Immersive Christmas dinner: mystery dinners and themed experiences for companies

There is a version of the corporate Christmas dinner where people are not sitting at the table talking about work. They are interrogating suspects, solving puzzles or trying to find out who killed Santa before time runs out. The dinner happens, the wine flows, but nobody notices because they are inside a story.

This is the typology with the greatest differentiation factor. For teams that have done everything else and need something that does not repeat.

What defines an immersive dinner

An immersive dinner is not a dinner with an activity before it. It is an experience where the dinner and the programme are the same thing: participants are inside a narrative during the meal, with real characters, clues, decisions to make and a resolution.

What this creates is different from any other format: the memory is not 'we did a quiz before dinner'. It is 'we were in a 1147 Lisbon trying to solve the crime'. That specificity of memory is what distinguishes this typology.

The immersive dinner programmes

Cluedo: The Siege of Lisbon

It is 1147, Lisbon is under siege and there is a crime to solve. Cluedo: The Siege of Lisbon gives each team a suspect to interrogate, five real actors in character and period props that transform the space. Teams analyse evidence, confront witnesses and present their theory at the end. With or without dinner. The format with the greatest narrative depth in this typology.

Dinner with the Murderer

A dinner transformed into an investigation game. In Dinner with the Murderer, participants take on roles, there are actors circulating through the room, and the crime unfolds while the meal happens. More informal than Cluedo, more integrated into the dinner. For groups that want the immersive experience in a lighter, more relaxed register.

Who Killed Santa

A Christmas version of the mystery dinner, with humour and festive spirit. In Who Killed Santa, the challenge is to discover who is responsible for Santa's disappearance. Christmas characters, themed clues and a generous dose of humour. For teams with a good-humoured spirit who want immersion in a completely Christmas register.

Escape Hunt Dinner

The escape game logic applied to a dinner. In the Escape Hunt Dinner, there are puzzles, padlocks and clues scattered around the space that teams have to solve while the meal takes place. More puzzle and less character than the other formats in this typology. For groups that prefer reasoning and logic over improvisation and narrative.

How to choose between the formats in this typology

For greater depth and impact: Cluedo: The Siege of Lisbon. Historical narrative, real actors, greater cognitive demand.

For a lighter register integrated into dinner: Dinner with the Murderer. The experience runs during the meal, less structured.

For humour and Christmas spirit: Who Killed Santa. More relaxed, more festive.

For reasoning and puzzle: Escape Hunt Dinner. Logic and problem-solving in a dinner context.

The venue matters in this typology

More than in any other typology, the venue is part of the experience in an immersive dinner. Cluedo: The Siege of Lisbon in a convention hotel loses half its impact. In a space with history, adapted lighting and architecture that supports the narrative, it gains.

Boost Events has partnerships with venues in Lisbon and Porto specifically chosen for this typology, as well as its own venues. If you already have a venue, the team assesses its suitability before confirming.

When this typology is the right choice

• The team has done other activities and needs something genuinely different
• The group has a creative profile and appreciates narrative, mystery or roleplay
• The goal is to create a very specific group memory that cannot be replicated in another context
• The group size is between 20 and 150 people (above this, some formats have limitations)