Host a Frugal Murder Mystery Party

Now that we’re “grown up” and have children, jobs, and responsibilities, it’s sometimes hard to keep up with our friends. Because of that, we like to hold monthly get-togethers with some of our friends so we can all enjoy some relaxing and entertaining time away from our other cares.

Every quarter, we host a murder mystery party. They’re an absolute blast! For one night you get to take on a completely different persona and try to unravel the mysterious murder before everyone else. One person in your group is the murderer and everyone is trying to figure out “whodunnit”. The funny part is that it may even be you, but you don’t know until halfway through the night!

The Party Kit

The party kit is usually between $20 and $30, but we try to purchase ours right after Christmas when the holiday-only game stores are shutting down. Amazon.com has great prices for murder mystery party kits as well, but if you can wait, it pays to stock up when the holiday-only game stores are closing and marking down all their remaining inventory. We were able to pick up the party kit for our next murder, A Murder on the Grill, for about $15 right around New Year’s. We only had the cash available for one at the time, but they had at least four different murder party kits available.

Costumes and Props

The key to good costumes and props for a murder is to be creative. We like to think of a murder party as “representative theatre.” Costume guidelines are included in the kit, but they are just recommendations. Since it’s not always feasible or reasonable to buy an exact costume or prop for a character, improvisation can usually fill the gaps. For instance, our last party was set in feudal China, so I found a black bathrobe at Goodwill and made a hat, mustache, and beard out of construction paper. In this next murder, my wife’s character needs a poodle skirt, so she bought $10 worth of material and sewed up a simple skirt and glued on a “poodle” cut out of white felt.

It’s important to remember that the murder party is about having fun with friends, not stressing out over minor details in your costume or props. The more relaxed you are, the more fun you’ll have and the better you’ll be able to get into your character anyway. You don’t have to spend much or anything at all for a costume if you’re not afraid to beg, borrow, steal, and create.

Food

All the murder mystery parties we’ve done included a meal plan that matched the theme of the party. While the host is supposed to be responsible for the main course, it makes things more fun and varied if your guests all bring a complimenting side dish and drinks. For our feudal China party, we made Mandarin chicken and our guests brought spring rolls, crab Rangoon, and even take-out fried rice.

Just like the costume and props, feel free to improvise and don’t spend too much time or money on the food. In reality, you’re not going to spend that much time eating since you’ll want to get to the fun of the murder. Finger foods, snack bowls, and sodas are more than enough for most parties.

Enjoy a Relaxing and Entertaining Murder

The point of hosting a murder mystery party is to have some ridiculous fun with your friends. Don’t stress yourself out over the minor details and use the opportunity find creative ways to spend as little as possible.

Have you ever attended or hosted a murder mystery party? What other tips can you provide? Tell me in the comments!