Christmas Murder Mystery Party Food

 1 Food Names That Are Appropriate for the Murder Mystery

Choose names that reflect the game's setting in Rudolph's and Rafe's Rizzi Reindeer Hotel on Yuletide Mountain:

• Rizzi Roast Turkey
• Rudolph's Roast Potatoes
• Rizzi Rice Salad
• Reindeer Risotto
• Yuletide Mountain Yule Log

Or choose food that reflects the owner of the Yuletide Mountain Cafe. This is Noel Nerdee in the 6-8 player version of the murder mystery and Carol Singer in the larger versions.

• Carol's Cranberry Sauce
• Carol's Cranberry and Orange Cookies
• Carol Singer's Stuffing
• Carol Singer's Shortbread Cookies
• Carol Singer's Mince Pies
• Noel's Naughty Nut Roast

Or choose food related to the victim, Scrooge von Miser:

• Scrooge's Gruel = rice pudding
• von Miser's Mince Pies = small mince pies

For best results, use the decorative food labels that come with the game kit and also present this food in a festive way. See below.

2 Food Presentation That is Appropriate for a Christmas Murder Mystery

Any form of festive food arrangement can turn your favorite dish into one appropriate for the holiday season. If you want ideas with a North Pole or Santa theme, then check out our Santa and North Pole Party Food page for heaps of ideas and photos. A few other suggestions are below.

• Star shapes - either cut food such as cheese slices into Isosceles triangles and arrange into star shapes, or cover star shaped cookie cutters with cling film and sprinkle cocoa powder or icing sugar around them, or simply use star-shaped cookie cutters to cut pastry, cookies, cucumber slices etc.
• Festive salad wreath - this is super easy to make. See my photo below for an idea of how it might look. Simply arrange salad leaves in a circle on a large plate. Create "baubles" out of brightly colored circular or oval fruits and vegetables. (I used cranberries, pomegranate seeds, red grapes halved, and miniature tomatoes halved.) Add "hanging ornaments" made out of yellow peppers. Optionally add a ring of cucumber stars inside the salad ring. In the center of the wreath, place a dish of your choice of salad dressing. (I used my favorite homemade honey and mustard dressing. This is a snap to make and will generally keep in the fridge for short periods: mix 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar, 1-2 teaspoons of honey and 1-2 teaspoons of wholegrain mustard. Honey and mustard are to taste: I prefer 2 heaped teaspoons of honey.)
• Festive meat or cheese wreath - arrange meats or cheeses in a wreath shape. Garnish with olives, rosemary leaves, grapes or miniature tomato halves as you wish. 
• Cookie cutter shapes - invest in a set of festive cookie cutters. (We bought a 9-piece set from Keepaty and also used the miniature star shape in a 12-piece set from Amison.) If you think creatively, these cutters can turn more than cookies into shapes that will wow your guests. For example, use them to cut tortilla, watermelon, pastry, and slices of processed cheese or meat. 
• Stew or pasta bake topped with festive puff pastry shapes - make and bake the puff pastry shapes in advance and refrigerate. Just before serving, reheat them and place them on top of your dish to turn ordinary food into something special.

• Christmas tree platter - for example, salad, cheese, tomatoes, grapes and/or olives arranged to resemble an Xmas tree.  
• Festive pizza - cut pizza dough or puff pastry into the shape of a Christmas tree, Santa's boot or candy cane, top with tomato sauce and then decorate with Mozzarella cheese and tomatoes or pepperoni. Red or green pesto can also look great.
• Watermelon Christmas Trees - cut into slices and use a cookie cutter to make tree shapes. Alternatively, use thin strips of Galia or honeydew melon to make the tree shape. (See 2.1.1 below.)
• Fancy bread rolls or tear-and-share bread - arrange into a Christmas tree shape. 

2.1 Food Cut Into Reindeer Shapes: Two Examples

As the game is set in The Rizzi Reindeer Hotel, food presented in a reindeer shape is super appropriate. Reindeer or antler-shaped cookie cutters would be a help.  Consider adding Pretzels to create reindeer ears and red smarties, raspberries, red grapes or mini tomatoes to create a red nose. For the eyes, use bought edible eyes, chocolate drops, or dried fruit.  

2.1.1 Festive Trio of Melon Starter

For a starter, create a trio of melon and present in a festive way. You will need a watermelon, one or two firm melons, and reindeer and star cookie cutters. I used watermelon for the reindeer, antlers and star; I used a mix of Galia and honeydew melons to make the Christmas tree. I used stem ginger, raspberries, dried cranberries, and pomegranate seeds to decorate.

Tip: a cantaloupe melon would have worked well for the star and the tree base but the shops did not have one available when we ran our test party. Therefore, I improvised and used stem ginger for the base and a watermelon for the star.

Note: I found it fairly easy to cut the watermelon shapes. For the Xmas tree, I found this more fiddling but I learned to create two sets of equal-length matchsticks of melon for each side of the tree.

2.1.2 Reindeer-Shaped Baking

Sharon created some superb reindeer cookies for her party. For one of our test parties, we turned an ordinary mince pie into a reindeer one with the aid of cookie cutters from Keeparty.

Tip: if we were to make this again, we would bake the pastry shapes separately and then arrange them on top of the pie after baking. This is because we found that the mincemeat was cooked and the top pastry shapes were not fully cooked.  We therefore used a culinary blow torch to finish off the pastry shapes without overcooking the mincemeat.

3 Food and Drink Mentioned in the Game

It could be fun to serve food and drink mentioned in the murder mystery game - especially if this is done after the appropriate game round.

Reindeer poop drops (round 5) – Rudolph is very proud of these; other characters are not so keen. A plate of these "poop drops" could be amusing if served after round 5. Create a savory version with miniature meatballs with a brown barbeque sauce, miniature black bean patties, devilled nuts, or beef cooked in sweet and sticky crispy beef cubes. Create a sweet version with chocolate-covered fruit, nuts, or cereal clusters. (I love cereals such as Rice Crispies or Cornflakes mixed with dried fruit or fresh berries and then covered in chocolate.) A few cranberries (dried or fresh) add a festive touch.

Another idea: different online suppliers sell edible reindeer poop. For example, Baking Friends Store and Generic both sell this via their Amazon stores. Buy bags to give as prizes for the best acting, best solution, and best costume at the end of the murder mystery party.

Mulled wine (round 5) – Rudolph makes his own. If serving, use a food label and call it "Rudolph's Mulled Wine".

Smoked salmon and caviar blinis (round 5) – Rafe optionally says this should be served.

Festive wreath (round 5) – Rafe optionally says this should be served.

Mince pies and gingerbread (round 3) – served in Carol Singer's café (8-10 player version and larger).

Mince pies and Christmas cake (round 3) – served in Noel Nerdee's café (6-8 player version only).

4 Cold Make-Ahead Xmas Buffet Ideas

As the food is cold, it can be made in advance. This helps you as the host to play a role in the murder mystery without having to keep an eye on the oven at the same time. These ideas are great for a buffet - or for a course of a sit-down meal.

Note: for our own murder mystery parties, we tend to mix cold starters, a hot make-ahead main course, and a cold dessert. We've found this to be the best way of reducing our time in the kitchen while still serving good food. However, some hosts choose to serve a two-course cold buffet (savory and desserts).

A few general ideas: think turkey or ham; winter fruits such as cranberries, figs, dates, and pomegranates; "Christmas stocking" fruits and nuts such as oranges, clementines, and walnuts; roasted chestnuts and warming spices such as ginger and cinnamon.

4.1 Cold Savory Buffet Ideas

A few ideas for festive food that can be made in advance. For other great ideas, please see Noth Pole and Santa Party Food.

• Cold sliced roast meat - turkey with cranberry sauce or spicy glazed ham.
• Cranberry and brie puff pastry bites, pinwheels or tartlets.
• Sausage rolls, vegetarian sausage rolls or walnut and cheese rolls.
• Turkey and cranberry pie or turkey and ham pie with a cranberry topping.
• Goat's cheese, pear and walnut tartlets or blue cheese and fig tartlets.
• Salads - turn your favorite salad into a festive one by sprinkling with cranberries, walnuts, pecans and pomegranate seeds.
• Unusual festive salads - try Nadiya Hussain's unusual Brussels sprout slaw.
• Winter coleslaw.
• Cheeseboard with festive cheeses such as Wensleydale with Cranberry, Clementine and Cheshire, or Rambol Walnut; add seasonal chutneys such as fig and plum chutney or cranberry jelly; then add a selection of fresh figs, dates, walnuts, pecans and dried or fresh cranberries. You could optionally choose speciality festive crackers such as the Snowdonia Cheese Company's Fig and Cranberry Crackers.
• Festive cheeseballs using flavors such as dried cranberries, crushed walnuts or pecans and even pomegranate seeds.
• Cold pigs in blankets.
• Ham hock terrine.
• Cranberry-glazed chicken wings.
• Dates stuffed with goat's cheese, blue cheese or Stilton and garnished with pistachios, prosciutto, bacon or good veggie "bacon".
• Cranberry sauce - make your own cranberry sauce to wow your guests with the vibrant color of whole cranberries.

4.2 Cold Desserts

A few ideas:

• Christmas cake
• Mince pies
• Trifles - an old favorite, but give a nod to the season with flavors of gingerbread, clementine, cranberry, fig, ginger, or cinnamon 
• Sugared cranberries
• Gingerbread cake with salted caramel buttercream
• Gingerbread cookies decorated with reindeer antlers and a red nose
• Gingerbread cheesecake trifle
• Yule log
• Cranberry pavlova
• Mince pie cupcakes with brandy buttercream
• Strawberry Santa hats - slice the top off a strawberry; sandwich the two halves together with whipped cream; optionally place on top of a small biscuit using whipped cream to make an attractive layer
• Christmas pudding ice cream
• Fruit poached in mulled wine, cinnamon and vanilla
• Mulled wine jelly topped with pannacotta or ice cream
• Chestnut mousse or a chestnut and chocolate cake
• Cranberry cakes - add cranberries to your favorite recipe for a seasonal twist: cranberry lemon pound cake, dark chocolate and cranberry bundt cake, cranberry upside down cake, or cranberry chocolate brownies

5 Hot Make-Ahead Festive Food

5.1 Hot Starters

Chestnut soup - nothing speaks of Christmastide like roasted chestnuts so try a bowl of chestnut soup with fancy bread. Soups can be made ahead of time and reheated in a dish in the oven while playing the initial rounds or kept warm in a slow cooker. Optionally, garnish the soup with a swirl of fresh cream and some dried cranberries.

Baked Brie - sprinkled with brown sugar and dried cranberries or sprinkled with a cranberry, maple syrup and rosemary mix.  Some hosts choose to serve starters when guests first arrive and before the murder mystery begins; this would work well for those circumstances. If serving after round 2, then you will need to time the cooking while playing the murder mystery rounds.

Baked ham hock pots - these can be prepared in advance and cooked between rounds; again, you will need to keep an eye on the timing as you play a round.

5.2 Hot Main Course

5.2.1 Hot Main Dish

For many, Yuletide calls for a roast dinner: turkey, ham, or a nut roast with all the trimmings. This can be hard to do when you're enjoying yourself as a suspect in a murder game! See section 7.1 for how we managed to serve a roast dinner.

Other similar festive options are:

• turkey, cranberry, chestnuts, and stuffing wellington
• nut loaf topped with cranberry sauce
• turkey crown topped with brown sugar and spice glaze

If you don't feel confident enough to serve a roast while playing a suspect, but still wish to serve some hot food to your guests, then try a hot meal that can be prepared largely in advance for stress-free catering:

• a turkey curry
• meatballs in a spicy cranberry sauce
• turkey and ham pie

5.2.2 Hot Vegetables: A Few Ideas

Use vegetables that can be largely pre-prepared and pre-cooked and then reheated while guests are playing the initial parts of the murder game - for example:

• baked potatoes
• mashed potatoes
• mashed carrots and swede 
• carrots oven-cooked with orange glaze
• red cabbage dishes - choose whether to flavor your red cabbage dish with cinnamon, nutmeg, apples, and brown sugar or whether to try a seasonal mix with mulled port and pears, or red wine, cinnamon and star anise. 

Add other vegetables such as peas or very thin carrots julienne that are super-quick to cook using pre-boiled water.

Tip: boil the kettle at the end of the starters so that it can reboil and cook the peas in the time it takes your guests to sit back at the dinner table.

Brussels sprouts: if you remove the stalks and outer leaves of Brussels sprouts and then cut a cross in them to enable the heat to penetrate them quicker, they can boil in 2-5 minutes. Important: to avoid smells, cook quickly and do not overboil.

5.3 Hot Dessert

Christmas pudding with custard, rum butter, or white sauce is a firm seasonal favorite in our household. If you serve desserts with coffee after the murder mystery has finished, then you will be able to microwave the pudding while making custard or white sauce. 

6 Drinks to Warm up your Winter Soirée

A few alcoholic suggestions:

• Eggnog
• Festive punch
• Mulled wine
• Hot spiced apple cider
• Pomegranate and cranberry sparklers
• Cranberry cocktail or Mimosa
• Classic snowball
• Hot buttered rum 

For non-alcoholic drinks:

• Eggnog - alcohol-free version
• Non-alcoholic punch or mocktail given a seasonal twist with cranberry or clementine juice. For example, mix cranberry juice, sparkling white grape juice and orange juice for a cranberry spritz.
• Clementine, mint, and orange-blossom water mock mojito

Instead of standard teas and coffees, why not finish your dinner party or party with gingerbread hot chocolates - with or without the extra whipped cream and crumbled gingerbread topping?

7 Our Christmas Murder Mystery Dinner Parties - Menu and Timings

7.1 Dinner Party Menu 1: Christmas Roast Dinner

Starters = pate with cranberry sauce, salad garnish and tear and share bread shaped like a Christmas tree

Main Course = roast turkey and ham (or nut roast for the vegetarians), stuffing, mashed potatoes, roast parsnips, mashed carrot and swede, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, green beans

Dessert = Yule log or fresh fruit, meringues (shop bought) and cream

7.1.1 Timings

The day before:

• the potatoes were cooked, mashed and placed in an oven-proof dish in the fridge
• the carrots and swede were cooked, mashed and placed in an oven-proof dish in the fridge
• the red cabbage was cooked and placed in an oven-proof dish in the fridge
• the Yule log was made
• the ham was cooked and glazed and then refrigerated

1-3 hours before the party:

• the turkey crown was placed in the oven and basted at periodic intervals - the timing of this will depend on the size of your turkey crown
• the pate and salad garnish was plated and refrigerated
• the tear-and-share bread dough (shop-bought) was shaped into a Christmas tree and cooked
• the Brussels sprouts had the stalks and outer leaves removed and a cross was cut in them to enable quicker cooking
• the fresh fruit was prepared, plated, and refrigerated
• parsnips were peeled and parboiled and partly roasted and then stored in a roasting dish in the fridge

An hour before the party:

• the ham, potatoes, carrot and swede, red cabbage, and parsnip dishes were all brought to room temperature
• the green beans (already topped and tailed) were placed in a steamer pan

After round 2:

• the starters were placed on the table
• the kettle was boiled
• the ham and dishes of potato, carrot and swede, red cabbage and parsnips were placed in the oven

After round 4:

• the kettle was reboiled and the water was used to steam the green beans and Brussels sprouts
• the meat was sliced
• the gravy was made

7.2 Dinner Party Menu 2: Normal Food Presented in a Festive Way

Starters = tortilla cut into reindeer and star shapes and served with cranberry sauce and an Xmas tree salad.

Mains = lasagna topped with peppers and half a spring onion in the shape of an Xmas tree.

Tip: arrange the peppers on a plate before transferring them to the top of the lasagne.

Dessert = trifle decorated with stars. To make the stars, I covered three star-shaped cookie cutters with cling film, placed them on top of the cream-covered trifle, and then dusted round them with cocoa powder.

Tip: be careful how much cocoa powder gets on top of the cling film. I found that a small amount "floated" onto the bare cream when I removed the cookie cutters.

8 Two Other Wonderful Festive Menus

8.1 Cheryl's Superb Roast Dinner

Cheryl served a wonderful two-course meal.

Main course:

• fennel braised in orange juice
• red cabbage
• porchetta with chipolatas and crackling
• parmesan parsnips
• roast potatoes
• broccoli finished with lightly fried chili

Desserts:

• Yule log
• mince pies

8.2 Eva's Catalan-Inspired Fish Feast

Eva treated her guests to the type of fish feast commonly eaten on Christmas Day in her native Catalonia.

Cold Starters:

• Mojama (dry tuna fish)
• Seafood salad and herring
• Anchovy salad with tomatoes and olives
• Gambas al ajillo (prawns with garlic and parsley)

Main Course:

• Almejas a la marinera (Clams in sauce)
• Crab claws

Dessert:

• Turrón (a type of nougat bar)