Have a Killer New Year's Eve Party: Host a Murder

You're hosting your annual New Year's Eve party and you're out of ideas. You want something different, something fresh, something that will stand out. Why not invite everyone to a murder in your home? It's something that will definitely leave people with an impression, and it's surprisingly easy to do.

The premise is simple: Each guest plays a character in a story, assuming that character's persona and maintaining it throughout the evening. As the party progresses, each guest is given additional clues about his or her character as well as selected others in the room. At some point during the evening, a body is discovered, and it's up to the guests to determine who committed the crime (and in the case of the murderer, to direct suspicion towards others). Guests question each other about their characters and try to determine who had a motive. The murderer is the only person who can lie about his character and motives; all other characters must tell the truth about their backgrounds, no matter how damaging. In the end, all guests must decide who committed the crime. It's the board game "Clue" come to life, and you're Colonel Mustard or Mrs. Green.

If you're not feeling creative enough to come up with your own plot, not to worry. Your local toy store or game shop usually carries kits with different settings and storylines, so you can choose whichever is appropriate for the type of party you're having. You'll need to know how many people will be in attendance so you can buy a kit for the appropriate number of "suspects". In the event you're having a big shindig, you may want to have a select number of people be the "suspects" but let all guests try figuring out who the murderer is.

Although most kits recommend you start your planning and preparing several weeks ahead of time, you can still pull off a successful murder party in a very short period of time. You can notify your guests ahead of time by phone that they will be partipating in a murder, or you can present each with an envelope upon arrival that all will open later in the evening when the game commences. You can choose to go come-as-you-are, or if you've given guests their character information ahead of time, people can dress up as they believe their character would. You don't need an acting degree, but a willingness to play the part and ham it up a bit certainly makes for a more entertaining evening. The nice thing about it is while the game is in progress, you can still serve food and drinks and have other activities going on as well. Just because you're hosting doesn't mean you can't participate. Pick a character for yourself (just not the murderer!) and jump right in. For New Year's Eve, I can't think of a better time to end the game and reveal the murderer than just before midnight.

Whether planned in advance or sprung upon your guests at the last minute, hosting a murder can be an exciting alternative to the usual New Year's Eve festivities. And once they've experienced it, your guests will be, uh, dying to do it again...!