Murder Mystery Halloween Parties – Set Your Budget

Hello Halloween planners! Can you believe there is only 6 weeks until Halloween? Crazy! Time is flying by so quickly. Savvy Halloween hosts are already preparing for the big event, designing their costumes, planning their haunts, creating or buying decorations… and there are some people out there (like the junkies at HalloweenForum.com and myself) who have been planning Halloween 2010 since November 1, 2009.

That’s why this week we’re looking at the different aspects to planning a Halloween party, and while these suggestions may be slanted toward murder mystery Halloween parties, they are versatile enough to work with any type of Halloween party.

So, now that we know your theme (in our previous blog post we talked about choosing your game, so in this case, your theme would be a murder mystery party, or the theme that comes with the mystery party game) your next step is to work out a budget.

I hear the groans already. “Come on,” you say. “I have to stick to a stinking budget in everything else I do, why can’t I just party without some dumb piece of paper (or accounting software or iPhone app) telling me what to spend?!” I hear ya, it’s not easy celebrating during a time of economic recession, but if we don’t party, who will? Besides, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to realize that setting out your party budget (and buying everything you need with that budget) will be a lot more enjoyable than your personal financial budget.

Some things to consider when outlining your budget are:

- Decorations

- Food

- Alcohol

- Music

- Special Effects

- Invitations

- Child Care (if necessary)

- Costumes

Of course, depending on the type of party you’re throwing, there could be more considerations than just those items, but the important thing is to plan for the major expenses, and in the process you’ll discover some new things you hadn’t realized you needed before. For more on budgets, “like” our Facebook page and post on the wall a request to receive our free Universal Party Planning Checklist!

If you’re hosting a murder mystery Halloween party, you’ll also need to take into account the cost of the game itself and, if it’s an instant download like Shot In The Dark Mysteries’ party games are, it’s probably a good idea to budget for printing costs as well. Not only will you decrease the wear-and-tear on your home printer and save your ever-empty ink cartridge, you’ll also probably get a better quality of game clues for your guests.

Two other items I would recommend including in your budget for a murder mystery game would be for pens and notebooks, so your guests can sleuth and gather clues without losing track of anyone’s alibi, or any other important information they’ll gather during their investigation.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be talking about different aspects of the Halloween party planning process, so if you have more budget items to add to this post or other ideas or questions, please join us on our Facebook page!