You have guessed it. Our best milestone birthday party ideas is really just one idea – a bespoke murder mystery dinner party.
The reason a custom-made murder mystery dinner can work for any adult milestone birthday is that, even if you chose to invite the exact same people as a previous birthday celebration, you would have a brand new murder mystery dinner party game to play. A new setting, new characters designed especially to suit each of your guests, a plot inspired by the birthday boy or girl, and a new venue ensure that all your other milestone birthday party ideas will pale in comparison to this special type of celebration.
I arranged a trade exchange between the Murder Mystery Guide and a local photographer couple – Love Made Visible – who had attended several of my games previously, as guests. Instead of requesting a bespoke murder mystery dinner party as one of their own milestone birthday party ideas, they generously chose to gift the experience for Dad’s 60th celebration.
If you know any of the Blundell clan you quite soon discover they are a wild bunch – musicians, dancers, artists, creatives, photographers… there’s almost no creative art form they aren’t involved in.
So, it totally made sense for this dramatic family to celebrate in the most dramatic way possible – with a custom-made murder mystery birthday party.
When you view the photographs, you will soon see that this suited this family down to a tee – they are so creative they probably never need to receive any milestone birthday party ideas.
As a nod to the birthday boy’s musical background, the murder mystery was inspired by the famous Woodstock Festival, which I modified into the Rockstock Festival as the game’s backdrop. The murder victim: the fictitious founder and owner of the festival – Mr Trent von Trapping.
Details for days…
From a Scottish metalhead to a Caribbean witch doctor, there was no lack of truly eccentric characters for the guests to play with, which was what I really enjoyed about writing this game.
What made it even more special, and probably the roaring success I’m told the game was, was sitting down with Rebecca to get insights into each guest – unbelievably helpful when you’re crafting characters uniquely designed for each person.
What do you think of custom-made murder mystery dinner parties as the best milestone birthday party ideas? Comment below.
Becs and her husband came prepared with some broad strokes ideas for each guest, which meant I could go to town with character development. Here are the highlights from this unique dinner party – enjoy!
Milestone birthday party ideas to impress your guests
The shrine the Blundells created for their fictitious murder victim and fake newspaper articles covering the tragic murder. The birthday boy’s kids clearly went all out for the event!
A diverse cast of characters was called the a reading of the will at the deceased’s home in the Caribbean.
The birthday boy’s character was a Scottish metalhead with anger issues. He’s pictured here, rubbing a swatch of his clan’s tartan as a self-soothing mechanism to prevent raging at the other guests. Hilarious!
A dancer called Cinnamon, a Caribbean witch doctor and the housekeeper all look on.
One of the most diverse sets of characters I’ve ever written for one of the most creative sets of players! Can you guess some of these characters’ professions?
With Russians, Americans, Caribbeans and Scots, this set of characters was truly cosmopolitan.
Host your own custom-made murder mystery dinner party
If you’d like to host a memorable celebration for yourself, or someone close to you, we offer original custom-made Murder Mystery Guide Experiences. Each character is written for each of your special guests, which ensures that everyone can enjoy themselves to the full on the day. Our Design Your Dinner experience also allows you to take full control of the event elements in a way that suits your budget.
We are able to offer murder mystery dinner hosts to help ensure the game flows smoothly. Or if you want us to create the game, but you’d like to host it yourself, we can arrange a video call where you will learn everything you need to know about hosting your own unique murder mystery game!
FYI: The best sit-down murder mystery dinner parties usually have between 8 and 24 guests, since it’s important for everyone to hear all the dinner table conversations to avoid missing essential clues as to who the murderer might be.
