Book Club Dinner Idea – Host a Mystery Dinner For a Mystery Novel
My fellow book club members really get into the mood of each novel for our meetings. Each host creates a dinner that derives in some way from the book. When it was my turn to host the month when we read One For the Money by Janet Evanovich, I knew right away that I wanted to host a mystery dinner to keep my book club friends in suspense.
It’s no mystery why a mystery dinner is a fun idea for a special group event. People love surprises, unusual events, and things that make them laugh. You can create a mystery dinner for your book club. This article explains what a mystery dinner is and how to create one successfully.
A mystery dinner is a multi-course dinner that is served according to the selections each guest makes for each course. Each item-the entré’, other food items, silverware, and a napkin–are given different names that do not reveal their identity. Each guest selects from a menu a certain number of items for each “course” of the meal. The fun comes in when each course is served. Some of the combinations are hilarious.
For my Evanovich dinner I served the following: plums, celery & carrot sticks, salad with artichokes, bread, a fork, a spoon, water, stuffed pasta shells, meatballs, a napkin, cannoli for dessert, and a toothpick. I made a “menu” ahead of time on the computer with story-related names for each item. Each woman received a menu list and was asked to write a 1, 2, or 3 in front of each item, having four of each number for each course. It’s important to make sure each guest writes her name at the top of her menu.
To give you an idea of how to name items on the menu related to a book, for this book, the names of the items were as follows: Plum Delightful, Handcuffs in the Shower, Nova (Not Lox), Spandex Stretcher, Smith and Wesson, FAA (Fugitive Apprehension Agent), Grandma Mazur’s Madness, Ranger’s Rover, Ziggy’s Zag, Morelli’s Mix, Benito’s Busted, and New Jersey Special. I took pity on my guests and let them have wine from the start and not as a menu item.
Two of us working in the kitchen had the master list that showed what item matched each name. Plates were assembled for each person for each course. Howls of laughter and sighs of despair erupted as really odd combinations were presented such as saucy stuffed pasta shells with no utensils, no napkin, and just carrot and celery sticks-which presumably could be used to eat the pasta. Another sorry combination might be a cannoli, a toothpick, and water before getting the entree. Lucky was the woman who actually got a fork with her pasta and salad!
A mystery dinner is very fun, not just during the event, but for years to come as it is fondly recalled. Our members still remember and talk about this mystery dinner event.
When hosting your book club, why not match the genre with the activities and food of your gathering? The next time you read a mystery or other suspense novel, host a mystery dinner and treat your friends to a fun surprise.