How To Host A Summer Murder Mystery Party

Its that time of year again. The sun is in the sky, the temperatures are climbing, schools out and you’re wanting to spend more time out in the sun.  Perhaps you want to plan some sort of party with a difference? Give your guests something extra special to remember. At Masters of Mystery you can choose from a range of different games and themes to suit your party needs so why not go ahead and host a summer murder mystery party.

Themes for your summer murder mystery party

summer season of village fairs

Perhaps you’re having a graduation party? All those years of hard work have finally pay off, you’ve turned in your last essay and finished your last exam and now its time to celebrate.  Why not go for our “Graduation to Die For” game? With a diverse set of characters to choose from you can take on the role of a fellow student, guest speaker or tutor and help solve the mysterious death of that unpleasant professor we’ve all had during our time in Education and, more than once probably contemplated removing them.

 

You don’t need to be celebrating anything to have a party though do you? The weathers nice so why not have yourself a nice little BBQ or garden party with your friends? Serve some delectable home baked and grilled goods and host your own Baking Competition. “The Great Bake-Down” is an ideal fun game for pro and amateur bakers alike, take on the role of a judge or competitor and try and solve the case of the poisoned baker.

 

Perhaps you want something a little more traditional? A chance to dress up and step back in time? Why not have yourself an elegant garden party? With an afternoon tea, crumpets and cakes? If this is more your idea why not go for a Regency, Bridgerton or Jane Austen themed murder mystery? Set up the tea tent and the bunting and try and the unravel The Scandal in Bodgerton? Whatever theme you choose, we’re here to help you plan your perfect summer murder mystery party.

 

So what do you need to think about?  

STREET PARTY

Well, once you’ve got your theme sorted, think about how many guests you’re planning to invite. If you’re having a large get together, you may want to think about hiring a venue. Many pubs will hire their function rooms or gardens out of special events so enquire down at your local and see if their beer garden would work for your party. If you want to splash out and go for something a little classier and more sophisticated you may want to hire a marque on the grounds of an old house or a hotel or speak to your local authorities about using one of their public parks or green spaces.

 

You don’t need to hire a space, you can have an amazing party in your own back garden. Set up the BBQ and bring out the garden furniture from the shed, if you feel you need a few more chairs and tables it’s worth looking in your local department or homeware stores because there’s a lot of great offers on at the moment but get in there quick because as soon as it gets into July and the summer officially begins then the prices will jump.

Once you’ve got your venue sorted, have a think about the game you want to do, what might your guests enjoy? Masters of Mystery sell games from 4  to 20 people and so you have lots of options for any size party that you want to do and any themes that you want. We’ve given you a few suggestions already but you’re not limited to those. Browse through their massive selection of games  online at Masters of Mystery.

Once you’ve chosen a game the next thing to think about is the food, drink and decorations.  For some ideas we recommend having a read of our Easter Party Blog or our Victorian Murder Mystery Party blog, for suggestions on what could work well for your own garden party and of course if you want to serve some fantastic summer cocktails to your guests then why not have a read of our Murder Mystery Drinks blog.

 

Hosting the party

Now its time to think about how you are going to run your summer murder mystery party.  In the game pack that you buy from Masters of Mystery you will have everything that you need, a list of characters, the information about each of them and all the evidence that will help your guests figure out whodunit. You will also be given a handy host guide to talk you through everything you need to do on the day.  

 

When it comes to giving out characters to your guests you can just wait until the day and dish them out before you begin, but we recommend having a read of the descriptions yourself and choosing the characters you want at your party, you can base it on the number of guests you have or who you think your guests might have fun playing. You can then send out invitations with details about the characters they’ll be playing to your guests in advance, this also gives them time to plan,  to think about what costume they might want to wear and source it before the day because a party is always more fun when you  get to dress up.

 

Don’t worry, as the host you can play along as well, the murderer is chosen at random and it could be anyone, so no one other than the murderer themselves will know. Every character booklet will have a set of questions and answers. Guests take it in turns to ask other characters questions and piece together the information.   At the end of the game, everyone has a chance to guess who the murderer is before the answer is revealed.

 

We hope you have fun hosting your own summer murder mystery party!