Murder Mystery Dinner | Free Printable
Every other year, we take turns planning our Valentine’s date night, and last year was my turn. I wanted to give my husband something different than just the normal Valentine’s gifts, but that we could have a lot of fun with. He is more of a funny romantic than a hopeless romantic, so I knew a group date would be ok with him. The idea of a Murder Mystery dinner date seemed like something I thought he would enjoy, and I got to work trying to plan it all. It took quite a bit of work to create the script, the photos, evidence, and find three couples to join us.
I kept it a secret from John until the morning of when I sent him a text that basically said, “This is your mission if you choose to accept it….” Then I put the place and time that we would be meeting. It was definitely a surprise for him, and the excitement of the unknown was part of the fun. I also sent the same message to all of the couples participating to add a little something extra to the evening.
The basic idea is that there has been a murder, and you are the crime scene investigators that need to read through the parts of the plot, follow the clues, and ultimately solve the mystery of who committed the crime. The part that I am proud of is that no one knew who the muderer was until the final clue was revealed! It was definitely interesting, and everyone had a really great time.
We chose a restaurant that was more of a laid back style, and we solved the mystery while we ate dinner. The way I wrote it is that there is an order that new clues will be revealed and new parts of the story will be read. They are numbered and you just have to make sure that no one reads ahead. Each couple is given one part of the story to read when they are asked to read it by the one in charge. (probably you, since you are reading this.) 🙂 After each part is read, we had discussions to try to figure out what had happened, and who had done it based off of the newest information we were given.
To get things ready, I started by putting together folders for each of the four couples. Inside of each folder, there was a part of the story (there are four parts total) crime scene photos (which are more for visual effect than anything else), autopsy results, and fingerprint cards. Additionally, I had the final clue inside of my folder that was revealed at the end of the evening.
Are you interested?! Trust me, this will be a fun night for everyone and you’ll be glad you gave it a try. Here’s what you’ll need to do to get ready (in addition to printing off the printables at the end of this post.) The fingerprint cards will need fingerprints. Make sure that when you get the fingerprints, you use the fingerprint on the same suspect on every card. You’ll need to be familiar with the story so that you know that you will need one additional fingerprint (the murderer) so that everyone can compare the fingerprint with their cards in their folder. Put the autopsy results inside of an envelope. There is a point in the story that says that everyone should open and read the results and you don’t want people to peek sooner! Last, you’ll need to decide if you are going to make dinner yourself, or go out to eat somewhere. You will want to make sure that you are at a place that you will be able to hear each other speak. (meaning, I probably wouldn’t choose a place like Texas Roadhouse where you have to shout to be able to be heard.) We all paid for our own meals, in case you were wondering.
That’s it! I really tried to make it as easy as possible for you. Now go print off the forms below, and let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!
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