This October, treat your friends and family to a night of deadly fun with a Halloween themed murder mystery party!
In this article, we’ll help you host a perfectly plotted and planned murder mystery. Keep your eyes peeled for:
- 15 haunted Halloween menu ideas
- 18 deadly decoration ideas
- A curated list of 7 menacing murder mystery party games. Be sure to check out the end of this article for our top choices!
If that gets your blood flowing, simply keep reading!
15 Terrifically Terrifying Haunted Halloween Menu Ideas
We hope you’re hungry! These mouthwatering menu ideas will make your Halloween themed murder mystery party planning a breeze.
But before we unveil our menu ideas, consider the most important factor in creating your menu: what format of game are you going to play? Are you hosting a mix ‘n mingle, or a sit-down dinner? If you don’t know the difference between the two, see our article on choosing the perfect menu for your murder mystery party.
But no need to fret or fear, we’ve got cauldrons full of ideas for either one. What tickles your fancy? Simply choose from the following menu ideas and you can’t go wrong!
- Cheese Ball Pumpkins. Carve lines down the side of cheese balls to mimic the ridges on a pumpkin. Place a parsley leave on top to complete the cheesy transformation!
- Spiderweb Nachos. This little trick couldn’t be simpler! Step 1: Make nachos. Step 2: Using sour cream, draw a spiderweb on top of the green guacamole. Bonus step: Create a spider out of olives and place the little guy inside the web!
- Monsterghetti! Spaghetti and tomato sauce already looks very Halloween-y. But those meatballs are just begging to be become awful eyeballs—which you can easily do with a sour cream circle (to make the white of the eye) and a sliced olive iris!
- Spooky Pizza. Use pizza toppings to make creepy designs. Get creative! For example, make mozzarella ghosts, and use olives or bell pepper cubes for the eyes.
- Monster Hamburgers. Dangle cheese teeth and a long gherkin tongue from the side of the burger to resemble a gaping mouth. Poke toothpicks through two cherry tomato (or olives) and stick these into the top bun as eyes on stalks!
- Monster Wraps. Transform a yummy wrap into a cantankerous creature! On top of your completed wrap, heap grated cheese for messy hair, place olives on toothpicks for eyes, and draw a mouth with a squeeze of mustard!
- Creepy Hand Pies. Pinch four long strips of puff pastry up and out of the top of a pie to make four fingers, and pinch one from the side to make a thumb. Just like that, you’ve made a creepy hand pie! Douse in ketchup “blood” for an extra heaping of horror!
- Severed Fingers in Bandages. Wrap thin sheets of dough around cocktail frankfurters and bake ‘em. Then stick a sliced almond “fingernail” on the front of the frankfurter finger. Serve (of course) with blood-red ketchup!
- Eyeball Devilled Eggs. Push a black olive iris into the middle of a devilled egg and you’ve got yourself an edible eyeball. Make the eyes appear bloodshot with thin lines of ketchup.
- Jack-o’-Lantern Pies. Cut eye, nose, and mouth holes into the top of a pot pie. When you bake them, the ingredients will bubble up through the holes for a crazily creepy effect!
- Stuffed Bell Pepper Jack-o’-Lanterns. Same idea as the pies above, but use bell peppers instead, and carve the face into the side of the pepper. To make it even more macabre, slice off the top of the “head” so the stuffing “brains” spill out…
- Dough Bowl Spider Dips. Form two dough balls into the body of a spider: a little one for the head, a big one for the body. Bake them, then scoop a hollow bowl into the body and fill it with a dipping sauce. Now arrange eight bread sticks around the body to make the legs.
- Eyeball Crackers. Start with a pale white cracker. Layer on a slice of cucumber as the iris, then half an olive as the pupil. And there you have it, a crunchy cracker eye!
- Gem Squash Cauldrons. Slice the top off the squash and scoop out a hollow. Fill it with a demented dipping sauce (or a soup) and voila—a cauldron is created.
- Chili Mummies. Wrap hot chilis in puff pastry bandages, then add two peas for eyes.
If that’s not enough, try these bonus ideas that need zero explanation:
- Halloweenies!
- Ghoul-ash Goulash
- Toes in a Blanket (pigs in a blanket with a Halloween twist)
But a monstrous menu is only one half of the Halloween unholiness. You still have to create a feast for the eyes! Keep reading to see our devilish decoration ideas.
18 Deadly Decoration Ideas for a Halloween Murder Mystery Venue
Your guests will be stopped DEAD in their tracks by your monstrous menu—but there’s more you can do to fully capture their imaginations. With the right decorations, you can transform your living room into a Halloween themed murder mystery nightmare. And it doesn’t have to be difficult, or break the bank!
Here’s a list of our top Halloween murder mystery party decoration ideas.
- Snake wreath. Weave plastic snakes through the branches of an ordinary wreath. It’s particularly creepy when viewed in candlelight!
- Candles, candles, candles! Candles are a classic component in a witch’s toolkit. They add a spooky atmosphere with their flickering flames! Different color candles create different vibes—try black or red candles instead of white ones.
- Mop ghosts. Place a string mop upside down so the white strings are suspended in the air, dangling down. Now create a face by simply cutting out eyes and a mouth from black fabric and sticking it onto the mop head!
- Eyeball fruit and veggies. Stick googly eyes onto loose vegetables like butternut, squash, avos, apples, and pears!
- Tombstone chair covers. Buy some cheap white or grey pillowcases. Make an “R.I.P.” template (possibly with an artistic design or simple cross). Now paint or spray-paint this design onto the pillowcases. Then hang ‘em over the backs of your chairs to create tombstones. You could make one for each player, and put their names on the tombstones to show each guest where to sit.
- Dried flower wreath. Spray-paint them black and add plastic bugs, spiders, and other CREEPY crawlies…
- Black leaves. Collect bags full of large leaves (oak leaves are perfect). Spray-paint them black and scatter them around the venue. If they’re dry, they’ll make an eerie crunching sound when your guests step on them! You could also use white paint to draw horrible faces on random leaves…
- Bottles of weird potions. Take old glass bottles, then add water and food coloring. Instant magic potion! Enhance the horror by dropping plastic bugs, snakes, tentacles, fingers, etc. into the colored liquids!
- Balloon spiders. Blow up a big black balloon for the body, and a smaller one for the head. Tie the head to the body. From this middle point, tie black pipe cleaners for legs and bend them into grotesque walking poses!
- Simple rock skulls. Gather a bunch of smooth, hand-sized rocks. Paint them white. Once dry, paint (or use a permanent marker to draw) black eye sockets, nostrils, and grinning mouths on each one. Now place these “skulls” around the venue!
- Balloon stress balls (Halloween style). If you’re scaring your guests too much, relieve the tension with this simple DIY stress ball: a balloon filled with rice. Draw a funny face on each one in permanent marker. When you squeeze ‘em, the face will contort into hilarious dimensions.
- Skull bouquet. Use a plastic skull as a vase to hold a colorful flower bouquet.
- String cobwebs. Fashion cobwebs out of string and hang them…everywhere!
- Hanging bat garland. Cut bats out of black paper (use a simple online stencil to make your life easier). Then clip the bats to a long string and hang them from windows, doors, ceiling, and lights!
- Chalkboard gravestone. Simply use white chalk to draw an appropriate epitaph and design onto a black, rectangular chalkboard and you have a quick ‘n easy gravestone!
- Smoking cauldron! Add dry ice to a cast iron pot for an instant smoking cauldron.
- (Walking) pumpkin lanterns. Scoop the top out of a mini pumpkin and insert a tealight candle. You could also stick black pipe cleaners into the sides to make spider legs!
- Tattered curtains. Tear dotted Swiss fabric into strips and hang them from your curtain rails for an amazing effect.
Wow! What a terrifically terrifying trove of Halloween decoration ideas…you’re going to knock the socks right off your guests!
That said, there’s one final piece of the puzzle we haven’t addressed yet. Getting the food right, and decorating the venue are incredibly important, but you still have to choose the best game for your group! In the next section, we’ll help you do exactly that.
7 Craftily curated Halloween murder mystery party games
Don’t have time to find a costume, decorate a venue, and find a suitable Halloween themed murder mystery game? No worries, we’ve got you covered.
Please note: We love Murder Mystery Parties. Besides giving advice we also write and sell games. In this article we feature our own games from our company Mysterando. Feel free to check out our games. This is how we help fund this site.
Here our our top picks for Halloween themed murder mystery party games. Simply browse the selection and choose the one that sounds the most fun!
Halloween Lies
Link: freeformgames.com/games/halloween-lies.php
About: At the post-awards party for Tom Speed’s latest blockbuster, The Vampire Detective, celebrations are in full swing, despite Tom Speed highly suspicious death…
Players: 16-32
Price: $49.99
The Murder at Baldrennan Abbey (by Mysterando)
Link: mysterando.com/product/the-murder-at-baldrennan-abbey/
About: A foggy valley deep in the heart of the Scottish Highlands shelters the crumbling masonry of Baldrennan Abbey. The Church has decided to sell the abbey to the highest bidder. The abbess and her nuns are instructed to play host to a string of potential buyers, real estate sharks, and visionary entrepreneurs. But the nuns do not want to give up their life at the abbey. So, when Nick Taylor’s body is found dead in the abbey garden, everyone in the abbey falls under suspicion…including the abbey ghost!
Players: 4-8
Price: From $18.90
The Halloween Party Murder Mystery (by Shot in the Dark Mysteries)
Link: shotinthedarkmysteries.com/the-halloween-party-murder-mystery/
About: Same as every year, Ben and Aria Tate host their annual Halloween party. But this year a mysterious video arrives, graphically depicting the murder of a party guest! Suddenly the fun atmosphere transforms into horror and suspicion as the guests realize the killer is one of them…
Players: 6-18
Price: From $41.99
Haunted Horrors (by Gozone Murder Mysteries)
Link: murdermystery.com.au/murder-mystery-games/haunted-horrors
About: In this tale of Transylvania, play as a ghost, ghoul, or zombie as you explore Nosferatu’s horribly haunted castle unravelling a twisted plot of blistering blackmail, loathsome lies, illicit affairs, missing persons – and murder most foul!
Players: 4-120
Price: From $55.00
Pumpkin Palooza Costume Ball Mystery (by My Mystery Party)
Link: mymysteryparty.com/pumpkin-palooza-costume-ball-mystery/
About: Skull Manor, deep within Spider City, is gearing up for its annual Pumpkin Palooza Costume Party. But something terrible is bound to happen at this event—the city has been crawling with rumors, blackmail, thievery, and controversies…
Players: 8-12 (or expand to 225)
Price: From $42.95
The Haunting of Monster Mansion (by Masters of Mystery)
Link: mastersofmystery.com/products/halloween-themed-murder-mystery-game-murder-in-monster-mansion
About: Madsy Entist has invented a miraculous potion that can transform even the crustiest old monster into a human being. But somebody (that is, some ghost or ghoul!) has stolen the only bottle…and murder is soon to follow!
Players: 4-20
Price: From $24.00
Terror in Transylvania
Link: nightofmystery.com/product/terror-in-transylvania/
About: In the bowels of a castle, all the Transylvania horrors gather for a night of spooky fun away from the mortal world. But one of the guests is murdered, and ends up in a grave they dug for themselves! Not wanting to face the same fate, the other guests begin the hunt for the murderer.
Players: 8-20
Price: From $60.00
That’s the list! Hope you found something great. You might also enjoy some of our other articles:
- 10 classic, 10 fun, and 10 expert games
- Our amazing guide to playing the perfect suspect, victim, murderer, or detective
Disclaimer: We haven’t played every single one of the games discussed. However, after being murder mystery party fans, players, and hosts for many years, we’ve gathered heaps of helpful advice and tips on how to play. In writing this article, we’ve conducted internet research to put together our top choices. We use affiliate links to Amazon, etc. This is how we help fund the site.