The Night before Christmas – a Freeform Games murder mystery 
For 12 to 15 guests and a host – costs £20.00 (about 30.8 US dollars)
The Night before Christmas is a dinner party murder mystery game for 12 to 15 guests and a host – download the free introductory pdf file.
Click here to see previous hosts' stories about their The Night before Christmas parties.
Click here to see the gallery of The Night before Christmas pictures.
In The Night before Christmas, the stage is set for an innocent family gathering, with a few friends and strangers added to make the party go with a swing. However, not everyone is as they seem -- some have dark secrets they need to keep hidden... and someone is the killer. You will be in the middle of the action and it will be up to you to wheel and deal with the other guests. Can you achieve your goals, keep your secrets hidden and survive The Night before Christmas? It's up to you.
"This was a terrific party [The Night before Christmas]. The story line was sophisticated enough to engage everyone but not so complicated that we didn't all get into it. My family had a blast and wanted to do it again the very next day (not practical). I'm sure we will be doing other events of this type in the future when we can get everyone together. Good fun was had by all."
Nancy Wakeman, United States
The Night before Christmas
It is December 24, 1948. The socialite Evington-Browne family and guests are preparing for the annual Christmas Eve cocktail party, held by tradition at the family's hunting lodge in the White Mountains north of Boston. Snow has been falling for days - a blizzard has now set in - and the party finds itself cut off from the rest of the world. This is unfortunate, as the valet of one of the guests has been found dead in the kitchen! It looks like a heart attack - but is it murder? Can you achieve your goals, keep your secrets hidden and survive The Night before Christmas? It's up to you.
In The Night before Christmas you will discover the following:
- Who has been wearing a Santa Suit to sneak around?
- Who will inherit the Brilliant Diamonds?
- Would the infamous cat-burglar 'the Puma' dare to strike here?
- Are the Evington-Browne family in danger of losing their money, their reputation in society and their sanity?
- Can anyone keep control of Tracy's pet monkey?
- ... and, of course, who killed the valet?
Find out in The Night before Christmas!
The Night before Christmas lasts for about four hours and is suited to an evening. It is often played over a meal – a finger buffet if possible to allow guests to circulate and talk in private.
"We loved it and will play again."
Robin Goracke, United States
The free introductory pdf file contains an introduction to the game, a list of all the characters, an invitation to send to your guests, the Boston Times – plus details of how to buy the game.
Important note: The Night before Christmas is an alternative version of one of our other games, Dazzled to Death. The characters and the plots are the same, so if your guests have previously played Dazzled to Death, they'll know the secrets of The Night before Christmas too! The difference is that The Night before Christmas is written specifically for a Christmas setting, while Dazzled to Death is suitable for any time of year.
These are the characters in The Night before Christmas:
- Agatha Marbles – Priscilla's elderly English friend and allegedly famed detective
- Charles Pemberton – James's son, currently a student at Harvard
- Christy Crompton – Young fellow-student friend of Patrick
- Dinah Peters – Cook (temporary stand-in for usual cook)
- Dr. Bruisyard – Retired family doctor and friend
- Evie Evington-Browne – John and Rose's 21-year-old and wilful daughter
- James Pemberton – Rose's brother. Art dealer and traveller
- John Evington-Browne III – Respected businessman and head of the family
- Miles Earnshaw – Unexpected guest, friend from Rose's youth
- Patrick Evington-Browne – John and Rose's 20-year-old son
- Priscilla Evington-Browne – John's elderly and often forgetful Aunt
- Reggie Haven – Young socialite friend of Evie's
- Rose Evington-Browne – John's much-loved wife
- Soames – Butler / housekeeper
- Tracy Evington-Browne – John and Rose's youngest (16 years old) and mischievous daughter
How Freeform Games Murder Mysteries Work
The Night before Christmas is unlike many murder mystery games. Although the game starts with a death, most of the characters have more important things to do than to investigate it. And the killing may not be over – it is unlikely that everyone will survive the remainder of the evening!
The Night before Christmas is played just like a murder mystery game. You may be trying to solve the murder, but primarily you are (initially at least) concentrating on your own goals and objectives. Unlike most boxed murder mystery games, The Night before Christmas lets you decide how to achieve your goals and thwart your enemies.
"Like the other games that I have run, everyone left the house asking when the next one will be run…"
Jeff B., Portsmouth VA, United States
On the evening of the game the guests are met by the organizer, the Waiter, and welcomed to the party. They then receive their detailed backgrounds - including dark secrets, goals and items. The fun then begins as players form alliances, blackmail each other, steal items and maybe even resort to murder! Depending on what the players choose to do, there are several different possible endings, but finally everyone finds out how they did, and what secrets everyone else was concealing.
Extra characters
Sometimes you have too many guests and you need more characters. So we've written a free extra character for each of our games that you can add in, and some of our customers have created their own characters for their parties and are kindly willing to share them.
Please note that we haven't tested these and they may not tie in exactly with our games.
IMPORTANT – if you've bought the game, you can download the files for these characters from the download page where you got your main game files. Contact us if you need the link and password to get back to that page.
ALSO IMPORTANT – you shouldn't add too many of these characters in to your game as they haven't been designed to work together (unlike the main game characters). If you add in several, they may make your game chaotic and incoherent. You should probably instead choose a larger game. If you still want to add several extra characters (four or more), we recommend having an extra host to help.
- 'Ginger' Roberts – freelance reporter in search of the Big Story. (M/F)
(by Freeform Games) - Angelique Gemini – Priscilla Evington-Browne's paid companion. (F)
(by Michele Scott) - Beryl Sutton – Rose Evington-Browne's cousin. (F)
(by Jenni Malloch) - K C Warburton – internationallyacclaimed artist. (M/F)
(by Steph Mann) - Mephisto Lustig – Harvard friend of Charles Evington-Browne. (M)
(by Michele Scott)
Purchasing The Night before Christmas
The Night before Christmas costs £20.00 (GB pounds). That works out at about US$30.8 at today's exchange rate, although the rate charged by your credit card may vary slightly.
To purchase The Night before Christmas, follow these three steps.
Step 1: Download the free introductory pdf file. You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to read this. If you do not already have Acrobat Reader, click here.
Step 2: Read our terms and conditions of purchase. Then come back here and click on the button to buy the game!
Step 3: Our orders are processed by WorldPay – we don't actually see your credit card details. After you have entered your credit card details you will be emailed the location of the main pdf files, plus the password required to unlock them. You can then download those files and enjoy the game!
Or, buy now!
Cards we accept
We accept the following credit and debit cards:
Cast Iron Guarantee
We offer a Cast Iron Guarantee on all our murder mystery games. If you're not completely satisfied with The Night before Christmas then please let us know within 30 days and we will refund you.