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Dinner parties are a great way to get together and enjoying having fun with your friends. If you’ve never hosted one before, you may be unsure of how to get started and how to make sure it is enjoyed by everyone. These tips will make your friends think you had it planned by a pro.

Plan, Plan, Plan
The most important step is planning. Decide how much work you want to put into it before you actually start. Plan out your guest list, your menu, your decorations, your invitations your meal plan, shopping lists and even what you are going to wear. Having everything written down in advance will be a big help when the date arrives. Check the dates you want to have it to be sure it doesn’t overlap with something that could prevent guests from attending. Or if it’s something like a big sports event, you can incorporate that int your party.

Theme
Decide whether you want to throw a party with a certain theme. This decision can affect all your other choices. A theme can be anything you want – a simple holiday party , a sports event, or something inventive like a weird hat party. If you need help coming up with a good theme, a visit to a party supply store may help you get some ideas.

Invitations
In this day and age of technology, paper invitations aren’t required, but they definitely add elegance to any party. Evites.com is a great website for invitations if you decide to go digital and have the email addresses of everyone on your guest list. When you do send out invitations, be sure to ask guests to include any food allergies in their RSVP. This way you can make substitutions or omissions when cooking the dinner.

Decorations
Decorations are very important for setting a festive atmosphere for your party. It helps get your guests in the mood right when they walk in. If you decided on a theme, you can use this to decide on your decorations. If not, a table centerpiece with some fresh flowers would be a beautiful addition to your table.

Dinner
Dinner can make your dinner party memorable. If you’ve planned properly, it can be done with the lease amount of stress possible. One way to do this is to cook early and freeze anything that can be cooked in advance. Also enlist the help of a few friends to help. If cooking for a lot of people is too time consuming, host a potluck. Ask everyone to bring a certain type of dish to ensure that you don’t end up with 6 types of brownies and no dinner entrée.

Another important aspect to the meal is your table setting. Your guests will notice the special touches and will be impressed.  Noritake has some great patterns that especially lend themselves to dinner parties.

Follow these tips, relax and enjoy yourself. Your first party is sure to be a hit, and you’ll be finding yourself planning your next one very soon.

To start planning your event go here

• Do you need some help in deciphering which type of murder mystery you should do? There appears to be many varieties, but you can really sum them up into a few main categories.
  • Mix & Mingle murder mystery parties
  • Scripted murder mystery parties
  • Live performance mystery shows

  Mix & Mingle murder mystery parties

  Mix & Mingle murder mystery parties are a great fit for groups ranging in size from 12-75 people. How that is possible is we are able to customize each event to match the specified qty of men and women.They provide a good mix of structure and creativity. Each guest has talking points about themselves along with clues & rumors about other characters at the party. The format is a great icebreaker and will encourage every guest at your party to interact. You can find more information on this format at www.host-a-murder.com

  Scripted murder mystery parties

  scripted murder mystery parties are very structured and provided limited amounts of flexibility. This is great for smaller groups 5-8 people as you can follow a dvd/cd as it will guide you from round to round. This is best played with smaller groups of 6-10 people. Boxed sets can be purchased from local games stores or online.  If you find a company offering scripted murder mystery parties for more than 10 people a good question to ask is how many guests get “real characters”…if you are only looking for 6-10 of your guests to talk and the other 20 people just observe this is a great option.

  Live performance mystery shows

  Live performance murder mystery parties are used with groups ranging in size from 50-250 people. They allow your guests to feel apart of the show, but the actors do all the work. They are usually played around a seated dinner over a series of 3-4 courses. The show ranges in length from 2-3 hours depending on your needs.

  Contact  a Professional
  

  The good news is the fine folks at murder mystery maniacs can help you narrow down the choices and help you select the best format and theme for your murder mystery party. Just give them a call 1.877.213.2423 or email them.

The Deal – The Spookum Hills Mystery – for up to 15 characters including Priority USPS Shipping for $75.

To take advantage of the deal you MUST order by October 10th, 2009 5PM. Email thecrew@host-a-murder.com for your coupon code.

**If you order less than 15 people – the special is still $75.

1. An online invitation platform. This will let you send email invitations to your guests to find out who can attend your event. It also allows you to track and monitor the RSVP status of each guest.
2. Online character selection – That’s right folks. You can now pick and choose every character in your event.
3. Digital Costume Delivery. This feature lets the host send the costume ideas to their guests immediately vs. waiting for the crew to print and ship the costume ideas in paper format.

What hasn’t changed is the crew will still be responsible for printing and shipping your entire event. The best part is you just pick the characters, and our team will put it together, and fedex you all the supplies.

Here is a link to the new site – www.host-a-murder.com/invite.html

• Step 1 – Pick a Venue. I recommend using the theater or the directors home. If you want to upgrade consider having the event at a bar or restaurant.
• Step 2 – Set a date and time. Many times the cast party is held the closing night of the performance, but you can also schedule it for the following weekend.
• Step 3 – Make your guest list. This list should include the cast and crew, as well as address how many guests each cast member and crew member can bring to the party. You will want people to RSVP to the event so you can order enough characters for everyone to play.
• Step 4 – Pick your scenario that you think will fit the personality of the cast and crew. Depending on your budget the crew maybe able to tailor one of the mysteries to match the theme of the production you just wrapped up.
• Step 5 – Plan your food, drink, and decorations. You can have the event catered or if you prefer make it a potluck and ask everyone to bring something ahead of time. I would recommend including the PotLuck item along with the character each guest will attend. If you are having the event at bar, restaurant, or other venue you will want to confirm ahead of time that you have permission to host the murder mystery. At that time you will want to designate where the crime will take place. The night of the event you will want to set the stage and decorate your crime scene to fit the theme of your mystery.
• Step 6 – About 2 weeks prior to your event you will want to order the party. By then you should have your RSVP’s and can place your order with us over the phone or on-line.
• Step 7 – Once you receive the game supplies you can assign the roles digitally or in person via a formal invitation.
• Step 8 -  The night of the party! Once everyone has arrived you need to pass out the final game pieces for everyone to play. Just get the ball rolling and your guests will do the rest. They will get to play the mystery and more importantly remember the fun they had during the show. The murder mystery cast party is a great theme because it allows the cast, crew, and production people to interact.