murder mystery party tips for hosts

Hosting a murder mystery party?

Looking for party tips to make your event a success?

tips for hosts

Then look no further - here you'll find all sorts of tips to help your party go as smoothly as possible.

I've written these with hosting the interactive games in mind, but many of them are also relevant to the other types of murder mystery party.

If you've got some party tips of your own - or you want me to talk about something that I haven't already covered, please get in touch.

key tips

These are the most important tips. If you don't read any other tips on this site, read these!

How to host a murder (mystery party): The general overview of how to plan your murder mystery party, including when to buy the game, when to invite guests and planning the food.

Online murder mystery parties: Tips for hosting a murder mystery online, using video chat such as Zoom or Discord.

Finding the perfect venue: Tips for choosing a great venue for your murder mystery party. 

Creating a memorable atmosphere: ideas for creating a memorable murder mystery party atmosphere.

Casting your murder mystery: How and when to decide who gets to play which character. 

Introducing your murder mystery party: How to introduce your party so that it starts with a bang instead of a fizzle.

Alcohol and murder mystery games - do they mix?: Should you serve alcohol at your murder mystery party? This is my view. 

Prizes: Prizes are a great way of finishing off a murder mystery party.

optional ideas

These are optional ideas that you can explore...

Email party tips to your guests: Get your guests in the right mood before the party by emailing them my tips!

Adding characters to a murder mystery party: What do you do if you find that you have an extra guest? Why not write them a character? This article explains how.

Tips for hosting large murder mystery parties: Some of the murder mystery parties are for a considerable number of people (up to 200!). Hosting a large party can be quite different to hosting a smaller game.

Photographs: Tips for photographing murder mystery games.

Playing the opposite sex: What to do when you have to cast men as women and women as men.

Reporting the news: Tips and suggestions for journalist characters to report the news in a murder mystery game.

Guests who don't want to play a character: Sometimes you may have guests who don't want to play a full character, but still want to be involved in the murder mystery.

for experienced hosts

These articles are aimed at more experienced hosts.

Playing and hosting a murder mystery game: Freeform Games have designed their games to have a separate host. But what do you do if you want to play and host your party? These are my suggestions.

Combining two characters: Playing two characters can be a lot of fun for experienced players.

Surprise parties: Tips for hosting a surprise murder mystery party.

When guests don't turn up: What do you do when a guests doesn't turn up for a game?

My hosting stories

Here are a few of my own experiences in hosting murder mystery games.

Hosting Reunion with Death online using Kumospace: My experience of using the Kumospace virtual space app to host Reunion with Death. And tips!

Simultaneously hosting and playing Death in Venice: My experience of playing and hosting Death in Venice using online video chat.

The Karma Club online: In the middle of the coronavirus lockdown I ran The Karma Club using online video chat.

Hosting Death on the Gambia: My experience of hosting Death on the Gambia by Freeform Games.

Hollywood Lies for the office: My experience of hosting Hollywood Lies for the office.

Hosting Death on the Gambia again: I ran Death on the Gambia again.