A MysteryShaper gift voucher gives someone one murder mystery dinner party game to play at home. They get a printable voucher with a code; when they're ready, they build their own case — setting, characters, story — or pick a ready-made one from the catalog, and enter the code at checkout. You can add the dinner menu guide and the Cast Change Pass to the gift.
Most murder mystery vouchers you'll find are for a seat at someone else's event: a hotel dinner, a themed train, a fixed date in a city you may not live in. This one is different. The evening happens at their table, with their friends, on whatever Saturday works.
What the murder mystery gift voucher includes
The voucher covers one complete game. For a custom mystery, the recipient answers a few questions — how many players, setting, era, tone — and MysteryShaper writes the case around their group. A catalog game is ready to download straight away.
Every game comes with:
- A dossier for every guest — backstory, secrets, motives, relationships, costume ideas and clear goals for each round
- A host guide with the full solution and how each round runs
- Audio narration for the introduction, every round and the finale
- Everything as print-ready PDFs, usually ready within about 15 minutes of ordering
The voucher itself arrives by email as a PDF the moment you've paid, with the recipient's name and your message on it if you want them there. Page two lists exactly what's in the package, so the person unwrapping it knows what they're holding.
When to give a murder mystery gift voucher
A murder mystery gift voucher works best for people who like having friends over, at any time of year. The recipient picks the date, so the gift isn't tied to anyone's calendar — it waits for the evening that suits their group. These are the occasions it fits best.
Christmas and Secret Santa
December is when most people actually host. A murder mystery gives a Christmas or New Year's Eve evening a plot instead of another round of the same board game. For Secret Santa, it's one of the few gifts that turns into an evening for the whole circle. And if you've left it late: there's nothing to ship. Fill in a name and a message, pay, and the voucher is in your inbox to print or forward.
Birthdays
A voucher lets the birthday person plan their own party around a case they choose. If you'd rather set the whole thing up yourself — the birthday person as the culprit, their friends as the cast — read our personalised birthday mystery guide instead.
Housewarming
A new flat needs a first proper dinner party. A murder mystery gives the hosts a reason to invite everyone round, and the dossiers do the ice-breaking for guests who don't know each other yet.
A thank-you for the friend who always hosts
Everyone has that one friend whose place the evenings end up at. Add the Dinner Menu & Serving Guide to the voucher and you hand them a game plus half the planning.
A group gift
One voucher, chipped in by the whole circle of friends, for an evening everyone is invited to. It works for a birthday, a farewell or a wedding present for a couple who like having people over.
One limit: a murder mystery is a party game. Couples will need a group to play with — it's not a game for two.
For more occasion ideas, see our murder mystery party ideas for every occasion.
How the recipient redeems the gift code
Redeeming takes the same steps as buying a game, with one extra field:
- They open mysteryshaper.com (the QR code on the voucher goes straight there).
- They build their own mystery or choose one from the catalog.
- At checkout they click "Add discount code" and type the code from the voucher.
The code covers the game. It works once, for a custom game or any catalog game — the recipient decides, not you. That's the main difference from a personalised gift you set up yourself, like the birthday mystery built around the guest of honour: with a voucher, they choose the case later, so you don't need to know their friends' names or their favourite era.
Add a Dinner Menu & Serving Guide to the gift
Food is where most home murder mysteries wobble. The host is also a player, and a menu that needs fifteen minutes of attention in the middle of round two pulls them out of their own party.
The Dinner Menu & Serving Guide fixes that. The recipient picks a menu that fits their story while setting up a custom game, and gets back a host document with:
- every dish as a recipe scaled to their guest count
- a shopping list and a prep timeline
- which course comes out between which rounds
- a printable menu card for the table
It's recipes and timing, not the food itself — and it only works with a custom game, because the menu is built around that story's rounds. You can look at a complete sample guide (PDF) before you decide, and our article on what to serve at a murder mystery dinner explains why the timing matters so much.
The second extra is the Cast Change Pass. Guest lists move: someone cancels on Thursday, a partner joins on Friday. With the pass, the game is rebuilt once with the new guest list. Our guide to what to do when a guest cancels covers the situation in more detail.
If you include an extra, the voucher says so. The recipient ticks it at checkout as usual, and the code covers it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a booking for a restaurant or a live event? No. A MysteryShaper gift voucher is for a game the recipient plays at home or wherever their group meets. They host it themselves with printed dossiers, a host guide and audio narration.
Can I send the gift voucher by email or print it? Both. You get the voucher as a PDF by email right after paying. Print it and wrap it, or forward the email to the recipient.
Can the recipient choose a ready-made catalog game? Yes. The code works for a custom mystery or any game from the catalog. The recipient decides when they redeem it.
How do included extras work, and can extras be added later? Extras you included — the Dinner Menu & Serving Guide or the Cast Change Pass — are listed on the voucher. The recipient ticks them at checkout and the code covers them. Anything you didn't include can be added and paid at that checkout like with any order.
How many players does a murder mystery game need? A custom mystery is written for the group size the recipient enters, from small dinner parties to large groups. Catalog games list their player count on each game page.
Gift a murder mystery — add a name and a message, choose the extras, and the voucher is in your inbox in a few minutes.