Edmonton Christmas Party Ideas: A Murder Mystery Your Staff Will Actually Show Up For

It is minus twenty, the parking lot is a skating rink, and you are asking your team to put on something nice and come out for the staff Christmas party. You had better give them a reason.

Here is one: a murder. A completely fictional, totally hilarious one, of course.

A Smoking Gun murder mystery turns your Edmonton Christmas party into a night your team actually takes part in. Instead of sitting through a speech and a slideshow, your guests become the investigators, grilling suspects, swapping theories over dinner and accusing their coworkers of murder between the turkey and the dessert. We have been staging interactive murder mysteries across Canada since 1987, and our Edmonton troupe brings the whole production to you. People are dying to see us, after all.

Why It Works for Edmonton Office Parties

The trouble with most staff Christmas parties is that everyone sits with the same people they eat lunch with all year. A murder mystery quietly fixes that. The story runs around dinner, so people from different departments end up comparing clues at the same table. The quiet one from accounting cracks the case. The new hire turns out to be a ruthless interrogator. Somebody’s manager gets accused of poisoning the punch, and nobody will ever let them forget it.

It is team building without anyone noticing they are being team built, which is why plenty of our Christmas clients come back later in the year for corporate team building sessions.

Your Local Edmonton Cast

Our Edmonton troupe is made up of local performers, so your show feels spontaneous and specific to the people in the room, while using Smoking Gun’s tried and tested scripts. The troupe has performed all over the capital region, at places like the Fantasyland Hotel, the Sawridge Inn & Conference Centre, Sorrentino’s Little Italy, The Parlour, the Woodsvale Community Facility at Mill Woods Golf Course and the Edmonton Petroleum Golf & Country Club. Hotel ballroom, Italian restaurant or golf club, we have killed someone there.

How the Night Unfolds

It starts at cocktail hour, when our actors arrive in character, mingle with your guests and start stirring up trouble. Grudges, affairs, money problems and very questionable decisions come out, until nearly everyone looks guilty. Once dinner is served the plot thickens, characters work the room from table to table, and at some point somebody meets an extremely suspicious end.

Then our detective steps in and your guests take over. They work in teams, question the suspects, compare evidence and hand in their solution before the killer is revealed. The sharpest mind in the room earns the Super Sleuth certificate, and the most entertaining wrong answer takes home the Bumbling Fool award, which is the one your team will really fight over.

Nobody has to perform. Participation is completely voluntary, nobody memorizes lines and nobody gets dragged onto a stage. Keen sleuths can grill every suspect, while everyone else eats, drinks and enjoys the chaos from a safe distance. Prefer a stand-up cocktail party instead of a sit-down dinner? We can do that too. Read more about the format on our interactive murder mysteries page.

Christmas Shows with Real Holiday Chaos

Our Christmas scripts are written for the season, not regular shows with a Santa hat slapped on top:

• Murder at the Mistletoe Mall. It is the mall’s annual staff appreciation party, and Employee of the Year wins a trip for two to Paris plus a $50,000 cash prize. The Mall Santa, Mrs. Claws and Buddy the Elf all want it badly. Some of them want it murderously.

• Two Santas Sleighing. The visionary CEO of North Pole Enterprises has died, and your guests are contenders to replace him. Some of them show up in Santa suits.

• Resort to Murder at the North Pole. Our most requested show, Resort to Murder, with a festive twist, as Nicolas and Wanda Claus open a new spa at the North Pole.

We have over 20 scripts in our library, and any of them can get a dose of Christmas spirit. Browse them on our scripts page. We can keep things workplace friendly, or let it run cheekier for an adult party. Tell us who is in the room and we will match the tone.

Where We Perform Around Edmonton

If a space can serve dinner, it can host a murder. Our Edmonton troupe covers the city plus St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Leduc, Nisku and Beaumont, and regularly looks at Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Fort Saskatchewan, Devon and Morinville too. For bigger events, the cast can travel farther into Central and Eastern Alberta. Send us your venue and date and we will confirm the details before you commit.

You provide the venue and the meal. We bring the characters, costumes, props, clues and the detective. We perform for groups of up to 200 guests (bigger groups on request, just ask), and all we need is a small backstage area for costume changes and props, plus a sound system for groups over 50. Got more questions? Our FAQ covers the details.

Book Now, December Goes Fast

We generally need at least two weeks’ notice, but November and December dates are the first to fill, so the sooner the better. Party coming up fast? Ask anyway, because cast availability changes week to week.

Give Your Team a Christmas Party Worth Gossiping About

Your team has worked hard all year. Give them a mystery to solve, a few outrageous accusations and a story they will still be retelling at the next staff meeting. Get a quote from our Edmonton troupe today, or call us toll free at 1-855-MURDER-1 (687-3371). A staff Christmas party is a very good night for a murder!