By Anika Shah
Tiffany Decker, owner of Murder Mystery Dinner Party of Riverview, is hosting dinner parties in the Riverview, Apollo Beach and Ruskin area to support local charities and businesses. Far from ordinary, Decker’s parties involve the guests immersing themselves as characters to solve a murder mystery.
The event is like the boardgame Clue. Guests receive hints about their character and mingle with others to determine who the killer is. After two rounds, people guess via an anonymous form and the killer is revealed. One character, the victim, must play dead. Those who guess correctly have a playoff to determine the ultimate winner, who receives a prize. In addition to the mystery, there is a bonus game that occurs at the same time.
Guests can be as immersed in their characters as they want and can choose to be watchers rather than participators. Some of Decker’s themes so far include the 80s and a masquerade ball. Other potentials are mobsters, a casino and the Roaring Twenties.
More than just for a good occasion, each event supports a specific nonprofit for the night and seeks to highlight local businesses who can sponsor raffles and silent auctions.
Decker’s latest venture on Saturday, July 24 is pirate-themed and will be hosted at Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 8108, which is also the beneficiary of money raised. Decker believes this will be one of her best events ever and emphasizes that the VFW is looking for more members.
She will also be hosting another in October for the C.A.R.E. Shelter.
Decker has been hosting big parties since 2014.
“I come from a Masonic background, the ‘Rainbow Girls,’” she said. “I started doing events at 15 years old with fundraising for the Big Brothers and Sisters Charities.” Decker’s Covington Haunts, which supported ECHO, used to host over 500 people a night.
“It was such an overwhelming success and quite honestly became a super passion of mine,” she said.
Speaking of how she got started with murder mysteries, Decker explained, “I posed a group on Facebook saying … ‘Is there any interest?’ … next thing you know, the group has over a 100. … I have three other groups that would like me to do it for them, so it is spreading.”
The dinners are adult-only at the moment, but Decker is introducing scavenger hunts and mysteries for kids.
The VFW Post 8108, located at 7504 Riverview Dr. in Riverview, is always looking for volunteers and donations. To buy tickets for the dinner and for more information, visit www.murdermysteryriverview.com.
