Earlier this year my oldest daughter turned 13 and wanted to do something a little different for her birthday party. I’ll tell you–as your kids get older it gets harder and harder to plan a birthday party that they deem as “cool” and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to execute. Together we came up with the idea to host a murder mystery party for teens right in our home! I had never planned one before so I was a little overwhelmed at first. Today I’m sharing our experience and all the party details with you! Some links contain affiliates, all opinions are my own.
planning the perfect murder mystery party for teens
picking the right party kit
The biggest stumbling block right off the bat was picking the right murder mystery party for their age group. There are so many companies producing at-home murder mystery parties–both physical and digital versions. Here is a list of some of the most popular ones:
- – My Mystery Party: This is the website we ordered from and only digital party kits are available that you print yourself. They were one of the few companies I found that offered a wide variety of murder mystery parties for kids, teens, and adults.
- – Night of Mystery: This website also offers digital versions of murder mystery parties that you can instantly download. They even have a whole section of “clean” party kits. This website had some really fun themes for teens, but my daughter had her heart set on a circus party and she had already participated in the one from this website at another event.
- – Masters of Mystery: This website sells both digital and boxed kits for some of their themes. They also have parties specifically geared towards kids or adults—there isn’t really something between for teenagers. However, if you have a younger child, the Wizarding Murder Mystery Game Kit looks fun!
murder mystery party details
Once we had finally found a murder murder mystery party that was appropriate for teens and also passed the birthday girl’s approval, we got to the fun part! For me, the fun part of any party is all the little details–food, decorations, and favors.
circus-themed birthday party food
Our party wasn’t at a meal time, but of course, teenagers still need snacks and sweets. We kept it simple with a slight nod to the circus. There were soft pretzels, freshly popped popcorn, and some candy. I added some fruit for a healthier option also.
Of course we had a fun, sprinkle-covered cake. For drinks I got bottled root beer and we also had water. The murder mystery party kit for teenagers I bought actually had several food suggestions which was a nice touch!
decorations for a murder mystery party
At our house, it doesn’t seem to be a birthday party without a balloon garland. I love that they can make such a big impact for such a low cost–other than the investment of your time.
I also used our golden arches that I purchased awhile ago on Amazon and have used for several parties since. Other than that I just ordered a couple of pieces of circus decor that were a lot of fun. I highly recommend the photobooth style circus people with cut-out faces. It was such a fun photo op!
birthday party favors for teenagers
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like the older your kids get, the less they need little trinkets for party favors. I thought a lot about what I wanted to do and in the end decided that a picture was worth a thousand words.
Since I figured I would have to help run everything during the party, I played the part of reporter. I walked around taking pictures of everyone and then printed small prints right away. I hung them up near the door and guests were encouraged to find any pictures with themselves in them and take them on the way out. All the links to items I used are in my Amazon shop.
tips for hosting a murder mystery party for teens
Like I mentioned, I had never hosted a murder mystery party before–or even attended one as a guest! When I first downloaded the pages and pages of instructions, it was very overwhelming at first. Luckily, a friend of mine told me that once the party got rolling it would all start making sense. I’m happy to say she was right.
That being said, I would still recommend giving yourself plenty of time to look over all of the details and instructions ahead of time. The company we bought our party kit from included all sorts of tips for costumes, a suggested timeline, and food ideas.
My other tip would be to think carefully about the roles you assign. I talked over all the different characters with my daughter once our guest list had all RSVPd. For the most part the guest’s roles were perfect, however we did run into a slight snag. We had assigned an important role to someone who ended up no showing. Thankfully, we also had an extra guest we weren’t expecting so we were able to pivot.
Are you looking for more fun ideas for birthday parties for teenagers?
Escape Room Birthday Party from princessturnedmom.com
Glow in the Dark Party from partylikeacherry.com
Movie Night Birthday Party at Home from littledoveblog.com
