Are you tired of the same party themes? Are you interested in throwing a party that guests remember for years to come?
Then, an escape room party can easily beat any extravagant venue celebrations.
It is a fabulous way to gather everyone under one roof and create a magical experience.
With an escape room party, the hosts don’t have to worry about people standing alone in a corner; it can engage all the guests in a thrill-filled activity.
This guide will cover the steps on how to host an escape room party.
So, let’s begin.
How to Host an Escape Room Party: 8 Steps
A DIY escape room party is a fun way to throw a straight-out-of Pinterest party.
Depending on the time you have to make preparations for the escape room party and budget, you can decide how extra you want to get.
Whether you want it for a kid’s birthday or to celebrate any other event, you can plan it to be fun for both adults and children.
1. Choose a Theme: Be Specific
When devising an escape room party theme, you should have a clear idea of what you want to create.
As Halloween is just around the corner, you can get inspired by a scary movie for the escape room party.
You can take inspiration from The Crypt, where the guests enter the room as vampire hunters and solve the mystery.
To form a horror atmosphere, you can create puzzles, hints, and other visual designs.
2. Boost Imagination with Decor
Let the ideas for decoration for an escape room party come to you naturally.
The drill is to make the room the right amount of scary. You don’t want the guests to burst into tears, so go easy.
Here is how to host an escape room party with a horror vampire theme.
- Spread fake blood on different spots in the room.
- Hang little skeletons on the walls.
- Use spooky sound effects to match the vibe.
- Place potion buttons and antique-looking pieces in the room.
- Go for dark, moody lighting options, such as green and red.
Red, purple, and crimson silk are some of the items that are associated with vampires.
Try to add them to the room for the escape room party.
Candelabras, Victorian-style furniture, drapes, mirrors, and Gothic artwork pieces are some other items to add to the ambiance.
If you are considering how you would accommodate a large group of people, here is our blog on Escape Room for Large Groups: How to Organize it for Your Friends and Family.
3. Go For a Dress Code (Optional)
If you like to play around with costumes, you can tell the guests to dress according to a theme.
The costumes you choose should match your decor and keep everyone on the same page.
Also, when you take pictures of the amazing escape room party, things won’t look forced.
Nevertheless, you can skip this step if you feel it might make your friends awkward.
4. Get the Gang Together
Once all the planning for the theme and venue is final, you can make a list of guests.
You can begin to limit your options after you know the expected attendance.
Take this escape room party as a chance to catch up with all the old friends and everyone from different parts of your life who’d be excited to join the party.
Your escape room party will have a surprise for every age group; you can invite parents with their kids.
A gathering that is mostly empty doesn’t really feel like a celebration, after all!
Don’t send out too many invitations.
By making the guest list, evaluate if there is enough space in the venue for guests to move comfortably.
Read More: How To Find The Best Escape Room For Large Groups
5. Design Invitations
The invitation for an escape room party shouldn’t look like the traditional invitations.
You can add a touch of the theme of the party.
For instance, your escape room party has a horror vampire theme, so you can choose a colour combination that includes red and accents of purple, brown, black, gold and silver.
The invites can be printed or sent digitally to your guests.
You can create invitation cards digitally and get a downloadable file.
Before you start forwarding them, cross-check if you added all the necessary party information.
If your visitors have never participated in an escape room, give them a quick introduction to the premise and the rules before they show up at the party.
6. Lay Out the Puzzles and Clues
Here comes the part that will double the enjoyment of your escape room party.
You can use a couple of things to create an interactive environment.
If you are wondering how to host an escape room party with well-planned activities, here is a quick rundown of such elements for you:
Numbers and Written Clues
Finding the correct word for a clue adds an additional level of complexity. Look a little further if a word from a poem seems to be missing or if you encounter a string of letters that doesn’t seem to spell anything.
In addition to that, you can use incomplete equations and numbers to complete a mystery that leads to the next one.
Hidden Objects
Your living room or the entire house, whatever you choose as a venue, must have plenty of spaces to conceal clues.
Hide things in the back of the drawers and false sides. You can keep the clues inside the books or any other decorative item you have kept in the venue.
Physical Puzzles
For physical puzzles in your escape room party, you can hide the answers in things that need good observance. For instance, you can place a secret code in a wall decal or a picture.
Combination Puzzles
Use different symbols that match with one another to solve a clue.
If you have trouble creating an escape room party activity, puzzles are a simple solution.
Making the location of the key’s hiding place the answer to the riddle is a brilliant idea.
Using codes can always be used to make things harder!
Remember, the puzzles you create should get everyone moving around.
Your escape room party should incite the guests to leave their phones and use their teamwork skills, curiosity, and imagination.
For more ideas to craft a puzzle, read our blog on 7 Types of Escape Room Puzzles to Expect.
7. Set Up Dinner
Black candles, rose petals, and a flower arrangement of blood-red roses in a black vase on the table scream the vampire theme.
You can offer red food-coloured beverages in wine glasses and place them on a silver tray.
The birthday cake can add a vampire fang, or you can ask your guests to dig grapes out of a dish.
If you talk to your caterer or baker, they can help you create vampire-themed sandwiches, cupcakes, and cookies.
Even if it doesn’t stand out to the visitors as much as the rest of your escape room party, they will notice when you add personalized snacks and party foods to it.
For dessert, order a red velvet cake with deep black icing as dessert on an old silver platter.
8. Escape Room Party Favors
The favours of your escape room party should have something that becomes a keepsake for the guests.
It should highlight the special moments of the escape room party.
The guest of honour’s name can be added to the bags, and you get to pick the size and print colour.
If you have a good budget to spend on the favour boxes, get a plain-coloured treat box with your top-secret stamp, and add a silver necklace with a cross pendant.
To be more true to the horror theme of the escape room party, add fake blood or a spider in the gift boxes as a filler.
Affordable Escape Room Favours
Use the top-secret favour boxes since they are simple to put together and don’t seem cheap if you don’t stuff them to the brim with treats.
You can print off some puzzle sheets and hints for adults to solve and fluff up the box with tissue paper if you struggle to find stuff to put within a restricted budget.
Again, some inexpensive candies are a perfect filler because kids adore candies!
You can use these favours for an escape room birthday party as well.
With these steps on how to host an escape room party, you just found something the crew would love.
FAQs
How to set up an escape for a party?
To set up an escape room party at home, choose a venue, decorate, craft puzzles, place a food station, and prepare party favours.
How much does a party at an escape room cost?
An escape room party at home can cost around $100-250. If you want to book an escape room, the cost will be $26.55 per person.
How to find an escape room for a party?
You can search for an escape room near me on Google or check out the best ones, like Hint Hunt Canada.
What are some affordable escape room party props?
You can get digital files of moustaches, binoculars, a cut-out of a suspect, and magnifying glasses and print them so the guest can later use them for photographs.
The Bottom Line
This is how you can throw the best escape room party of the year. If you don’t have the time to pull off a theme party, you can search for an Escape room party near me.
For a super cool party, you can simply visit Hint Hunt Canada. They not only have the horror theme. People can try Zen Room and Submarine Deep Down to give them an exciting variety.