Watching a detective film on television or in the cinema is certainly entertaining, while watching a whole game night as a crime thriller is an unforgettable experience for hobby investigators. So-called crime dinners are very popular and invite passionate crime fans to slip into one of the central character roles of a crime story. Whether as an investigator, housemaid, perpetrator or victim: each participant is assigned their own individual background story and is allowed to prove their acting talent. The reward at a crime thriller dinner is not just a delicious celebratory meal, but hopefully a successful investigation. In the following article we will show you what to look out for when planning a homemade crime dinner and which factors are particularly important for an entertaining evening.
Everything starts with an invitation ...
Good planning is an essential factor in a homemade crime dinner. A befitting invitation not only serves to inform the future guests about the date of the crime dinner, but ideally it is also the first part of the crime story - the introduction. Visually and in terms of content, the invitation should therefore be based on the selected crime story. So if the choice fell on a story from the 1930s, a computer-written invitation would be rather unsuitable. A simple invitation by email is also not a good idea, after all, the invitation also serves as a souvenir of an unforgettable, entertaining evening. Basically, the content of the invitation for a crime dinner is based on that of a party. An indispensable component is first of all a suitable headline that gives the self-planned crime dinner a name. Of course, information about the day of the event and the start time should not be missing. So that you can start on time, you should plan at least half an hour in advance. Information on the planned menu also gives the invitation an official character. You should send the invitations to your crime thriller dinner guests around three weeks before the event. Your guests will receive information about their roles from you about seven days in advance. The more the participants get involved in the background story of the crime dinner, the nicer the atmosphere becomes.
Crime + Dinner = Crime Dinner
For a successful murder mystery dinner, the same basic rule applies to high-quality two-component paint: only the right mixture leads to success. Good crime stories need the perfect crime scene to really take off. The dining room at home is ideally suited for this – not only because the 'dinner' has a long tradition in the history of criminalistic entertainment. Also keep in mind that the murder mystery dinner is not a horror party. You should therefore omit dishes that are too disgusting.
On the contrary: when choosing a menu, use your crime story as a guide. If your dinner is about the Sicilian Mafia, for example Italian dishes would be the perfect choice. If, on the other hand, your criminal case takes place in the Bavarian Alps, choose the classic white sausage instead. In any case, when planning the crime dinner, you should make sure to serve several small courses that fit the storyline. So you can divide the plot into different episodes and still give the guests enough time to eat. After all, a crime dinner should be exciting and relaxing, but not stressful. Incidentally, this also applies to you as the host, so you should always choose dishes that are easy and quick to serve that evening. In any case, there is no time for long preparation, after all, a murderer may be up to mischief in your house.
Recommended crime dinner games
The evening stands and falls with history. If you are creative enough, you can of course come up with your own plot for a crime dinner at home. The well-known television thrillers also help to incorporate exciting details. If, on the other hand, you want to fall back on a ready-made story, you will fortunately find an almost endless selection of good crime dinner templates on the Internet. The providers, for example, offer a good selection Culinario Mortale or Crime total. You can also find alternatives at Gmeiner publishing house, which offers various crime concepts for the gaming table at home. Regardless of whether you decide on a finished story at the end or sit down at the typewriter, you definitely have to pay attention to a grandiose decoration of the scene. With the right decoration, you can create an unforgettable atmosphere that not only impresses your crime thriller dinner guests, but also draws them right into the background story. Bullet holes, traces of blood, footprints and litter decorations on the dining table create a great atmosphere. And so that the investigators have enough to do, you should distribute various traces of the investigation at the crime scene - some obvious, others rather puzzling. The decoration of your self-planned crime dinner must match the criminal case, because this is the only way for you and your guests to solve the case without assistance.
Make a crime dinner yourself: Tips from a professional
The basic tips may have already given you an idea of which aspects are particularly important when planning a crime dinner at home. But in order for the organization and the process to run really smoothly, there is a lot more to consider. Fortunately, there are numerous contact points on the Internet that devote themselves in detail to the questions that arise when you want to make a crime dinner yourself. In addition to recommendations on the best criminal cases, you can find out about this on this website Crime dinner many useful tips to make the preparations and the process easier. Questions about the size of the dinner group, different roles and whether or when children are suitable as players are clarified, for example. Making a crime dinner yourself is often underestimated in terms of the amount of work involved, but the organization can easily be managed by yourself with the right tricks at the right time.
