90s Theme Murder Mystery Birthday Party

• April 26, 2023
• Lifestyle

I turned the “big” 3-0 this month. I didn’t know how I wanted to celebrate this arbitrary number (because your health matters more than your age) so I juggled between keeping it simple and go hiking with my husband and dog, go to a drive-in theatre, or go paintballing with my husband and nephews. If I was going to host something, I wanted to do a 90s “murder mystery” theme party. In the end, I chose to celebrate it with family and friends because they’re all as much a part of my journey growing up too. My husband and I share the same birth date so we have been combining our celebrations the year we got together so it was more of a reason to have this party.

The Designs

Since this wasn’t for work, I chose a shortcut with Canva to put together the murder mystery invitations, agenda, and slideshows.

The Murder Mystery

We’ve done a murder mystery birthday party once 6-7 years ago so I thought this would be a nice addition to the 90s theme. Due to time constraint (I had three weeks to plan it), I went with a combination of the Werewolf, Among Us, and Jackbox’s Fakin’ It gameplay. 9 people decided to participate which was a decent number for this type of game (for context, 15 of our guests were our peers who stayed the entire evening. The rest were family/adults).


Instead of an actual “murder,” to kickstart the mystery, we decided that it would be more inline with an old school drama of being ex-communicated from your circle.


Characters included:

• 1x Mr. Nice Guy ("Jester")
• 2x Party Crasher ("Killer")
• 6x Guest ("Innocent")

The winners were the party crashers.

To thank them for indulging in my whim to host a murder mystery, we had a little gift for everyone who participated in the game: Mario Kart Hot Wheels!

The Activities

We also had a fashion contest with three category winners:

• The Best Dressed
• The Most Creative
• The Outfit that Gave You the Most Nostalgia

In addition, we played bingo, 90s trivia, karaoke, and a “Winner Takes All” challenge where each person collects a poker chip for participating in activities and the one with the most chips at the end of the night wins a prize.

The Food

We served our usual buffet style dinner.

Appetizers:

• Charcuterie Board: "Lunchables" Style (Adult Version)
• Nem Nướng
• Money Bags

Entrees:

• Prime Rib Sliders
• Chicken Curry
• Fried Rice
• Phở Pie

Sides:

• Wings
• Papaya Salad
• Egg Rolls

Desserts:

• Ube White Chocolate Cookies
• Little Debbie's Desserts: Nutty Buddy, Oatmeal Creme Pies, Cupcakes, Pecan Pinwheels
• Gushers, Fruit Roll Ups, Fruit by the Foot
• Tamarind Candy
• White Rabbit Candy

Snacks:

• Rice Crackers
• Andy Capp's Hot Frieds
• Shrimp Crackers

Drinks:

• Capri Sun
• Sparking Water
• Soda
• Beer

The Gifts

For the party favors, I went with a boombox design box and stuffed it with 90s memorabilia.

• Various PEZ Dispenser Characters
• Mini Composition Notebooks
• Gel Pens
• 90s Cartoon Stickers
• Ring Pop/Push Pop/Baby Bottle Pop Variety
• A polaroid photo of each guest (if they agreed to have one taken of them)

The Hiccups

The biggest (and most prominent) hiccup was I caught food poisoning the night before but thanks to my mom, Eagle Brand Medicated Oil, and a quarter (IYKYK), I felt a lot better after half an hour so I was able to join everyone from the beginning.

Due to me getting sick last minute, set up and timing was off. For example, I didn’t get to set up the large bags of snacks in its appropriate container or take photos/videos before the event started. I also didn't get to follow through the entire menu as planned because my husband ended up having to take over my tasks when I could no longer cook.

However, we adapted and it worked out in the end like it always do. I’m thankful for my family and friends who came to help out.

A Great Night

We closed the night out with karaoke and some of our friends were able to get in their Pokemon card battles which was extremely fitting to the theme.

I wish had more energy to have taken photos before guests arrived and better photos during the event but such is life. All in all, I think it was a memorable event despite the hiccups and hope that everyone enjoyed themselves.