Our creative North Pole and Santa party decorations are specially tailored for our Is Santa Slayed? mystery game. However, many ideas are also great for other parties over the holiday season.
Many hosts choose to simply use whatever Christmas decorations they have to add a festive touch to their parties. Tinsel, Christmas trees, snowmen, baubles - they all create a warm Yuletide feel.
But others want to transport guests into the special magic of Santa's North Pole land. A land where signs are made out of candy canes, centuries-old elves lovingly create toys, polar bears run a "Claws for Claus" security, and reindeer campaign for "rights" before pulling Santa's legendary sleigh across the snowy nights. To do this, mix the Christmas decor you already have with a few ideas to give North Pole sparkle.
1.1 Use the Printouts Provided with the Murder Mystery's Decoration Kit
The decoration kit (zip 6) and the dinner table kit (zip 7) both have heaps of printouts that you can use to transform your home. Choose from posters, room signs, crate labels, bottle labels, and food labels. Just one or two printouts provide an easy way to transform your normal holiday season decorations.
This dessert bar used printouts provided with the game's decoration kit and dinner table kit.
The large "Nice List Only" poster adds a fun touch.
The wine bottle labels and the food label both add to the theme.
The red and white striped material is reused from our pirate game.
The red and white check material is reused from our wild west mystery.
2 Use a Red, Green and White Color Scheme for an Easy North Pole Vibe
The easiest way to give your party a North Pole vibe is to use a red and green color scheme with white accents. Take whatever red, white and green decorations and tableware you already have and then add a few more from the ideas below.
Tip: I found that it looks best if you use brighter reds and greens. In the photo below, I tried using green reindeer wrapping paper to cover the mats but the muted colors did not work well. The bright green crepe paper brought the table to life.
Table mats and coasters are covered with green crepe paper.
For the centerpiece, food cans are wrapped with green crepe paper. Then they are topped with wine bottles with labels from the game's decoration kit.
Red napkins, red Santa hats and white paper snowflakes complete the look.
1 Use red, green and white balloons to line your doorway or to create an arch for a party photo.
2 Use red, green or white foil curtains to line walls or doorways.
3 Use an assortment of red, green and white tablecloths. Use contrasting red, white or green napkins and placemats.
4 If you don't have red or green placemats, then cover old placemats in red or green Christmas wrapping paper. Alternatively, use red, green or white tissue or crepe paper.
Tip: as tissue paper is semi-transparent, it is often best to first line the placemat with a sheet of plain white computer paper.
Important note: if drinks are spilled, the dye from the paper may - possibly - affect your tablecloth.
5 For extra effect, use a mix of red, green and white foods. (See North Pole party food for lots of innovative ideas.) This can really reinforce your theme.
6 Spray paint empty wine bottles with a selection of red, white and green colors. Add the wine bottle labels from the game's decoration kit. Top with a candle or a Christmas bauble as you prefer. Optionally decorate with bows (if fire safety permits).
7 Wrap biscuit or cake tins in red, white or green tissue paper or festive wrapping paper. Then place on your buffet table and rest plates of food on top.
8 For an easy table centerpiece, use a dish filled with red, green or white tinsel and festive baubles. If safe, add colored candles or flameless candles.
9 Extend your centerpiece by resting it on top of a tin or oval shape covered in colored tissue or wrapping paper. Alternatively, cover a cake stand with red, green or white tissue paper and then rest your centerpiece on top.
Tip: covering a cake stand or tin in colored tissue paper or wrapping paper is an easy way of adding in the right colors and making your centerpiece or buffet food stand out. It is an easy and budget-friendly way of transforming items that you possess into a North Pole color scheme.
3 Candy Cane Decorations
Candy cane table decorations for dinner party.
Records are covered with white cloth and red or green ribbon stripes.
Candy cane Santa sleighs and centerpiece.
3.1 Candy Cane Decorations for the Dinner Table
10 Create your own candy cane place mats by covering LP-sized records with white material and red ribbon. (I used an inexpensive thinnish white sheet that I bought from Amazon and 25mm thick red ribbon from Atbeamen. A thin material was necessary to avoid ridges of material around the edges of the record.)
Method:
I found that I needed to first line the top part of the record with white computer paper to make the color of the sheet appear whiter.
Then I cut squares out of the white sheet; each square was about 2 inches (approximately 5cm) larger than the record. I ironed each square of cloth and placed it over the record. Then I used Sellotape to attach the cloth to the reverse of the record. I got rid of "ridges" around the record by using more Sellotape on the cloth on the reverse of the record and pulling it gently towards the center. I kept doing this until the cloth-covered record looked circular.
I used use 4 lengths of red ribbon that were a little bigger than the size of the LP. I placed each length of ribbon across the center of the record and then Sellotaped it on the reverse side. I spaced the ribbons so that each record was divided into equal-sized "eighths". (See photo above.)
Note: if you are serving hot food and your table needs protecting from hot items, then add layers of heatproofing by layering records and cardboard circles. I used three records with two thin layers of cardboard for each place setting. If you have a valued table surface, then please do your own heatproof tests.
Important: I would NOT put dishes directly from the oven on these mats!
11 Cover record Singles with the same white material as your coasters.
12 For an easy table centerpiece, cover another LP with white cloth and green ribbon in a similar method to 9 above. (I used 25mm emerald green satin ribbon from the Cut and Sew Company.) Place this record on a white cake stand (or one covered in white tissue paper). Then top with a bowl filled with marshmallows and candy canes. In place of marshmallows, you could also use red, green and white coated chocolate beans, red and white mints or other red, green or white sweets.
Tip: I placed candy canes in a small shot glass to keep them close together. I then put this shot glass in the center of a white bowl and used marshmallows to keep the shot glass stable. The marshmallows in the photo above look slightly different to normal ones as they are vegan. (Several of our party are vegetarian.)
Tip: it might be best to keep the candy canes in their protective plastic wrappings. I removed them thinking that they would look better. By the following morning, however, the candy canes had all stuck together and I could not respace them. Keeping them in their wrappings would also mean that guests could eat them at the end of the meal.
13 Santa's sleigh place cards decorated in a candy cane style: instead of using place cards, use the super cute sleigh place cards provided with the decoration kit in "Is Santa Slayed?". These come complete with each character's name and instructions for assembly. For people who have not bought our murder mystery game, there is an editable paper template. See instructions for creating cute candy cane Santa's sleigh place cards.
14 For extra appeal, use candy canes for the sleigh runners and use the sleighs to hold candies or petit fours in miniature cupcake cases.
Left photo: candy cane cupcake cases make simple doilies.
Right photo: candy cane cupcake case adds decoration to the coaster.
15 Make inexpensive place cards, food labels, menu cards, coasters and food doilies out of candy cane cupcake cases. Use other cupcake cases for food. (I bought SANNIX's liners: 450pcs and 9 designs and then wondered how I could use the additional cupcake cases for decorative purposes.)
Method: straighten out cupcake cases and use them in different ways.
For coasters, glue a cupcake case on the center of a Single record covered in white cloth - or in the center of a circle of white card. Note that glue will be needed; otherwise the weight of the glass makes the cupcake case curl upwards. (As glue was used under the cases, I kept the glasses upright so the rims were not touching the cases.)
For homemade food labels or place setting cards, glue 2-3 cupcake case liners onto a circle of white card. This card should be slightly smaller than the case. Then add the food name or the character name onto a smaller circle of white card and glue onto the centre of the cupcake case. For food labels, attach to a small wooden skewer.
For menu cards, arrange the cupcake case liners behind the menu card so that half to a quarter of the liner is visible. Glue or Sellotape into place. Optionally then glue onto a larger piece of card.
For food doilies, use single cases on a tray.
Tip: using 2-3 cupcake case liners makes the structure less flimsy and gives a deeper color.
16 Cover old table mats and coasters with candy cane wrapping paper.
17 Extend this theme by covering biscuit tins with the same wrapping paper and use these as cake stands.
18 Extend this theme further by backing your menu and place cards with the same wrapping paper. Use this paper to cover rectangles of cardboard that are slightly larger than your menu and place cards. Then glue the menu and place cards onto this covered cardboard.
19 Make simple candy cane napkin holders: buy candy cane tree decorations and glue these to a circular strip of red card (or cardboard covered in red tissue paper). Then insert a rolled napkin.
20 Buy candy cane tablecloths, napkins, plates, cups etc. Optionally contrast these with simple plain green napkins or place mats. (If you do not have green placemats, then optionally cover old mats with green tissue or crepe paper.)
Tip: if you search for "Circus party supplies red and white stripes", you will find different red and white striped tablecloths, plates, cups etc. Simply add some green accents in the form of napkins, placemats, ribbons etc.
21 Create a simple inexpensive candy cane table centerpiece using 15 identical small tins of food. (Obviously, you can later use the tins.)
Divide the tins into three stacks: 6 tins in one stack, 5 in the second and 4 in the third.
Tape together, if necessary, and then cover each stack of tins in white material. If your material is thin, you will get a brighter white color if you first line the tins with white paper or with an inner covering of cloth.
Use red ribbon or red masking tape to create diagonal red lines.
Top with red pillar candles (if safe) or flameless candles as you choose. Alternatively, use red Christmas baubles on a base of fake snow. (For fake snow, use specialist fake snow, or fake cobwebs or cotton wool.)
22 Create a simple candy cane centerpiece using a box, baubles and ribbons. Line a small box with red, white and green striped paper. Fill with an assortment of red and green Christmas baubles. Optionally add bows made out of ribbons.
3.2 Other Candy Cane Decorations
North Pole candy cane sign table centerpiece.
The sign pole was made out of a narrow postal tube that rested for stability on a kitchen roll holder.
The signs were provided in the game's decoration kit.
To make the signs smaller, I used a 60% custom scale when printing.
23 Make a candy cane signpost that references different places or events in the murder mystery game. You can use this as a table centerpiece or as a party decoration elsewhere.
Note: "Is Santa Slayed?" references the following places: Elf Village, Elfie's Cabin, Naughty and Nice List Shed, Toy Workshop, Santa's Cabin, Mrs Claus' Café, Reindeer Stables, Santa Express and Claws for Claus Security. The murder mystery also references "Reindeer Races". All of these are available as "arrow signs" in the game's decoration kit. If you wish to print them for a table centerpiece, then use a smaller custom scale when printing. (I used a 60% custom scale.)
Method:
Take a tall cylindrical structure that is the appropriate height. For the table centerpiece above, I used a small, narrow postal tube and rested this for stability on a kitchen roll holder. For a larger sign, I would use a larger postal tube, a large roll of wrapping paper or even a piece of drainpipe.
Cover this with white material such as a piece of a white sheet or white paper; alternatively, paint white.
Attach a red ribbon to the top and then wrap this ribbon round the cylinder in diagonal lies, securing as necessary with tape or glue. Alternatively, use red masking tape.
For stability, use an item such as a kitchen roll holder or a patio umbrella stand holder for the base and then cover this in fake snow. (As an alternative to fake snow, you could use stretchy fake cobweb material or, for small areas, cotton wool.)
Cover a round object such as a tennis ball in red material such as red tissue paper or a red napkin and attach to it the top. Alternatively, use a red or gold Christmas bauble.
Use some of the signpost arrows provided with the game's decoration pack. Print, glue to the back of card or cardboard (if using large arrows), and attach these to the signpost.
Optionally scatter other North Pole features such as miniature snowflakes, polar bears, snowmen, elves or wrapped presents around.
24 Create a North Pole candy cane signpost in a similar method to 23 above. Use the "North Pole" sign supplied with the game's decoration kit or make your own with cardboard.
25 Have an inflatable candy cane archway as an impressive party entrance.
Adrian's fabulous party entrance features an inflatable candy cane arch, an inflatable Father Christmas and an inflatable reindeer.
26 Add a festive touch to your stair newel post by wrapping round red ribbon or red tinsel in diagonal lines. (Obviously ensure you do not damage the post.)
27 Buy candy cane decorations from online party suppliers and add these to displays of balloons etc.
28 Buy hanging foil swirls with added candy canes from suppliers such as CocCCoon.
29 Extend the theme by having "present" boxes wrapped in white cloth and then decorated with stripes of red or green ribbon - or with different-sized circles of red or green cloth. Dress with ribbon bows.
4 Santa Decorations
The murder mystery is called "Is Santa Slayed?" and so anything to do with good old St Nick is right on theme.
4.1 Santa's Sleigh or the Santa Express
In the murder mystery, there is conflict between those who support the tradition of jolly Mr Claus's sleigh being pulled by reindeer and the "modernists" who wish to have the Santa Express train replace the sleigh. Therefore, any decorations involving sleighs or toy trains are appropriate.
30 Use a child's wooden toy train. Optionally stick a "Santa Express" sign on it or else have a "Santa Express" sign overhead.
31 Use the sleigh place card settings that come with the mystery game to have a miniature candy cane sleigh for each guest's dinner table place. See 3.1 above.
32 Buy a small wooden sleigh. We bought an Extra Large MDF 3D Father Christmas Sleigh from LaserSmith's Amazon store and then painted it. We bought two 3D wooden reindeer from Garden Mile's Amazon store and left them unpainted.
Use this as a table centerpiece. Fill the sleigh with small empty packages wrapped in festive wrapping paper.
Use the sleigh as a cake stand.
IF the sleigh is sturdy enough, use it for drinks.
34 If you are feeling very flush, buy a large cardboard sleigh from an online party supplier and use this as a party backdrop.
35 Buy a paper sleigh and reindeer banner.
Santa's sleigh and reindeer.
The MDF sleigh was painted and used as a cakestand.
4.2 Santa's Person & Clothes
Table mats and coasters are covered with green crepe paper.
For the centerpiece, food cans are wrapped with green crepe paper. Then they are topped with wine bottles with labels from the game's decoration kit.
Red napkins, red Santa hats and white paper snowflakes complete the look.
36 Buy a pack of wine bottle topper Santa hats and use them to top wine bottles. (I bought a pack of 36 miniature hats from Gukasxi via their Amazon store.)
37 Use these miniature hats to form a centerpiece. (In the photo above, I placed them on top of miniature safety candles so that the wine bottles became a table centerpiece.)
38 Alternatively, use these same miniature hats to hold a chocolate to have with coffee.
Upend the wine glasses on each guest's table setting. Place wrapped chocolates on top of the upended wine glass and then place a miniature Santa hat over each chocolate.
Alternatively, place a wrapped chocolate on top of each guest's napkin and place a Santa hat over each chocolate.
39 Reuse any existing Kris Kringle decorations you have. Examples could be tree ornaments, honeycomb ornaments, inflatable balloons, candles, mobiles, etc.
40 Buy or make Santa hat napkins. For example, AshandDove offers super-cute cloth-style napkins via its Etsy shop. If making, fold a red napkin into a cone shape; flatten and secure the back edge if necessary. Fold the corner into the fold so that you have a neat edge for the base of the hat. Use cotton wool to create a white lining across the base and also a "pom pom" at the tip.
41 Buy a pack of Santa hats from an online party store. Hang these over the back of each chair for an instant festive vibe. Optionally also use them as prizes for Best Solution, Best Acting etc.
42 Create a Santa belt table runner.
Method: place a strip of red cloth down the center of your table and add a thinner black strip of cloth down the center of the red cloth. Then add a gold or silver "belt buckle" made out of gold, silver or yellow material. This "buckle" can simply be a rectangle of rounded rectanglular shape that is larger than the black strip of cloth. Cut away the center to create a buckle shape.
Alternative method: use a red tablecloth to represent a red Father Christmas suit. Then have a strip of white cloth or white artificial fur running the length of your table to represent the white of the suit joins. Add some black circles to represent buttons. Then add a large strip of black cloth running widthways in the center of your table. Add a "belt buckle" made out of gold, silver or yellow material as above.
43 Use Santa belt napkins, napkin holders, wine bottle covers etc. Buy these from online suppliers or make your own using red, white and black cloth and gold, yellow or silver cloth (or painted cardboard) for the buckle.
44 Use special Father Christmas face plates or serving plates. Ginger Ray offer a pack of foiled paper plates shaped into Mr Claus' face via their Amazon store.
45 Use a Santa Suit to cover wine bottles.
46 Use the "Santa's Recovery Drink" and "Santa's Energy Drink" wine bottle labels provided with the game.
4.3 Ho Ho Ho
47 Add a "Ho Ho Ho" sign (or two) in the form of streamers, signs or pictures.
48 Create a DIY "Ho Ho Ho" picture. Use a felt-tip or marker pen to write "Ho Ho Ho" on a large piece of white paper or light card. Glue onto a larger piece of cardboard to act as a frame. For best results, first wrap this larger piece of cardboard in Christmas wrapping paper - or even larger red napkins.
49 Make a simple "Ho Ho Ho" table runner by cutting letters out of red, white or green card and placing them lengthwise down your table.
50 Cover small square brick shapes with festive wrapping paper and then add the word "HO" on each side. Arrange as a table centerpiece or as a decoration on your sideboard or coffee table.
5 Present Giving Traditions
The tradition of children hanging their stockings by the fireplace for good St Nick to fill with presents needs no explanation.
5.1 Toy Workshop
Santa's toy workshop made with cardboard sheets overlapping a wooden frame.
Christmas wrapping paper, fairy lights and festive baubles are used to create a magical feel.
Fake snow, paper and lace snowflakes and white foil curtains are appropriate for the North Pole.
52 Have a display of toys, wrapped and unwrapped, with a "Toy Workshop" sign.
53 Create a smaller house shape out of a large piece of cardboard. Paint or decorate it to look like a toy workshop.
54 Create or buy a gingerbread house for a table centerpiece. Add a "Toy Workshop" sign and a few small wrapped presents.
5.2 Christmas Stockings
Miniature Christmas stockings are used for cutlery
55 Use miniature Christmas stockings to hold cutlery.
56 Hang a pack of stockings from the fireplace. Place each guest's party booklet inside a stocking.
Tip: in the photo below, festive wallpaper was Blu Tacked to the walls and fireplace to extend the visual impact.
5.3 Naughty and Nice List
Tash found an ancient book with faded sheets of paper to represent a "spell book".
She wrote all names except for Scrooge under the Nice List column
As the game wore on, people's names got crossed off the nice list!
57 Use the "Are You Naughty or Nice?" placemat covers provided with the game.
58 Use the "Are You Naughty or Nice?" and "Dear Santa Please Wake Up - We Promise to Be Nice" posters provided with the game. Put these on the door as guests arrive. Optionally make them the center of a display with stockings around them.
59 Use the "Drinks - Nice List Only" or "Dessert - Nice List Only" posters provided with the game. Place these above the drinks bar or the dessert tray!
60 Have a "Naughty or Nice list" board or page with two columns (one for Nice and one for Naughty). Use the character name tags provided with the game. (You may need some method of attaching these tags to the board.) Let all characters begin on the Nice List. At the end of each round, move character name tags into the appropriate column - allow appropriate claims and counter-claims.
61 Use Naughty and Nice List napkins. For example, TaoBary sell "Team Nice" and "Team Naughty" napkins via their Amazon store. Optionally, let everyone start with a "Team Nice" napkin. Then, as the murder mystery progresses, change these to "Team Naughty".
5.4 Posting Letters to Father Christmas
62 Create a red North Pole post box. At the end of the Accusations round, let each player post their accusations into the letter box. Note that, to do so, you will need a separate sheet of paper on which guests can write their accusations and also their nominations for best actor, costume and (if relevant) food.
Christmas stockings hanging by fireplace.
Festive wrapping paper lines walls and fireplace.
Stockings hold players' party booklets.
Signs from the game's decoration kit are placed above the fireplace.
6 Animals and Beings Mentioned in the Murder Mystery
In the fictional world of "Is Santa Slayed?", Bear and the reindeer run "Claws for Claus" security. Therefore it is appropriate for both polar bears and reindeer to feature in the decorations. Also, the mystery game features elves and wizards.
Left and right photos = Rights for reindeer signs.
Middle photo = Claws for Claus sign with polar bear
63 Incorporate any decorative polar bears, reindeer, elves and wizards that you have into your decor.
64 Have miniature reindeer cutouts as place cards. Write each character's name on the reindeer and optionally hang from wine glasses. OULII offer a pack of 15 from their Amazon store.
65 Check out the reindeer decorating tips for our "Murder at the Christmas Party" game for further ideas.
7 Snow, Snowflakes and Snowmen Decorations
66 Use white foil curtains as a backdrop. Hang paper snowflakes in front. Make your own or buy from an online supplier such as YNOUU.
67 Create a mobile of paper snowflakes.
68 Use white doilies that have a snowflake shape. Use these as table runners or as coasters.
69 Use white snowflake placemats or coasters.
70 Add artificial "snow" to your party decorations. Alternatively, I found that fake cobwebs that I'd bought for my Horror murder mystery decorations were ideal to reuse as fake snow. Stretched cotton wool might also work.
71 Add any snowmen decorations that you have into your other decor.
8 Other Customer Ideas
72 Have a spell book to represent Magician Tinsel's spells. See Tash's Naughty and Nice List idea above. Note the faded paper, the ancient-looking cover, the ancient calligraphy, and the sketches.
73 Have potion bottles labeled with the magical potions in the game: Santa's Recovery Drink, Santa's Energy Drink, and the Night Before Christmas Sleep Drops.
74 Take fingerprints for each suspect throughout the evening and add these to a "fingerprint board".
75 Follow Tash's idea, and have suspects pose against a police mugshot background with a letterboard for their name.
Mrs Claus posing against a police mugshot backdrop.
Tash asked each of her guests to pose against this backdrop.
These ideas are provided for your inspiration only. Any recipes or recipe ideas should be tested before your party. Ideas for party recipes, decorations or costumes should be adapted as you wish. It is YOUR responsibility to follow any necessary safety precautions.
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