Many of us grew up hearing the stories of the great fictional detectives. Sherlock Holmes. Poirot. Lupin. There is something about unraveling a murder mystery that is just so compelling. It is no wonder that detective fiction is still one of the most popular genres out there.
But sometimes reading these stories isn’t enough. We often want to experience them! To have the chance to be part of one of these larger than life mysteries. Which is where a murder mystery dinner party comes into play! These nights are the perfect way to safely live out your detective fantasies while also hosting an amazing night of fun and suspense for your friends.
San Francisco is a city known for its party culture. So you will want to go all out when hosting a murder mystery dinner party here. These parties do take a lot more work than a regular dinner party. But it is well worth the effort. So stick with us as we explain to you how to host the perfect murder mystery evening!
Decide On A Theme
The best murder mysteries are ones that are rich in atmosphere. So the first step in planning your evening is deciding on a theme. Where will your murder mystery take place? Will it be in a casino on the Vegas strip? Or perhaps in a 50’s speakeasy? Maybe you will travel further back in time to the Victorian era.
You will want to pick a theme that offers easy costume opportunities for your guests. The 50’s is a solid era to pick as there are plenty of amazing costumes out there for your guests to choose from. You will then want to secure thematic decorations for your chosen theme. Maybe rent out a roulette table if you’ve gone for a casino theme. Or host the party by candle light if you have selected a Victorian theme.
Characters And Costumes
The next step is crafting the characters. Each of your guests will adopt a new persona for the evening. A player on the stage of your murder mystery. You want to make these characters larger than life. Each with their own motivations, backstories, desires, and quirks. You want to give your guests something to really dig their teeth into. Try to avoid making any two characters too similar. Each of your guests will want to feel that their character is unique.
If you really want to make the characters stand out you should consider providing the costumes yourself. This will allow you to have a greater level of control over the characters while also taking a lot of the pressure off your guests.
Charity shops or thrift shops are often the best place to source good costumes for a murder mystery evening. I highly recommend taking all the costumes you find to a company like We Wash24, one of SF’s best wash and fold laundry companies, to ensure they are properly clean and ready for your guests.
Craft A Narrative
The easiest way to plan a murder mystery is to work backwards. Imagine the case has already been solved. Which one of your characters is the killer? From that point you will need to work backwards to craft the mystery. What was their motivation? Greed? Revenge? Love?
Once you know their motivation you need to figure out how they committed the crime. Perhaps they poisoned the victim’s drink. Or maybe they stabbed them when the lights went out. After that you will need to think of a series of clues that can be revealed throughout the evening. This will include both physical clues and spoken ones.
Create Information Cards
Each of your guests will need to have a series of information cards. These will tell them everything about their characters along with a series of clues and tidbits of information for them to reveal throughout the night in conversation.
For the killer, whoever they are, you will need to ensure their cards contain all the information regarding the murder and their motivation for committing it. Make sure to give them subtle vocal clues to give out during the evening. You don’t want to make it too obvious that they are the killer. But at the same time you don’t want to make the mystery impossible to solve for the other guests.
Plan Your Menu
You can’t forget that this is also a dinner party at the same time. So you will need to craft a menu that compliments the evening. Try to cook food that is relevant to your chosen theme. I always prefer doing small nibbles as opposed to a sit down dinner. Thematic cocktails are also a great idea for an evening such as this. If you have selected a 50’s theme you could serve up Tom Collins or Martinis.