Has anyone ever done a progressive dinner or murder mystery dinner party?

[cwnhokie]

I am looking for something new and fun to do with my neighbors. I would love your ideas and experiences. We are made up of young couples with young children. When we do things it's usually the guys (poker) or the girls (bunco). I'd like to do something fun with couples, but I'm not sure how to handle the problem of what to do with the kids. Thanks,
Chrissy

 

[TN Traveler]

For several years my Sunday School class ALWAYS did a Progressive dinner for our Christmas party together. We'd start at one person's house and have appertizers, stay there 30 mins or so and go to next person's house for the main meal. Usually stay there an hour which also included reading from the Bible and singing Christmas songs and whatever else we watned to...
somehow we always ended up singing "Freebird" and Jimmy Buffett songs!?
Then we'd go to the last house for dessert where we'd play Dirty Christmas w/tree ornaments. Was always fun but ended up being a LONG evening and alot of running around. So after a couple years of that we decided to combine the main meal and the desserts at the same house where we stayed and sang songs, played Dirty Christmas. Last year we just decided to stay at one house and have everything there. Personally I think it's much better this way b/c we're not running in and out, wasting alot of time and gas (we live in a town that is very spread out--could be up to 10 miles between houses). I'm sure this year we'll stick to one house. The hostess provides paper products and meat which is paid for out of our classroom budget and then everyone else brings appetizers, veggies, breads, and desserts. Turns out to be VERY good w/more food than we can eat!

As far as the kids go, I don't really know what to suggest b/c we prefer to leave kids w/babysitters since most of us need a break from them anyway!
We usually would take our kids to our church, our Youth Group would keep them, order pizza, watch movies, play games etc. The little ones loved it, and yes, we paid the Youth workers $3 or $4 per child per hour. The money went into a basket and then was split between those that worked it. Gave the Youth a way to make money for Christmas and parents a break.

The murder Mystery sounds like a LOT of fun to me. That could be something you could do if you could get the kids involved in it somehow....let them dress up as the characters and act it out for you. Of course if you have little ones that might not work but it's a thought.

Karen

 

[DisneyArk]

We've done both progressive dinners and murder mystery dinners. We usually have each family get their own baby-sitter. But sometimes we leave all the kids at one house with several baby-sitters. That way the kids feel like they have a party of their own.

We've quit doing progressive dinners. One reason like the previous poster said is time!! It's difficult to get everyone to leave the 1st house and move onto the 2nd house. Plus the hostess for the main meal often had to skip the 1st house to get ready. Another problem for us was drinking and then driving - but it sounds like you will be ok since you all live in the same neighborhood.

The murder mystery dinners that I've done have been from a box. We usually assign each guest a character and ask them to dress the part. Sometimes we start the mystery before dinner and then have dinner with everyone acting like their character and solve the mystery after dinner. My sister actually hired someone to come in and direct everything. She said the woman did a wonderful job and made it fun.

I think the murder mystery works best for a group who know each other and are not shy. It's more fun to be silly and act a little crazy!

Lately we've been playing couples Texas Hold 'em. I've never liked poker before, but this is really easy and fun!

 

[WDWMom]

We did a progressive dinner in our neighborhood on New Year's Day. We had all the kids at one house and DD made a fortune in babysitting.

We started with cocktails at one house, then appetizers, salad, main course and then dessert. Two people did the main course - lasagna. The person who had the kids was the second main course person.

We have talked about doing it again. We drank a lot but walked everywhere so no problems.

 

[Brendita]

Company I work for did the Murder Mystery @ last Christmas Party.
I hated it.
Found it rude, boring, just plain dumb.

 

[denisem]

Many moons ago, we had a once-a-month "game night" with friends using the old standby board games: Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, Outburst, etc.

My cousin has done an annual ethnic themed dinner with friends for years. They alternate hosting each year, with host providing the main course and guests are assigned appetizers, soup or salad, dessert.

 

[tlovesdis]

Our friends and family have been doing a progressive dinner on the second saturday of december for 17 years now! It is our holiday get together and we love it! We do four houses each year. We start at about 1pm and go until whenever! At the first house we have appitizers, the next is soup & salad, the third is dinner, and the fourth is dessert and presents! We draw names in the summer so we have plenty of time to buy our person a gift!

It is so much fun! We never tell everyone what is being served either so it is a suprise. My DH and I are hosting dinner this year and I still don't know what to make! The last time we hosted dinner a few years back my Dh made a yummy gumbo that was Emeril Lagasse's recipe!!!!

 

[mello]

over the years, and they're always a huge hit! We always have people asking us when we're going to have another one. A lot depends on the personalities of the guests - if they're the type to really get into it, then you'll have a ball!

The box comes with lots of instructions and ideas, sometimes even menus and planning timetables, which makes things easier the first time around. We go all out with the decorations, etc. We always have everyone dress their parts, and some people really get into playing their characters which is hilarious. We've done it where we did the whole dinner (I'd recommend hiring a teen or two to help out with serving if you do that - once my younger sister and her friends dressed as French maids to serve dinner - it was a hoot), and we've done it where the guests were each responsible for bringing a different course - that was the easiest. We always go all out on the food & drinks and theme the meal to the party - it's definitely part of the fun.

They're designed for 8 people, but if you have more people you can make up extra characters for them - there are suggestions for that in the instructions too. Extra characters don't have a role with their own booklet of information to give out, but they can add a lot to the party and have lots of fun just trying to figure things out and questioning the other guests. I often make up a character for myself, just to make it a little easier to check on dinner, serve appetizers, etc. without disrupting the flow of the game. And it's always fun to add a guest who will act as an inspector, or an innocent bystander - they're always really helpful in sorthing through all the info since they're not as focused on keeping themselves clear of suspicion.

Some of our favorites have been: Hoo Hung Woo, the Watersdown Affair, the Last Train from Paris, the 50's one, and the Roman one (can't remember the names offhand). The only one we thought had kind of a dumb ending was the Grapes of Frath.

With the right mix of people, these things can be the event of the year for everyone there. Have fun with it!

 

[ljb9539]

We did the murder mystery for a New Years Eve party one year - We had a great bunch so it was fun - Like the other posters - We dressed that part - had dinner that was themed to the story - etc... They are set up for 4 men and 4 women --- ANd you ahve to make sure everyone knows they HAVE TO be there - a friend dropped out at the last minute and one guy had to be a "skitophrenic (sp)" b/c he had to play two characters... It was comical though...

Or even - if the guys already play poker and the women play bunco -- why not do a tournament --- I have never played bunco --- but I know you could do a poker tournament... that way the women and men can play ...

You could also do something like a movie night - Each month a family picks an adult movie (PG13-R) you can watch together - one month a girly sap movie, next month a guy compedy, etc --- that way you could all catch up on the movies you can't see that often b/c of the kids.

The itnernational idea that someone mentioned sounded fun - I might need to see about doing that with some friends...

Also - if they all like to cook - you could do an iron chef type thing - two teams compete - the rest are judges! have two grills so that they can cook in the same yard --- something like that.

As for the kids - how about a slumber party at one of the other houses (another poster mentioned something like this) - witha couple babysitters - and have a tournament for them too - except with prizes instead - each family provides a prize, wrap them, then they can have a tournament in something like best score on their play station, or most jumps on a jump rope, longest hula hoop --- something that would help the babysitters keep them entertained for the night - and tucker them out so that they would pass out

 

[Connie of Trenton]

I have a soft spot in my heart for progressive dinners because thats how my husband and I met. We rode together after car pooling in the church parking lot. Since then we've been to others and I think they are really great because they seem to bring out opportunity for mingling. As far as the kids I would select one house that is not hosting a course and depending on how many kids hire babysitters accordingly.

 

[MandM-Mom]

For several years my Sunday School class ALWAYS did a Progressive dinner for our Christmas party together. We'd start at one person's house and have appertizers, stay there 30 mins or so and go to next person's house for the main meal. Usually stay there an hour which also included reading from the Bible and singing Christmas songs and whatever else we watned to...
somehow we always ended up singing "Freebird" and Jimmy Buffett songs!?
Then we'd go to the last house for dessert where we'd play Dirty Christmas w/tree ornaments. Was always fun but ended up being a LONG evening and alot of running around. So after a couple years of that we decided to combine the main meal and the desserts at the same house where we stayed and sang songs, played Dirty Christmas. Last year we just decided to stay at one house and have everything there. Personally I think it's much better this way b/c we're not running in and out, wasting alot of time and gas (we live in a town that is very spread out--could be up to 10 miles between houses). I'm sure this year we'll stick to one house. The hostess provides paper products and meat which is paid for out of our classroom budget and then everyone else brings appetizers, veggies, breads, and desserts. Turns out to be VERY good w/more food than we can eat!

As far as the kids go, I don't really know what to suggest b/c we prefer to leave kids w/babysitters since most of us need a break from them anyway!
We usually would take our kids to our church, our Youth Group would keep them, order pizza, watch movies, play games etc. The little ones loved it, and yes, we paid the Youth workers $3 or $4 per child per hour. The money went into a basket and then was split between those that worked it. Gave the Youth a way to make money for Christmas and parents a break.

The murder Mystery sounds like a LOT of fun to me. That could be something you could do if you could get the kids involved in it somehow....let them dress up as the characters and act it out for you. Of course if you have little ones that might not work but it's a thought.

Karen

What in the world is Dirty Christmas?

Does anyone know where to buy these murder mystery parties in a box? It sounds so like so much fun.