Murder Mystery Theme Party Ideas and Supplies

Planning a Murder Mystery party and looking for resources? We have what you need and MORE!

Murder Mystery Party Ideas

Get your hand on as many different TV sets that you can and place them around your party/facility/event. On each of the sets, play a different murder mystery movie. They can either be old classics such as Murder on the Orient Express and Ten Little Indians or later classic thrillers such as Suspect and Kiss the Girls…all the way up to current releases. Check your local library (beyond your own collection if yours is limited) for a great selection of DVDs to choose from. The great part about this is that you don't even need to have the volume on (in fact, especially for adult parties where the guests will probably more enjoy their conversations more than the videos…)!

For fun great looking table centerpieces, visit your local library and check out some well know mystery book titles and arrange them with the books standing up, half open so that their pages can be quasi-seen.

This is a great game that can passively last throughout the entire party. Print out several pictures of different murder weapons (i.e. poison, hammer, gun, rope, knife, etc.) on paper (see the Decorations section for resource ideas on obtaining images.) On each of the sheets of paper, write a different number or name bold enough to see easily. Place them throughout the party area, however, do not place all of them in easily found locations. Some of them can be in plain view (so that everyone can find a few) but most hide a bit out of site. Provide for each of your guests to have a copy of a list of all the images to find. Next to each of the image names, they are to write the number/name provided on each image sheet. The goal is to be the first to fill in all the answers by either knowing them outright, finding the poster or combinations thereof. You can also instruct them that all completed sheets can be turned in to you by a certain time, then a raffle can be held among all that are turned in for a prize. A third variation would be to offer a raffle ticket for each correct answer (the more they answer, the better chance they'll have to win a prize at the raffle.)

Set up different vignettes throughout (make sure they are clearly labeled and designated) where there is something 'wrong' to figure out. (Make sure to give them a list of possible wrong things that they can set up.) A passive game for the guests to play would be to figure out what's wrong in each of the little scenes. Maybe a crime in each (look through the visual books that I have to find specific examples.)

All kinds of photos and pictures can be nabbed from the Internet and made into simple decorations. Print out photos of famous sleuths such as Sherlock Holmes, Jane Marple or Hercule Poirot. Other fun images might include fingerprints, spyglass, fun looking keys and locks, old locked doors, small vials of poison, etc. Glue them to black cardstock (the picture being a little smaller to allow for a small black border on the cardstock.) These can be hung all throughout the party area as well as hung from the ceiling and made to stand up as centerpiece items. Movies on DVD can also be paused and the image can be copied and printed. The greatest and fastest place to find any image you want is to go to Yahoo.com and click on IMAGES (right above the search bar.) The search bar should turn pink. Now just enter what you want to find an image of. You'll get an incredible selection to choose from! Google also has a similar search at google.com (click IMAGES from the top menu bar on the page.)

Have a list of murder mystery books - have to put them in the order that they were released. Also, you could throw in other facts like when Agatha Christie was born, etc.)

Get copies of book covers

Mystery movie posters can be purchased from any number of online websites. Check out their clearance section for the best deals. However, often times larger video store chain locations (i.e. Blockbuster, Hollywood Video) receive a great many more posters in the mail than they can hang. Speak to the manager about being able to take some that they are going to throw out to make room for newer releases.

A great selection of music sounds great at a party. Soundtracks are a good place to start. Here are some suggestions when choosing your soundtrack music - you'll want to do what you can to play soundtracks that your guests will recognize, you can burn your own CD collection of different songs from different movies, play the music low enough so that regular conversations can still take place. Soundtrack composers get paid big bucks to write music to create a mood. If you are going for a mysterious/spooky feel, soundtracks are great resources. Remember to start at your local library for selections.

In the invitations, don't just invite them to a party…invite them to a haunted manor, an old castle or other mysterious place you can decorate your party facility like! Set the excitement level high from the beginning!