# Clue Themed Party/Dinner



## Jenn&MattFromPA (Sep 4, 2013)

Oh, oh, oh what an awesome idea! I love CLUE so so so much! 
I am gonna have to do some thinking on this - there really is so much possibility with a CLUE theme. 
LOVE this idea! Can you tell I'm excited for you?! Ha ha ha!


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## Witchful Thinking (Jun 3, 2011)

Thanks Jenn&MattFromPA - so far I am thinking of either playing it like a life size clue game (giving out cards when they arrive and everyone moving from room to room as we take turns figuring out who did it) or playing it like a How to Host A Murder mystery where you give guests clues they should share and some to try and keep quiet until after dinner the answer is revealed. Still in the early stages of planning so still digging up ideas but looking forward to decorating the various rooms.


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## melissa (Jul 23, 2004)

If you play it as life-sized Clue, you can have each of them be a character (suspect). In that case, I'd skip the cards for the suspect (tough to coordinate). You could also have a set group of suspects for everyone to question. 

A couple of "dark house" spoofs to watch: _Dark & Stormy Night_ & _Murder by Death_. In the latter, everyone there is a famous detective or associate of one. If you played off that angle, your guests could be advised to come as any famous detective in literature or film/tv.

Don't forget the classic "Murder" games. There are a few. One involves sitting in a circle on the floor, which may not work.

Good luck - it sounds like a lot of fun!


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## celipops (Jul 23, 2011)

I've always loved Clue. Great theme idea! I was originally going to go with this but somehow I jumped the shark and now I'm knee deep into hosting a murder mystery dinner party I wrote that's smashed a magician with twin peaks. 

You should definitely have all the murder weapons as props. It would be fun if you could theme out as many of the rooms that you can from the board. 

I agree with melissa - skip the suspect cards, have the guests be the suspects. 

Scour the web, I'm sure you can find invites that are clue themed. 

Best of luck with your theme. It's a good one.


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## margaret (Aug 19, 2013)

What if you make it a bit of a scavenger hunt where your guests ... all dressed as the characters from Clue,... are each given a room to go to and in the room they have to find the clue ... then everyone gets together and figures out who dunnit by discussing what clues they have found while around the dinner table.


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## Lon2 (Aug 17, 2014)

Or just play the actual game. Have a few of them in case there are too many people. That way you can break up into groups and everyone can play. Show Clue the movie from 1985. It is streaming on Netflix and Amazon. 

Pick up the Clue VCR game from the 1980s (and a VCR  ) and play that. It's a different way to play the game. You could also use different editions of Clue like the Scooby Doo one or Seinfeld one. 

Pick up a "dead body" from a Halloween store to be murdered victim and just have it on the floor covered in a sheet or something like that.


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## mysterymaiden (Aug 11, 2008)

Great theme - obviously one of my favourite games of all time. The victim's name in Clue is Mr. Boddy, so you could include him in your pre-amble etc. If I was setting it up, I would do up the rooms as in the game, but also include the little nuances of your own home. For example, in Clue, there are secret passageways. Could you board up stairwells (a cardboard door, for example) and turn them into secret passageways?

Also, with live Clue, you can do one thing you can't really with the game itself - get people interacting. Perhaps instead of suspect cards, they could have a clue like "I know that the killer was in a room with a plant" and they would then rule out all of the rooms with a plant. This is a really basic, off-the-top-of-my-head example, so I hope you get the gist of what I'm, thinking with this.

Here's a tip from the mystery game industry - Clue is a game that is all about the process of elimination; you come to learn the killer by eliminating everyone else from suspicion. How can you use your own house and the things in it (or bring in new things) to help people eliminate suspects? I don't want to get too technical on you here, but I think if you keep that in the back of your mind as you plan this out, it will be really successful!


Leigh


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## mysterymaiden (Aug 11, 2008)

Great theme - obviously one of my favourite games of all time. The victim's name in Clue is Mr. Boddy, so you could include him in your pre-amble etc. If I was setting it up, I would do up the rooms as in the game, but also include the little nuances of your own home. For example, in Clue, there are secret passageways. Could you board up stairwells (a cardboard door, for example) and turn them into secret passageways?

Also, with live Clue, you can do one thing you can't really with the game itself - get people interacting. Perhaps instead of suspect cards, they could have a clue like "I know that the killer was in a room with a plant" and they would then rule out all of the rooms with a plant. This is a really basic, off-the-top-of-my-head example, so I hope you get the gist of what I'm, thinking with this.

Here's a tip from the mystery game industry - Clue is a game that is all about the process of elimination; you come to learn the killer by eliminating everyone else from suspicion. How can you use your own house and the things in it (or bring in new things) to help people eliminate suspects? I don't want to get too technical on you here, but I think if you keep that in the back of your mind as you plan this out, it will be really successful!


Leigh


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## Jenn&MattFromPA (Sep 4, 2013)

I have been thinking about this theme since I first read your post!  
I am not an especially outgoing person, but I'm not a wallflower either - so as I was thinking about this theme, I thought about what I'd like to do with a Clue dinner party. If I could do whatever I wanted, here's where I might start - I'd consider seeing if a local high school or college drama class would help me out - for fun, for experience, for photo ops, for free food (probably not for money since I don't have it like that! LOL!), and I'd have some of them play a few roles to keep the dinner exciting but not force the guests to play a role they might not be comfortable with. Like, hire someone to play a similar role to Tim Curry's Wadsworth. He answers the door, takes coats, etc. A few other drama students could play the roles of some of the other key players, and if some of your friends were up for it, they could dress like others and mingle around with the other guests. Nothing too detailed, but a general knowledge of the character is good. Having Wadsworth pass some drinks while whispering different things to the guests like "Watch out for Professor Plum - he's an expert in poisons" or "Don't be fooled by Miss Scarlet - she's not as flaky as she seems", etc. 

Then I'd try to recreate some of the scenes/drama from the movie. Like Wadsworth rushing everyone from one room to another, or everyone opening the door to a singing telegram, or finding out over salad that some of the characters are connected. Personally, I don't think the whole movie/plot needs to be reenacted, just enough to give the vibe & make the dinner exciting. 

I'd decorate using a lot of the visuals from the movie, especially the music in the background. I'd give each guest a checklist/scavenger hunt to find the hidden location of different murder weapons used in the movie. Almost like a fill-in-the-blank sheet where they could write "The ______ was found in the Study" and they could fill in the blank space with the murder weapon they found there. This would be a neat way to use your "actors" - Mrs. Peacock could be stationed in the kitchen, for example, and she could make comments to everyone that would give hints as to where the weapon was hidden in that room. Like she could say she's allergic to eggs so her Cook makes some wonderful egg-less cookies for her, and then you've hidden the gun in the cookie jar, know what I mean? 

Anyway, I think there is soooooo much you could do with this theme! If I could ship off my kids I'd want to host a party like this!! Maybe when they are older I could use them as "actors" in some way, but for now they are too needy for me to create the kind of dinner party like this that I'd want to throw myself into. 

I'm looking forward to reading more about what you decide to do!


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## MissKiki (Oct 16, 2011)

We did this theme last year and it was a blast. Even with Multiple people as Miss Scarlett or Col Mustard, it was fun playing Who's the imposter. I staged wach room with a Photo Frame saying what happened, but not to whom and one of the Weapons. As usual for our crowd, everyone embellished and had a great time. I had the movie playing silently in the background just to add flair. Good Luck with your party!


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## Witchful Thinking (Jun 3, 2011)

I am so glad I posted - everyone is coming up with the most wonderful ideas!! I will definately incorporate many of these!!


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## Nataliexx (Sep 25, 2014)

Love this idea!


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