Sunset on Halloween this year arrives at around twenty to five in the afternoon across much of England, a timetable any self-respecting murderer would approve of. Hosts spend the summer asking guests to imagine it is midnight in a country house while sunshine pours through the kitchen window. October removes the need for imagination.
The sky does the staging
The clocks go back at 2 am on Sunday 25 October, so the week that follows brings the earliest dusk many of us have seen since last winter. By the time guests arrive at seven, the garden has been black for hours. Curtains can be drawn without anyone wondering why you are being dramatic, and a scattering of candles looks like sensible lighting. Battery tealights make a fine substitute if you own a cat and a long tablecloth.
A dark room also needs very little dressing, which helps if you are watching the budget. Our guide to hosting a mystery party on a budget has plenty of ways to make a modest living room look suitably sinister, and October does the rest.
Halloween lands on a Saturday
This year 31 October falls on a Saturday, so nobody has to worry about work in the morning. Many guests will already be thinking about what to wear, and a murder mystery gives a costume a purpose beyond a lap of the supermarket car park. Everyone arrives as a suspect with a name and a secret, and with any luck a convincing reason to be vague about where they were at nine o'clock.
It also suits the friend who enjoys Halloween in principle but has firm views about being jumped out at. A whodunnit delivers tension and a body, and nobody has to lurk in a wardrobe to make it work.
Diaries are still open
September is when people return from their holidays, and most of the summer's weddings, festivals and barbecues are behind them. Calendars in October tend to have gaps. December is another matter, with work parties and family visits competing for the same handful of evenings. A mystery party in October gets you a full table before the festive rush, and it doubles as a rehearsal if you plan to host again in winter.
If this will be your first time, our list of ten things first-time hosts always forget is worth a read before you send the invitations.
The menu writes itself
Autumn food was made for a long sit-down. Casseroles look after themselves in the oven, soup can be made the day before, pies improve with a dollop of custard, and a pan of mulled cider will keep the hall smelling wonderful for hours. A slow supper suits our Dinner Party Games, where the courses divide the rounds and everyone has time to interrogate the person across the table.
If your living room has more standing space than dining table, a Mix & Mingle Mystery lets guests circulate with a drink in hand. That format copes well with the larger, noisier gatherings that Halloween tends to attract.
Half term is coming
Many schools break up for half term in the last week of October, which leaves plenty of families looking for an evening's entertainment that does not involve another trip to the soft play. A mystery party can work for a mixed-age crowd with the right game and some forward planning, and our piece on running a mystery party for mixed ages covers how to keep an eight-year-old and a grandmother equally engaged.
Picking a game for the season
For an October night, The Haunting of Myddlemoor Abbey is a natural fit, with a title that does most of the invitation writing for you. Every game in the catalogue is a download, so anyone who leaves things late can print everything on the Thursday before and still be ready by Saturday.
You also get to be surprised yourself. In our games the host plays a character and does not know who the murderer is, so you can enjoy the reveal alongside your guests instead of watching everyone else have the fun.
Looking further ahead
Bonfire Night falls on a Thursday this year, which makes the weekend of 7 November a good second sitting for anyone who missed the Halloween invitation. Beyond that, the dark evenings will stay with us until March, so October is the first of many good months for a mystery. It just happens to be the one where the early dusk, a Saturday Halloween, open diaries and a menu of comfort food all arrive together.
Send the invitations this week. Anyone who declines will, naturally, become a suspect.
