How to host a murder" is probably the best brand out there, it gives you all of the instructions that you'll need, including costume and menu suggestions as well as sample dialog to get you started. I always include the costume ideas with the invitation and include a note about which guest will be playing which character. This way people will begin to get excited about the role that they're playing.
If you have dinner, count on about 4 hours to play the game with eight people. I've done them on New Years Eve with people arriving around 7:00; eating at 8:00, then beginning the game at around 9:00. We try to finish up around 12:00, then have the solution after the midnight countdown.
These games are not really adaptable for over 8 players (4 men, 4 women) unless you're extremely creative and can write a character, develop the clues and then incorporate all of that into the other 8 characters.
I believe that the games are around $25.00, but I've always picked mine up at garage sales for under $5.00. The games tend to be played only once. Ebay probably has them as well.
A potluck works well for this game. With 3 other couples you can provide the main dish and drink and let others fill in around the edges.
Good luck! (10/06/2005)
By Sharmilla
One thing that I forgot to mention is be sure and invite guests that WILL PLAY THE GAME! Some people are very shy and/or inhibited and won't really get into it and just sit there and read off their clues and won't role play. This can drag the game down considerably. (10/06/2005)
By Sharmilla
I went to several murder mystery dinners at a local restaurant when I lived up north. There you never knew who the players were. So if you wanted to have more people just have some as the participants and a small prize for the others for figuring out who did the dastardly deed. It was a lot of fun and people who were shy were glad to be the audience. I know my girlfriend and I had a great time (dh wouldn't go), and once we won a dinner for 2 as the prize for guessing who did it. I'm sure your Hubby and guests will have a wonderful time. (10/06/2005)
By kootenay Annie
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