A Totally Tubular 1980s Murder Mystery Party for Your Friends

Are you planning a 1980s murder mystery party? This theme is perfect for those who love the color play and boldness of the 1980s and who also enjoy a little bit of mystery. We had a rad time at our recent murder mystery 1980s party that we hosted for our annual murder mystery night. In this post and in the follow up post linked below, you can find a mega-guide for hosting both a murder mystery party and a 1980s theme party – even if you aren’t combining both! I even have a few free 1980s party printables for you!

I put a lot of time into planning our murder mystery parties the past few years! I have added A LOT of links to helpful resources and to all the things that were purchased for our party for your convenience.

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The Fun of a Murder Mystery Party

At a murder mystery 1980s party, guests are assigned characters and given clues to solve a fictional murder. As the night progresses, guests will interact with each other in character and gather information to piece together the mystery. This type of party is perfect for those who love to dress up and play a role, as it allows guests to fully immerse themselves in the theme.

I cannot tell you how much fun we have at our murder mystery parties! We have now hosted around 19 murder mystery parties, and we have a long list of regular guests who look forward to the next party all year long.

This year, I realized that 27 of the 30 people at our parties are either educators or are the spouses of educators! I think that may be what helps our parties to be so successful – most teachers and principals are used to dressing up for silly spirit days at school and such!

I chose Murder High Reunion for our 1980s murder mystery party by Night of Mystery. The games at Night of Mystery are digital downloads formats – which means I had to print everything myself. I first purchased this game 12 years ago or so, and now I purchased it a second time. It seems to have changed somewhat since the first time we played with more things added in. Or maybe my memory has just gone super foggy since having my first child months after hosting that first party! I wrote a whole post about Murder High Reunion Ideas if you are interested in that particular game.

Other 1980s murder mystery games to consider are:

Totally Rad 80s Prom Gone Bad

Like, Oh My Gosh…Murder!

Planning a 1980s Murder Mystery Party

As a veteran murder mystery party hostess, I can tell you there is a lot of work involved in hosting! I have already covered these planning details thoroughly in my post on hosting a murder mystery party so you can check that post out after reading this one.

The 1980s were a time of color pop, bold patterns, loud music, and in-your-face style.

No doubt, the 1980s is the perfect setting for a modern day murder mystery party! This might have been one of my favorite murder mysteries to set up for yet!

1980s Party Food and Drinks

After you finish reading this post which focuses mostly on 1980s costumes and party decorations, you will want to check out my second post on the 1980s food and 1980s cocktails we served at our party.

In fact, I’m sharing a free download of my 1980s drink menu! I made it so simple – featuring one house drink and wine coolers – the ultimate 80s store-bought drink!

Download your 1980s drink menu here or find it again in my other post.

1980s party food and drink deserved a whole post of its own!

1980s Outfits

When it comes to a murder mystery 1980s party, dressing up is a huge part of the fun! For 80s costumes, you can’t really go wrong with big glasses, big hair, big makeup, and big shoulder pads. Also, you need big earrings, big bracelets, big necklaces, big clunky shoes…and well, big everything! And not only should these things be big, but they should be colorful! Neon! Bold! I lived in the 80s, folks! I know how it was!

More 80s Costume Ideas for a 1980s Party

• bomber jackets
• floral dresses
• Guess jeans
• tight-rolled Jordache jeans
• short denim skirts
• off-the-shoulder shirts
• Converse

Women’s 1980s Outfits

1980s outfits for women were all about self expression with a “Hey, look at me!” vibe.

However, the particular descriptions listed for each character should determine what type of costume the person uses. Some of my guests were instructed to dress in full on fun 80s casual outfits while others needed to dress like politicians, etc. Our party was a 1980s class reunion theme so many of the guests were instructed to dress in very particular costumes – such as a math nerd, a football player, etc.

You can find amazing 1980s style outfits or costumes at thrift stores, if you are willing to do some digging. Or online. I wound up using a shiny blue animal print blazer that I actually wear to work occasionally. Every time I wear it, a few people comment how the blazer “is so 80s”. I found a little 1980s accessory pack on Amazon that included a poofy black skirt, a bow headband and some other things. My character was suppoed to be dressed as a reunion hostess – so a little dressier and professional. I also found some a three-pack of 1980s neon geometric earrings that are all mix and match! Super fun! Outfit done.

My friends looked fabulous!

• This 12-pack of 80s headbands would be fun to pass around or have as party favors.
• This 3-pack of cassette tape earrings are super cute as are these lightning bolt earrings.

1980s Men’s Outfits

Men’s fashion in the 1980s was all about color and pattern, as well!

My Husband played Rick Simmons, a twist on Richard Simmons. For his Richard Simmons costume, he wore this “Let’s Get Physical” retro tank, these tiny pink shorts, and this men’s curly haired wig. The look was hysterical!

Some other ideas for men’s 1980s costumes include:

• Men’s Memphis fashion cap
• Retro 80s Graphics Shorts Set (also for the 90s)

Our friends were on their A game with their 1980s costumes! I mean, just look at some of them! Again, costumes varied widely – based on the exact character each guest was assigned. Some people were supposed to rock a super casual 1980s style while others needed a dressier 1980s costume.

Murder Mystery 1980s Party Decor

Color Scheme

For a murder mystery 1980s party, the color scheme should be bright and fun! And when you think it’s gotten too bright, add some more color!

Lisa Frank Vibes

There are lots of directions you can take with 1980s party decorations. You could go with a Pac Man theme, an 80s music theme, a color block theme, etc.

I have always LOVED the Lisa Frank vibes of the 80s because I’m a big color and pattern girl. So I strived for Lisa Frank type decorations with a bit of music theme thrown in.

In the end, I wound up using this bright animal print backdrop for the group photos because it gave me Lisa Frank vibes! Because there are not any seams or curtain rod pockets and I did not have a backdrop stand, we did have to hang it with duct tape on our back porch wall – which looked a little goofy if you looked closely. I just tried to crop that out in the photos. After thinking on it for several years, I finally decided – after this party was over – to order myself a backdrop stand for the future so I will have a surefire way to hang backdrops since I use backdrops at so many parties.

More 1980s Murder Mystery Party Decorations and Props from Amazon

Props are easily available on Amazon, Party City, Oriental Trading, and other party shops.

For our 1980s murder mystery decorations and supplies, I ordered:

• This amazingly huge cassette tape pool float worked as the big decor show-stopper, a photo prop, and a prize at the end of the night! It was the most expensive item I bought in the party planning, but I felt it was worth it as a three-in-one item!
• To add to the 1980s music theme, I ordered these inflatable boomboxes. So fun! I used them on the mantle. In hindsight, I kind of wished I had ordered the six pack of them so I would have a few to pop around in other parts of the house.

• Around the entire house, I dropped little paper cut outs of cassette tapes. I tucked these little cut outs in everywhere I could. I also borrowed some slinkies from my girls’ toy collection and set them around as part of my 80s decor.

• I used this geometric abstract tapestry as a table cloth in the formal dining room. It made a huge pop! It was one of the pricier things, but it has lots of repurpose ability – hanging as a tapestry on a wall, etc. for the future. When I first bought it, I wasn’t sure if I would hang it as the primary backdrop or use it as a tablecloth, but I knew it had lots of 80’s party potential! One of my party guests borrowed it later on to use at her 90s party at work, and she hung it from a backdrop stand and used it as a backdrop. (There is actually a lot of crossover between 80s party decorations and 90s party decorations.)

• I absolutely wanted some 1980s Memphis design style at my party, and this Memphis fashion fabric piece worked perfectly as the table cloth on my kitchen table! It was one of my favorite pieces of the whole party decor scheme! It’s actually supposed to be a swimsuit sarong. Honestly, I’m not sure if I ever see myself using it as an actual swimsuit cover up, but I do think I can have my mom modify it into a kimono for when I have an 80s spirit at work at my school.

• Since our party was centered around a class reunion, some of the decorations needed to be reunion focused and not just 80s focused. I ordered this inexpensive reunion sign (pictured above in this post) off of Amazon. However, Amazon would not let me customize anything with the word “murder” on it for the party. So I ordered this inexpensive reunion sign off Amazon, and then added the bottom line of lettering myself that said, “Murder High Reunion 1985.”
• Candy cigarettes and Big League Chew gum added the perfect touches of 1980s vibes to some of the vignettes around the house (as you can see below). I also scattered some Bazooka gum and Razzles around. The Amazon pricing on these candies and gum seem pretty good. I purchased mine at a local candy store and paid a lot more for them than I had if I had ordered from Amazon!

Other 1980s Party Decorations on Amazon To Consider

• I almost bought this pack of neon plastic tablecloths and fabric table runners as extra color pop. But in the end, I had what I needed. Here is another set of neon tablecloths with cups, plates, and silverware! The set accommodates up to 24 people, and I had 30 guests at my party. Otherwise, this would have been a great deal!
• I used a set of neon plastic cups I already had on hand, but these cute 1980s plastic cups with lids would have been perfect for the night.

DIY Rad 80s Decorations

Another fun printable I made was a “We’re All Dying to See You Again” sign which was perfect as a welcome sign for our 1980s class reunion! You can print it on plain paper and pop it into a frame or just hang it somewhere.

Roaring 80s Murder Mystery Party Prizes

Every good murder mystery party ends with fun prizes! In addition to giving away the cassette tape pool float as a prize, I also had three bottles of wine for prizes. I found these printed 1980s wine bottle labels on Amazon, but by the time I found them, it was too late to get them in time for my party.

So I made my own printable 1980s wine bottle labels. My labels are on the larger side and have a bit of a wonky fit. (However, they would have fit fine if I had purchased wine bottles with shorter labels. As you can see, a bit of the real bottle labels peeks out just a little underneath my labels. Again, I should have measured better when at the store. Of course, I had to print the labels to a color copier (and my home printer prints terrible color) so I printed them to my local Office Depot. Then, I cut the copies and glued them on to the wine bottles. You could also print them directly to label paper if you wanted.

To save yourself this trouble, you could simply order from the Amazon link above and have four ready-made 1980s wine bottle labels!

It’s Time to Dress Up and Sleuth

Well, that’s a wrap on all of our 1980s party ideas! Now, put on your leg warmers or your bright wind suit, and get ready to solve a murder in style!

More Great Murder Mystery Ideas

Check out our other mystery party ideas!