Most Halloween parties peak around the time the fun-size chocolates run out, after which the evening settles into a long stand in the kitchen holding a plastic cup. A murder mystery gives the night a plot, which is the one thing most seasonal gatherings forget to bring. Add a few touches of autumn theatre and the same evening becomes the kind of event guests mention at work on Monday.
Pick a game with a shadow, or give any game one
The Haunting of Myddlemoor Abbey has the season written into its title, so it is the easy choice when you want the story and the setting to pull in the same direction. If you already own another game from the catalogue, you can still give it an October coat. The plot can stay exactly as written while everything around it takes on a seasonal look. A hotel with a suspicious bathtub and a village hall full of amateur dramatics both look quite different by lamplight at the end of October.
Let the invitation play the first scene
The evening begins when the invitation lands, so write it as though the house has been waiting for your guests. Something along the lines of "You are requested to attend at seven o'clock sharp. Please arrive in character and tell nobody what you know" sets the tone before anyone has put on a coat. When you send out the character details, add a line inviting each guest to think of one seasonal touch for their costume. People enjoy being permitted to dress up, and most of them have a witch's hat or a cape in a cupboard already.
Dress the doorstep
Guests form their opinion of the night in the first half minute, most of which they spend standing on your doorstep. A lantern by the door and a handwritten card on the mat, announcing that the house regrets to inform them of what is about to happen, will do more than a front garden full of inflatables.
In our games, the host plays a character and does not know who the murderer is, which suits a theatrical welcome very well. You can greet people with full ghostly gravity because you have no secret to leak, and guests who meet a host in role tend to settle into their own roles more quickly.
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which means the doorbell will ring mid-interrogation. Unless you want a small witch interrupting the cross-examination of your chief suspect, leave a bowl of sweets on a table outside with a note, or start the first round once the early callers have gone home.
Treat light and sound as punctuation
Low lighting does most of the heavy lifting, but guests still have to read their clue cards, so keep one reliable lamp on the table and put the shadows around the edges of the room. A few torches or lanterns on shelves and windowsills give you atmosphere without anyone squinting at an alibi.
Save the big effects for the big moments. A room that flickers all evening stops being noticed by the second course, whereas a church bell or a single knock played from a phone speaker when the host announces the crime will have the whole table sitting up. For background, a quiet instrumental playlist of low strings or slow piano is plenty. Anything with howling wolves will have someone asking you to turn it down before the soup is finished, because it is hard to question a suspect over a howl.
Give the menu a bad reputation
Dinner Party Games divide the evening into rounds around the courses, so the food gets a starring role. Name each dish as though the household staff wrote the menu. Roasted tomato soup becomes "The Last Thing He Ate", and a jug of mulled apple juice turns into "The Cook's Special". Sinister labels cost nothing and need no extra cooking, and a dish with a villainous name tends to get talked about more than the recipe deserves.
Name the drinks after poisons if you like, and give the alcohol-free option an equally dramatic label so nobody feels like the designated sensible one. With a Mix & Mingle Mystery, guests will be holding cards and a glass at the same time, so favour small bites that can be eaten with one hand.
Let the costume meet the character
Most guests already own a Halloween costume, and a murder mystery gives it somewhere to go. The trick is to keep the outfit in step with the character's place in the story and let the seasonal element live in the accessories, such as a veil or a bloodied handkerchief. A full skeleton suit looks marvellous in the hallway and becomes a serious obstacle once the soup arrives.
Finish with a flourish
The reveal suits the season better than anything else on the night, because it already involves a hush and a room full of people waiting to be told who did it. Dim the room a little and put a single lamp near the host before you start reading. Our piece on the art of the reveal has more on pacing the final scene, and its advice works particularly well by candlelight.
If you have not hosted before, the guides to playing a Dinner Party Game and a Mix & Mingle Mystery take only a few minutes to read, and our list of things first-time hosts always forget will spare you a few awkward moments on the night.
At the end of the evening, someone will ask whether the house has always felt like that. Tell them it only happens in October.
