Some people get asked to organise the office party every single year. Some people always end up hosting Christmas, or the leaving do, or the birthday dinner nobody else could be bothered to plan. If that sounds like you, you already have the raw material for a side hustle for people who love hosting — you just haven't been paid for it yet.
Hosting is a skill. Reading a room, keeping people fed and entertained, making sure nobody's standing alone by the drinks table — that's not nothing. Below are several ways to turn it into money, and one option that goes further than the rest: running a fully hosted event under someone else's brand, training and booking system.
What makes a good side hustle for people who love hosting?
The best options share three things: they use skills you already have, they don't need a huge upfront investment, and they can run on evenings or weekends without swallowing your whole life.
That rules out a lot of businesses that sound appealing on paper but demand full-time hours from day one. It points you towards things like event styling, private dinner hosting, trivia nights, and licensed party formats you can run again and again with minimal reinvention each time.
What are the easiest party-hosting side hustles to start?
- Event styling and rentals. Table settings, backdrops, balloon arches, lighting. Low barrier to entry if you already own the gear, and repeat customers are common once you've done a few weddings or milestone birthdays.
- Private chef or dinner party host. If you can cook, you can charge for a set menu evening in someone's home. The hosting instinct matters as much as the food — guests are paying for the whole evening, not just the plate.
- Trivia or games night host. Bars and private groups both pay for someone who can run a night confidently, keep the pace up, and handle a microphone without making it awkward.
- Licensed party formats. Rather than building your own concept from nothing, you take an established one — games, scripts, training and marketing already worked out — and run it in your own area. This is where hosting stops being a favour you do for friends and starts being an actual business.
Can you make real money hosting murder mystery events?
Yes, and it doesn't require any acting background — it's a game, not a play, and guests are the ones solving it, not watching it performed. You're the host running the evening: setting the scene, keeping the story moving, and making sure everyone at the table is having a good time.
You can see what a hosted evening actually looks like by checking public events running in different cities, or by looking at private event pricing and availability if you're picturing this for a corporate booking or a birthday party rather than a public ticketed night.
Private events, public tickets, or a licence — which pays better?
Private events are booked directly by a customer at their own venue — an office, a private room, someone's home. You're paid a flat fee for the night regardless of how many tickets you sell, because there's nothing to sell; the client has already paid for the experience.
Public ticketed events work differently. You book a venue, sell seats to strangers, and the room fills or it doesn't. There's more upside if the night sells well, and more risk if it doesn't.
A licence combines both, at a bigger scale. As a licensee you get the games, the training, the branding and the booking system already built, and you bring the venue relationships and the local audience. You run private bookings and public nights in your own area under a name people already half-recognise, and you keep the large majority of every ticket sold.
How does licensing a murder mystery side hustle actually work?
You apply, you're trained on how the games run and how bookings are handled, and you start hosting in your own territory using material that's already been tested rather than something you're writing from scratch on a Tuesday night. The licensee program page covers what's included and what's expected of you before you commit to anything.
This matters more than it sounds. Most people who try to build a hosting side hustle from zero spend the first year writing material, figuring out pricing, and working out how to actually get bookings in the door. A licence skips that part. The games exist. The brand exists. What you're bringing is the venue relationships, the local marketing, and the hosting itself.
How much does it cost to get started as a licensee?
Costs vary by territory and are covered directly during the application conversation rather than published as a flat number, since what you need depends on the size of area you want to run. The honest way to find out is to start the licensee application and ask directly — you'll get a clear answer before you commit to anything.
Is a hosting side hustle right for you?
If you already enjoy the planning, the setup, the bit where guests arrive and you're checking everyone's got a drink in hand — you have the instinct. The question isn't whether you can host. It's whether you want to do it for people who are paying you, on your own schedule, with material you didn't have to build yourself.
If you're still deciding, the frequently asked questions page answers most of the practical concerns people raise before applying — things like time commitment, territory size, and what training actually involves.
Where do you go from here?
If the licence route sounds closer to what you're after than a one-off styling gig or the occasional dinner party, it's worth reading through the licensee program in full before you decide. You can also browse more ideas and stories on the blog, or get in touch through contact us if you've got a specific question that isn't covered anywhere else.