This past weekend Gavin and I hosted a Murder Mystery party with 5 other couples {minus Kayla--who had headed back home for the weekend} and we had such a good time!
I had gotten the idea from Erika at A Little Bit of Everything and she had listed My Murder Mystery as a site she would recommend to buy all the materials from. So I did just that!
I will admit, I was fairly nervous the days leading up to the party because while I bought the party materials, and had everything prepped, I chose to play a part in the mystery so didn't know whodunit or how it would all play out.
The directions did a great job of telling me what to print, what I could look at, what things I shouldn't look at if I wanted to be able to play and be surprised, and when to hand out everything. So while I had no idea what I was handing out, I did what I had read (and carried my directions with me), and sure enough, the cards that each player got included all the details we needed to solve the murder.
We played a party themed "Grillin', Chillin', and Killin'. It was based on a Home Owners Association whose members had some issues going on but decided to go forth with their annual block party. Kris Angels (Gavin), a magician, hosted the party but things went south at the party and one of the members was found murdered.
Those were all details that we were all given prior to the party. To get everything started, I simply bought the materials, in PDF form, assigned everyone a character, and sent them costume ideas. I also sent them an optional pre-party game that included calling or texting other cast members to talk a little smack.
We decorated as if we were having a backyard block party!
Kris Angels was ready to host his party. Almost every member of our HOA was instructed to ask him to show them tricks all night long. It was quite comical. Mr. Magician also grilled all of our food and spilled blood all over his white shirt 5 minutes into the party. I wish I had a picture of him walking out the deck door too because his cape blew all over. His white shirt sadly had grease and blood all over by the end of the mystery and has since landed in the trash.
So much fun!!! I was so excited that everyone came in character! It made it so much more fun and easy to remember who was who!
Gavin--Magician, Me--Dog Groomer, Jay--Defense Attorney, Tess--Life Guard, Adam--Stand-Up Comic, Becky--Make-up Stylist, Randy--Butcher, Krystal--Dog Handler, Clayton--Video Game Designer, Karla--Guitarist, Jarred--Canine Behavioral Specialist
Our game had three rounds. At the beginning of each round, I handed everyone an envelope that contained a card with things to include in conversation with others and things that you knew about yourself but that weren't supposed to be shared with everyone else. These things helped you react to others and helped you know how you felt about others.
Logan Anthony (Randy) and Mardi Chaser (Jay) getting their first round of info. Ole Mardi quickly had things to say!
The cards did have quite a bit of info that we repeatedly had to refer back to to make sure that we were sharing the correct info.
Corey Melon (Jarred)---I don't want to ruin anything in case you would also like to do this party so I can't really say much about any one. I just want to totally recommend doing a party like this with a group of friends!
Our party had 8 required characters and then 8 optional characters. Because I assigned everyone their character, I did know who had to be involved and who obviously wouldn't be involved because they weren't necessarily needed. To be honest though, once the party got started, I was to focused on making sure it ran smoothly and trying to keep info straight that I couldn't have told you who those people were.
We sat down for supper and completed rounds 2 and 3. The murder happened during round 2, and in the instructions it had me hide the victim materials in a specific location. This person's card told them how to go about getting them and it worked perfectly. After the murder, we each got an investigation sheet in which we could take notes about each character's motive and then make our best guess at whodunit.
After we figured it all out, we spent the rest of the night socializing at ourselves! I feel like everyone had a good time and can see us doing another one in the future!
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