Murder mystery dinner parties are the new take on a classic game night. Enjoy a delicious dinner and good company while solving a thought-provoking whodunit mystery. Here’s how to host the ultimate murder mystery party.

Hosting a Murder Mystery Party

Choosing a MYSTERY

Murder mystery night is such a great idea for the dinner party. The mysteries themselves come pre-packaged with set themes, characters, a menu, and costume suggestions.

Selecting the first mystery for our dinner party was easy. My grandma is really into hosting murder mystery dinner parties. Because of this, once she’s hosted a party and solved the mystery, she passed the box along. I’ve had the Pasta, Passion, and Pistols mystery game pack since before COVID. We finally had the opportunity to get a group of friends together.

The Pata, Passion, and Pistols game pack works for 5-8 people. Different game packs have different participant requirements. The best part is that everyone can participate, even the hosts. You don’t need any extra information in order to set up the dinner party. You’ll assign characters beforehand to your guests and give them ideas for a costume. Below is what we sent our guests a few weeks before.

The Menu

I loved this mystery because it was themed in an Italian restaurant. We knew immediately we’d want to plan out an extravagant Italian menu.

aperitivo + Antipasti

Classic Bruschetta
Charcuterie

Main Course

Lasagna
Chicken Parmesan
Goat Cheese Salad

Dessert

Tiramisu
Cannoli
We filled cannoli shells from Wegmans

Drinks

Red Wine Sangria
Not Italian, but it’s easy to make in bulk! If you want to take it to the next level, instead try a Classic Aperol Spritz.

The Schedule

There is no right or wrong way to plan the schedule. Below was the proposed schedule.

6:00pm: Aperitivo + Antipasti

7:00pm: Dinner

8:00pm: Solve a Murder

9:00pm: Dessert

However, we ended up straying a bit from the schedule. We enjoyed aperitivo + antipasti while we completed the first round of the mystery. We took a pause after the second round to eat dinner. Then, we pause just before the final round to enjoy tiramisu and cannolis.

Final Thoughts on Planning the Ultimate Murder Mystery Party

Planning and hosting a murder mystery party is a lot of fun. It takes your classic dinner party to a whole new level. There are several ways to plan out to course of the evening. The best run-of-show depends on personal preferences. We’ve done mystery dinner parties before where we’ve eaten and then started the mystery. Then, we paused before the final round for dessert.

Regardless of how you plan out the evening, be sure to encourage guests to dress up and take plenty of pictures!

How to Host the Ultimate Murder Mystery Party (w/MENU)