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There Might Be No Christmas
£39.95
Add intrigue to your next party with this mystery game, set at a the North Pole.
Format:
30 Minute Mystery
Setting:
The North Pole
Time:
30+ minutes
Ages:
Family / Children
Players:
Play with Printed Sheets or the App
Hosts have the choice of playing the game with printable documents or using the PWM Party Assistant app
View app gameplay guide
Play In-Person or Over Video Chat
You can host this game in-person or over video chat. The game is built to be run either way!
There are 8 primary characters in this game. Read the "How to Play" section for instructions on how to play this game with more than 8 people.
* = Optional character
- Donner: One of Santa's eight tiny reindeer, Donner is well known for his frequent complaints regarding the difficulty of the Christmas sleigh flight.
- Ivan Blizzard: Lead Foreman at the Toy Factory, Ivan is an enthusiastic go-getter whose utter devotion to Christmas has never been questioned.
- Ernest Winters: One of Santa's elves, Ernest's enthusiasm for Christmas has notably waned in the past six months.
- Kristina Kringle: Also known as the Christmas Fairy, Kristina Kringle was once a famous holiday icon; some suspect that she is bitter that Santa Claus has stolen her glory.
- Caroline Claus: Mrs. Claus is Santa's wife and second-in-command; she is one of the most beloved inhabitants of the North Pole.
- Tonya Baum: A beautifully decorated singing Christmas tree planted outside the Toy Factory, Tonya is a gentle soul who always has a kind word and a Christmas carol for any passersby.
- Jacky Frost: An animated snowwoman brought to life by an enchanted hat, Jacky Frost is responsible for imbuing all of Santa's toys with a dash of Christmas magic.
- The Krampus: Santa's least-beloved helper, the Krampus is the monster who brings coal and switches to the children on Santa's "naughty" list.
Extra Players
- *Investigator: If you have more than 8 players, additional players have the option of playing the role of "Investigators". In this role the players are not suspects and do not have character backgrounds but can question the suspects and try to solve the mystery along with the other players.
This game kit includes:
- Hosting guide – Guidebook that takes you through all the steps for running the game
- Character sheets – Information sheets for eight unique characters and one generic “Investigator” character
- Name cards – Printable name cards that can be placed in front of players for in-person games (optional)
- Introductory Handout – A brief description of the game that can be sent to your guests ahead of the event (optional)
- Invitation template – Printable template that can be used to send paper invitations to your guests (optional)
Our line of 30 Minute Mysteries is specially designed for fast setup and easy play, whether your playing in-person or virtually over video chat.
All you need to do is:
- Gather a group of players
- Distribute character sheets
- Follow the party guide instructions
If you’re playing in person, you have the option of printing out the hosting script and character sheets, or you and your guests may view them on your electronic devices.
Best of all, the party facilitator can choose whether they join in the game and solve the mystery along with the other guests!
Playing the Game
While this mystery has 8 primary characters, it is designed to accommodate any number of additional players. See the “Expanded Game for Large Groups” section below if you have more than 8 players.
Each of the players will be assigned a character and given a character sheet that explains who or what their character is, what information their character knows, and how their character should respond to events that occur during the game.
The game will progress in rounds.
Round One will start with the party’s host or hostess reading a script that explains the nature of the mystery that is afoot. After the introduction is read, each player at the table will share a piece of information from their character sheet, which will often be met by a response from another player.
Round Two begins with the host sharing a clue that should shed further light on the mystery. After the clue is revealed, the players will once again go around, providing another piece of information.
Round Three, the final round, begins with the host sharing the last clue. The players then go around the table a final time, sharing their last piece of information.
By this point, the players should have enough information to piece together a theory about who was responsible for the crime. Everyone will vote for the culprit, which the host will then reveal. Any player or couple who correctly guessed the identity of the killer is declared a winner.
From start to finish, the game typically requires half an hour to complete.
What Do I Need in Order to Play?
Our 30 Minute Mysteries are specifically designed to not require very much in the way of supplies. All you need is:
- Playing area
- In-person – Table to sit around or large playing area where the guests can sit in a circle
- Virtual – Video chat room (links to 3rd-party providers like Zoom included in game)
- A group of players (minimum 8 people)
- Access to a printer or electronic device (so you can distribute game materials)
Expanded Game For Large Groups
If you have more than 8 players, there are three ways that you can accommodate everyone:
- Investigator Role – Using this method, eight guests play the primary characters while the remainder of the guests each play the Investigator role. Players in this role are not suspects and do not have character backgrounds but can question the suspects and try to solve the mystery along with the other players.
- Teams – Each primary character can be played by 2 or more people that work together as a team. This works well if you’ve invited several couples to your event, but also works if you break up your guests into eight larger teams of 3 or more guests.
- Multiple Groups – If you have 16 or more guests, you can break them up into groups of 8 players and run multiple instances of the game on their own. This method is best for large events (e.g. fundraisers) where each table of people can play through the game independently. This method goes well with the Investigator method, which allows you the flexibility to add more than 8 people to any group.
Both the standard and expanded games are included with the purchase of any game kit.
Jake McDowell –
Headline : There might be no Christmas!
Nickname : Jake McDowell
I did a test run at home with a few friends and my spouse before using it at our employee Christmas party. When we finished, I asked the test group and got the same response….it just fell flat of exciting. I didn’t feel like it would work for our group. I’m willing to try again with another group, and see how it goes but this time it was a no-go. I also wish there had been a way to change who was the culprit so it could be used more than once but I’m not sure how that would be possible. I do think it was a great idea and wished that it had worked for better enjoyment!
Dana Cooke –
Headline : Girl Scout Troop Party
Nickname : Dana Cooke
Our Girl Scout Junior troop (eight 9 & 10 yr. olds) hadn’t done anything like this before. I got costumes at the dollar store and printed each characters profile for them. I stapled their profile and a sheet of paper for notes inside manila folders for each girl. My husband played the starting part of Santa. It took the girls through Round One to really get into the roles and follow where to see the parts they were to read and their responses. But after that, they followed it just fine and changed their voices and started improvising questions and alibis. Only one of the seven (other than the guilty character) figured it out, and she had logical reasons for her accusation. All in all it was a good experience and we may do another mystery party in the spring.
Jeannie –
Headline : Family Christmas Party
Nickname : Jeannie
We had our Family Christmas this year centered around enjoying "The Experience" of fun with each other rather than the stress of present giving for a such a large family as ours. The Mystery Party was a perfect addition to our Family Christmas this year. Everyone was given their parts ahead of time, so they showed up in full costume for their character. Everyone fully embraced their role with accents that reflected their person…Ivan (Arnold Schwarzenegger) Jack Frost (Ted "Theodore Logan) Ernest ( Gruff voice) Kristina ( High pitched fairy ) Donner (lazy slow- no energy) Tonya (sings all her lines) Krampus ( sounds like Groot) We all laughed so hard while saying our lines…Needless to say We had a Blast! This was a Christmas we will all remember!!!
Laurie –
Headline : Christmas Time
Nickname : Laurie
We had so much fun we did two parties. The game was perfect for family of all ages as well as friends during a cocktail party.
J-9 –
Headline : Investigators in Training!
Nickname : J-9
Brought this on my annual Christmas trip home to play with my nieces and nephews. We paired up some non-readers with a couple of aunts and included uncles and grandparents as well! I was surprised how seriously the kids took the task of finding out who stole Christmas – even writing notes and pointing fingers!! Such a great Christmas activity – it will be a new tradition for our extended family!
Pat Krause –
Headline : CWL Christmas Party
Nickname : Pat Krause
Video : Prince Albert
Catholic Women’s League of Canada, Prince Albert Council held their annual Christmas Party with around 55 attendees. It was a mix of middle to senior women and men.
After Dinner, we heard several greetings, and thank-yous from various sources. We then played a few quizzes and games.
We presented "There Might Be No Christmas" in its simplest form, with 8 Characters and the Hostess. The balance of the quests were the Inspectors and had every opportunity to ask questions of the suspects.
It was the highlight of the evening. The characters played their parts to the hilt and the "inspectors offered penetrating questions and insights.
I am very pleased with the results and all the happy feed back. Thank-you.
k fox –
Headline : holiday get together
Nickname : k fox
family get together with all ages (12-72), used "costumes" from party city (antlers, santa hats, tie for foreman, etc) to help get everyone acting/ sounding their parts. I participated myself so it was fun but I was surprised that the "who dunn it" person knows right off the bat and has to conceal that the entire game. Not sure if one of the younger kids would have been able to keep the secret – glad it worked out in our group. We are planning on doing another one but want to make sure this time its a Murder mystery as this one was just a Christmas thief mystery:))
Heather –
Headline : Family "who dune it" event
Nickname : Heather
We had a blast! We had people from all different age groups. Grandparents, grandkids, & great grandkids! It was great for everyone. We are trying to do more "intergenerational" events at our church and this worked great. I will be using this company again.
Ashley RS –
Headline : Teen Christmas party
Nickname : Ashley RS
I work with kids at a residential treatment facility, we did this for Christmas break and they absolutely loved it!! They loved the goofy characters, and each broke into an accent/ attitude to match their character!
Bill –
Headline : Staff/Spouse Holiday Party
Nickname : Bill
Video : Greensboro
At our annual holiday party we wanted to do something a little different than a trivia game. But we needed something that could be done in 30-45 minutes with 45+ people. This was perfect. No prep work on the participants part and each dinner table became its own game. Prizes awarded to 1)if the culprit was able to fool eveyone and 2)those that guessed who the culprit was.
Overall great night. Everyone enjoyed the story and acting out their characters around the tables. Hope other story lines can be developed that don’t center around murder.
Rachel –
Headline : Family Fun playing "there might be no Christmas"
Nickname : Rachel
Our family of 9 get together on Christmas Eve for fingers foods and a pajama party. Family consists of grandmother, adult married children with spouses and children aged 10 to 22. I was host and family members were characters. I had minimal props and costumes, most items I found at home. Kids helped make some costumes ahead of time which peaked their excitement. Costumes mainly consisted of funny hats or headbands, etc. since game is played sitting around table. I presented each person with a folder containing character sheet and pen for taking notes. Folder helps keep notes and character sheet hidden from others. Very easy preparation for game, easy to understand for all ages and a lot of fun. Would definately do this again!
Librarian Hamm –
Headline : Awesome Reading Party
Nickname : Librarian Hamm
As an end of the semester award, grades K-5 students who consistently met reading goals were invited to participate in this Christmas mystery. High school drama students led the action with fantastic costumes and much personality. A mystery show is all in what you can make it. Improv is a must, and these kids had it down. The large group was broken into detective teams of 8. They worked together to solve the mystery. We also danced to and sang Christmas songs in between each round.
Noreen –
Headline : There Might Be No Christmas
Nickname : Noreen
This was our family way of celebrating Christmas without having to exchange gifts. Everyone had a great time. Only a few people guest the thief.
Haefner Familly –
Headline : There Might Be No Christmas
Nickname : Haefner Familly
Our family loves to play games. Every Christmas we look for something new. When we came across this game, we just new we had to try it. As soon as we had the "script’ in our hands we knew this would be perfect for our family. There was a character for everyone. We played the game in pairs because we have some people who are a little bit shy and may not feel comfortable role playing. We picked the teams and put together people who otherwise would not pair up. This worked out perfectly. Some people jumped right into their roles. Others took a little longer to warm up. By the end of the game everyone was into their role. We had some really good laughs. The only issue was that the mystery was to easy to solve. Everyone guessed the right answer. It was still a lot of fun. We are already planning to do another party. Everyone wants to be a part of it. For this particular game, nobody knew about the mystery until they came to our Christmas party. For our next game we are going to give everyone their roles ahead of time so that we can all be in character at the start of our party. We can’t wait.
Peggy –
Headline : Offcie Christmas Party 2016
Nickname : Peggy
Our office was in charge of the Building Christmas Party this year and we performed this mystery in a play style to our audience. Each character put their own spin on their performance. We had someone play the inspector who was Lt. Columbo. Everyone enjoyed it. I did a lot of work rewriting it in a form that had to come off without a hitch.
Nathan –
Headline : Not Exactly a Griswold Family Christmas
Nickname : Nathan
At my in-laws Christmas celebration we had 10 adults and 17 kids (under the age of 12). I purchased "There Might Be No Christmas" upon finding out that there weren’t really any planned activities for the day. It was really easy to run and coordinate the activity. However, like any "mystery" game the participants need to be focused and engaged in the game to really have it go well. As a result I felt the game fell a little flat at different moments. Best part of the game were the extremely varied characters/personalities that guests get to act out. I read the script prior to the party which I really recommend if you want to get the most out of the experience. Though I didn’t get to participate as an investigator or character it allowed me to assign roles better and keep the game moving when/if people were struggling. If you have expectations of Clark W Griswold for this event you’ll likely be disappointed. However, its a better gift/treat than the "jelly of the month club".
Cheryl –
Headline : there might be no Christmas
Nickname : Cheryl
I was having some friends over for our annual Christmas gathering of "framily" and I thought I would add a little game to the mix. We normally play games after dinner but this way it started out as a game and we were able to stay in character. I found this just a few days before our dinner and ask everyone how they would feel about it and they all seemed excited. One thing led to another, after I sent out the character sheets we decided to dress come as our character. A couple of our friends couldn’t make it till late so they didn’t dress in character but they at least played the game with us when they got here. It was so much fun! From the singing Christmas tree entering my house in song to Donner donning a reindeer hat we laughed all night. They were remnants of the Christmas tree decorations my friend was wearing all over the house. It was a fun game and easy game and great for eight people. It would’ve been better had we have had nine or 10 because Santa is character needed to be read but I was the hostess so I read his part. We took our characters went by script and went off script and had a ball! Highly recommend it !!
Carol –
Headline : There Might Be No Christmas!
Nickname : Carol
Santa summoned everyone from the North Pole to solve where all the missing toys went … all had reason to be under suspicion … thank goodness it didn’t take long and we are able to share "Merry Christmas " to all and to all a good night!
Melissa –
Headline : Christmas Birthday Mystery Dinner
Nickname : Melissa
We were celebrating my birthday and instead of just going out to a restaurant, I thought a mystery dinner party would be fun. I spiced the storyline up a bit by having Mrs. Claus have an affair with Ivan. I also gave Ivan a gold digging wife. Everyone was nervous about taking on their roles and didn’t know what to expect, but everyone had a blast. I gave out the roles a few days in advance, so people could get into character. Tonya Baum was dressed perfectly as a tree and brought her own microphone and serenaded us all night. Ivan decided he was Russian and wore a blonde wig and Russian hat. Tons of fun!
Teri W –
Headline : Christmas Party
Nickname : Teri W
This was a great ice breaker for an adult Christmas party. It was quick and easy to facilitate and only a few people guessed the right culprit.
It would have been nice to have a few more characters, as the investigators don’t do as much as the rest.
I would definitely recommend There Might be No Christmas and look forward to trying another party soon.
Girl Scout Troop Party –
Headline : Thank goodness, our Troop found the presents!
Nickname : Girl Scout Troop Party
It was our Girl Scouts Christmas party and we were finishing off our Detective Badge. It was a little rocky at first, getting 9-10yr old girls to sit down and listen to each read clues. But once we went to our first "crime scene" they were all in and taking notes on who the culprit may be! They loved dressing up in costumes and had a blast reading as if they really were their characters. Thrilled, and I will be back for another mystery in the future!
It took about 30min from start to finish, the perfect amount of time since we had lots of other party games planned. The girls LOVED it and requested we do it again soon. I have to agree, it was an absolute blast!
Delaney –
Headline : Entertaining and Unique!
Nickname : Delaney
My friend and I planned this party as a unique Christmas party experience for our last year of High School! We invited 16 people to the party so we had to add extra characters (unfortunately, only 7 guests decided to RSVP and go) — but despite this is was still amazing and fun! You really don’t nehaed a whole lot of people to make this party entertaining. Only one guest correctly chose the theif.. We gave out plants as awards to the best costume/best actor/and best detective. It was our first murder party and we are already thinking about the next one!
Cheryl –
Headline : There Might Be No Christmas
Nickname : Cheryl
Last Christmas we did this mystery with our family. There were 16 of us so we paired two people for every character. It was a hoot!!! WE had a blast with it. Our 43 year old son was the singing Christmas tree & he sang all his answers. Too funny. I went to the Dollar Store & bought character items for each person. Cheap and easy. I highly recommended it. After it was over, I had the guilty one go find Santa’s bag which had a gift for everyone in it.
Kathy –
Headline : There might be no Christmas
Nickname : Kathy
It was a great party and everone thoroughly enjoyed it!
Doreen Getz –
Headline : Christmas party
Nickname : Doreen Getz
I bought this game and downloaded it. It looked like a lot of fun, but when I downloaded it 4 of the characters did not print out. This was 4 hours before the party and it was very disappointing.
String –
Headline : Entertaining
Nickname : String
This was a water garden society Christmas party. The party was great. Lots of food and entertainment from this Mini-Mystery was greatly received. Our 8 contestants were dressed for the part and ad-libed along the way. Our Krampus was the best character of all.
Lisa Hidalgo –
Headline : Christmas dinner
Nickname : Lisa Hidalgo
We have never done anything like this before and thought we would give it a shot. We had to work out a few kinks as we were all part of the cast/characters. But we managed and we had a good time, laughed at our blunders and finally in the end figured out the who dun it. It was fun and think we will do it again next year. Maybe with a little more advanced planning.
vqfamily –
Headline : Work party
Nickname : vqfamily
Played this game in two different groups at a work party. Both groups were the same size and finished within 5 minutes of each other. Everyone had fun and enjoyed the interactions and role play. We taped "Crime Scene" tape over office doors to keep everyone out of their office and interacting with co-workers throughout the party. Worked right into the theme of Christmas party.
Brenda –
Headline : There Might Not Be Christmas
Nickname : Brenda
We are a group in our 60’s that has been getting together every Christmas since our 20’s. We played the game after dinner and then had dessert following the game. We had a blast! We had simple props and everyone got into the roles. Most of the group of 14 did not know about the game ahead of time so the surprise added to the fun. Thanks
Twila –
Headline : AWSOME
Nickname : Twila
So much fun. There was 12 of us and we did it in 3 parts with food courses in between the parts. Since the script was for 8 people I added 4 more characters. I as Host played Santa and interrogated the cast of party goers. My Husband was the Sheriff with his official shirt and badges and hand cuffs. His name was Sheriff Gogetum. One of the extras was a news reporter for the North Pole paper and her name was Wanna Story. The last person was the photographer for the news paper and he wore cameras around his neck and was a good investigator. His name was Smiley Snapit. The occasion for the party was that it is Christmas time. Every one had a wonderful time. The costumes were awsome and everyone really go into their part.