The Night before Christmas

18 reviews for The Night before Christmas

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Nicole Carlson (verified owner) – 26 March 2025

   We really enjoyed hosting The Night Before Christmas! It is a great value for the price especially for all of the rich detail put into the game. The story is great and there are lots of fun characters and elements. We especially loved creating props to go with the item cards, and coming up with food and decor from the 40s/50s. I appreciated that there are extra characters you can add on in case, and that it tells you which ones you can leave out if some guests don’t show up. The pre-game instructions are very well-thought out and we followed the advice to not send out too much info ahead of time in case there are last minute switches that need to be made. It was also very helpful that they sent me the editable version of the game so we could change a few small things.

My one critique was even with 2 hosts, the game could be difficult to run at times. I realized I didn’t have anything prepared to explain to guests how the gameplay works and had to wing it on the spot, and so it took the guests some time to understand how everything worked. I also got questions later that I didn’t know the answer to about game mechanics and we had to kind of make it up. For most of us it was our first every murder mystery, so I doubt experienced hosts/players would run into these issues!

   Our guests put a lot of effort into their costumes and characters and we ended up having to have multiple “gun rooms” for all their secret meetings and backroom dealings! Some of the guests also got very into their objectives and only one got the murderer and The Puma correct. But everyone had a blast and got into character. Overall a super fun experience and we will be hosting another Freeform Games mystery in the future!

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   
2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Phillip H. (verified owner) – 12 January 2025

   My group liked it. I ran it as a workplace holiday party. We weren’t eating until after. I found the suggested run time to be long. I’ve run Freeform games before. The players were all new. Most were done with the game after about 90 minutes. Half the players had accomplished everything they cared to, and the other half didn’t seem to have enough to do.

   The other Freeforms I’ve run were 20+ up to 35 players. Those stories are more robust with more subplots. More players expands the game exponentially. The large sized games usually have so much going on people aren’t even aware of all the threads.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Brandon Toms (verified owner) – 4 January 2025

   Was spectacular, I’ve actually made a tradition with our friends of running that every year at Christmas time (most people forget the details by then and there’s always new people). We actually bought this one again for the updated format, and just because we love you guys and wanna support what you do. 😊 Merry Christmas!

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Annie Mazzarella (verified owner) – 19 December 2024

   I completed the game on December 7th for my annual holiday party and it was a great success! Everyone had so much fun and got really into character. I know I was a LITTLE overdressed for a waiter, but I was lauded for my commitment to the dramatics and going over the top. I garnered as many physical props as I could too which I could tell was appreciated. Thank you so much for such a fun story, I likely will purchase from Freeform Games in the future!

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   
5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Sandie D. – 4 January 2024

   We were all first time players. Obviously there were things that experience would have improved, but we all had a great time

6. 

   Stephen Buck – 12 December 2023

   The Night before Christmas was our 8th mystery game. We’ve tried several different formats and felt like we had a pretty good grasp on things. Then we tried Freeform. Oh My Goodness!!! We had such a blast. From the time I downloaded our characters until… well even now…the excitement just kept building. As the host, I was afraid that I wouldn’t feel involved enough during the event. BOY was I wrong. The host, for this mystery knows everything, but I was so busy during the event working in my role as the ‘waiter’ that I found I didn’t have time to walk around and serve items as I’d planned. My friends were thrilled with all the goals that needed to be accomplished. Even those that don’t normally figure out ‘who done it’ still were engaged from the time I said welcome until the solution was read. And the evening didn’t stop there. 3 days later folks are still commenting and speculating on the stories and plots that were within the game. We are already planning our next event utilizing this format. ABSOLUTELY TRY THIS FORMAT. If you’re here trying to figure out if it will work for you. It will. Everyone is involved. People will be ‘assassinated’ during the event giving you additional murders to solve, and new folks get caught up in the flow and have as much fun as seasoned sleuths. We had 5 new players this time and they were all in character and having a riot!!! Take a chance. You’ll be incredibly glad you did.

7. 

   Holly Graf – 11 December 2022

   The Night Before Christmas was a great way to kick off the holidays with a Christmas party. The guests (cast) really enjoyed the experience. The game was fun, involved everyone, and the subplots became more interesting than who actually done it! The recommendations on your website for how to host/play a murder mystery were critical to success of the event. I had never hosted one, and my guests had never played one either. Thank you!

   
8. 

   A Customer – 27 December 2020

   This was our first time to host a game ever. So glad we picked yours. We had so much fun and the kids were asking when we were going to do the next one!

   We hosted The Night Before Christmas for my daughter’s 18th birthday. All of her friends came dressed for a cocktail party, served “mocktails” and trays of appetizers. The whole night was such a success.

   Thank you for your outstanding product!

9. 

   Chris Higginbotham – 29 December 2009

   The Night before Christmas was the first ‘whodunnit’ night that I had attended, and it was initially a daunting task thinking about how to organise everyone/everything.
   The information sent in the pack was, however comprehensive, and the evening went off brilliantly.

   Everyone really enjoyed themselves (although they didn’t all guess the murderer correctly), and they all want to know when the next one is going to be!

   Of the people who attended, a couple had been to other similar evenings, but yours was rated as the best, due to the level of interaction and improvisation involved.

   Many thanks for a great night!

   
10. 

    Jeff B. – 15 December 2009

    This is the fourth Freeform Game that I have hosted and the second time that I have run The Night Before Christmas.

    This motley crew is getting their feet wet in your Murder Mysteries and has a ball. We used the extra characters and half of the cast had played one of the Freeform Games before and the other half was getting their first taste.

    The House was decorated, with lots of period holiday music setting the atmosphere. The night ended in hilarious fashion with “Evie E-B” throwing herself to the floor in despair crying “Daddy, do something” as “Great Aunt Priscilla” decided to… [censored to preserve a game secret! – Mo & Steve].Like the other games that I have run, everyone left the house asking when the next one will be run…

    Your games are great, I’ve run this one twice, plus A Dead Man’s Chest (had to write 15 extra characters due to high interest, I don’t recommend 40 person casts) and Casino Fatale with the expansion pack to give this new group a taste of what your games are all about. Thanks for your eye to detail and support. We will be doing one of these every couple of months.

    
11. 

    Valerie Delzer – 21 December 2008

    My daughter wanted to do a Murder Mystery Game for her 14th Birthday Party so she searched the web and came up with a couple of choices for me to view. I chose to buy The Night Before Christmas with Freeform Games, kids version, and it was a fabulous hit! I had never done a Murder Mystery Game before so I had no idea how it was going to turn out. I was worried that the kids would be confused or not willing to participate but I was completely wrong. They took to it pretty fast after I handed out their character packets and that’s when the laughs started… they also took to moving around the house in pairs while they questioned each other for clues & answers. (I’d find them giggling in the laundry room or pantry for example..) it was all great fun and there was a lot of improvising as we went along. Half the time I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say or do but I would either “make it up” as I went along or show the character my cards depending on if I wanted that character to know all my secrets, etc. I would recommend this game to other Moms & Dads wanting to host a party for their teens. (We had 12 teens attend, ages 13–14.) They all dressed up in nice clothes (boy, I wasn’t sure my daughter was going to be able to convince them not to wear jeans! but it worked) We had loads of finger food throughout the game and we even stopped at one point (prior to Aunt Priscilla’s announcement) to sing Happy Birthday and light the cake.

12. 

    Russell Peters – 20 January 2008

    I’d just like to drop you a line to tell you our experiences of The Night before Christmas.

    I was part of a group of sixteen friends who had hired out a manor on the south coast of Dorset over New Year, and for one of the evenings we played the game. Whilst it wasn’t actually Christmas Eve, the house was still decorated, and was obviously ideal for the game. (Antlers on the walls, roaring fires, that sort of thing. It also had still functioning servants’ bells that were connected up around the house.) This was the first time that any of us had taken part in a freeform version of the murder mystery (some of us hadn’t played out one at all) but everyone threw themselves into it. I had an enormous job on hand to try and keep everything under control, especially with the acting and drama backgrounds of a lot of the group.

    It did come to a head, however, when I was called into the hall. I’d decided to let people have the whole use of the downstairs, so there was much to-ing and fro-ing from room to room. When I got to the hall, there were [Character A] and [Character B] standing face to face with two pistols raised at each other that they had taken out of one of the display cases! Whilst I managed to talk them out of waving the guns around, they were insistent on a gun fight to the death, so we had them walk ten paces and turn round and shout bang. [B] being the underhand guy that he is turned round on 6 and shot [A] in the back.

    Whilst this had been going on, [Character C] and [Character D] had been playing a game of ‘swap the painting’. I had three postcards of The Mona Lisa, and had signed them differently as suggested, giving one each to C and D, and placing one on the mantelpiece in the lounge area. The original went missing, and C arrested D thinking he had done it, found the second fake on him and kept that for himself. I told them that he couldn’t really be arrested for taking something that’s worthless, so they got let go. C then swapped fake 1 for fake 2 on the fireplace, which D found out about, then he got possession of the original thinking it was a fake, and swapped it with the one on the mantelpiece. So now both D and C had fakes, and the original was back where it had been for all these years.

    After this, there was not an awful lot left to mediate on, No-one was left poisoned, so there was no dying swan acts (which I was fairly thankful for after everything else). With a dead Character A, there was no-one to pin the murder on, but most people had guessed it was him after his pockets were turfed out to find a bottle of poison when he was shot. The non-fake necklace was returned to its rightful place (it was a quiet night with this) and given to [Character E]. [Character F] had a bit of a sulk and stormed out, disowning her family, the world and anything else she could think of.

    All in all, everyone really enjoyed it, and we didn’t get finished up ’til gone midnight. (We did have a couple of ‘sort the children out who were in bed’ breaks, though.)

    I really think we benefited from being in an environment such as the one we were in. I did ‘um and ah’ about the original purchase, as there are similar ideas that can be downloaded free from the net if you look hard enough. I have to say it was worth paying for, as the free versions do not tie in as well / less planned out, etc. Thanks again, and we’ll definitely be buying another, though we might have to tone down for our more humble surroundings.

13. 

    Robin Goracke – 20 January 2008

    I started having a Christmas party last year with a murder mystery, one you had to read a script and we all had a good time, but this year I tried a freeform game, The Night before Christmas, and everyone loved it. Everyone really got into costume. I sent out everyone’s part to them well in advance I knew everyone was coming. I myself gave the welcome speech and a toast I had Dinah the cook set up to scream as soon as I said cheers and everyone came rushing into the kitchen to see why she was screaming and discovered the dead body. Someone said where is the Dr and of course the Dr came rushing in and pronounced our dummy dead, and this was the start of the game. They all absolutely loved it. Before I knew it John was telling Rose how he just didn’t know the woman he married and someone called her a slut. I had so much fun myself just watching them acting out their parts. There were times I was laughing out loud and had to cover my mouth. Some of my guests were already talking about next year’s party. This type of game is much better then the type you read. We loved it and will play again.

14. 

    Robin Goracke – 20 January 2008

    We loved it and will play again.

15. 

    Extremely Satisfied Mystery Lover – 20 January 2008

    Thank you very much for your quick response to my question. The Night before Christmas was our first murder mystery game and we had a great time. Everything was well planned and laid out and everything we needed was included in the kit. We enjoyed it so much that we are doing it again (with a different group) for Valentine’s Day!

16. 

    Liz Gore – 20 January 2008

    Just before Christmas this year, my sister and I decided to host a Murder Mystery Party for close friends and family. As we had quite a large group to invite, The Night before Christmas was the best solution. We had previously enjoyed many of the boxed Murder Mystery games, but found that the unscripted element made for a more exciting evening (including one rather dramatic death scene). Everyone threw themselves into their characters and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. There were even requests to make it an annual event!

17. 

    Carey – 20 January 2008

    The Night before Christmas is my 2nd party I’ve done – the first was A Dead Man’s Chest. I am amazed at how great they turn out! The first game, I had people back out, and had to recast for the very minimum crew of people for that party. But this one I had more than enough people — everyone found out, and I had to promise I’d have another one, for the ones I couldn’t invite to this one. Everyone who comes just loves it!

18. 

    Larry Weixel – 20 December 2007

    Many thanks for all your help, and for providing such an entertaining murder mystery in The Night before Christmas! The party was a huge success! Definitely takes a lot of planning, but in the end it was well worth it. Other friends found out about the one I held on Dec 15, and they wanted me to do another one for them… so I’m having another one this Saturday! I’ll definitely be back for more murder and mayhem! Thanks!