Oktoberfest is a 16 day German tradition that has become very popular here in the U.S. Oktoberfest centers around traditional German foods and beer. We have provided drop off and full service catering for eine Menge (a lot of) Oktoberfest parties over the years and wanted to provide some fun ideas to help you with your Oktoberfest party planning.
OKTOBERFEST DECORATIONS:
Tbe traditional colors for Oktoberfest are light blue and white (the colors of he Bavarian flag). You can get blue and white streamers and often very inexpensive Oktoberfest banners at the party store.
For table centerpieces: you can use beer steins filled with flowers or they can double as centerpiece and snack by filling them with the long pretzel sticks. Have backup bags of pretzels to refill when needed. You can often find mini German or Bavarian flags at party stores as well.
OKTOBERFEST MUSIC:
Add authentic German party music by tuning into Pandora’s Oktoberfest channel.
OKTOBERFEST FOOD:
Lee n’ Eddies has great food options so check out our current menu options!
OKTOBERFEST PARTY ACTIVITIES:
German Beer Tasting:
Have an area set-up where people can try different beers from Germany. Ranker.com has a list of 274 German beers if you’d like to get some ideas for what to serve and seriouseats.com has a beginner’s guide to tell you about the different styles if you are interested.
Yodeling Contest:
Get your guests laughing by having a contest for the best yodeler. You can give prizes for “Most Creative Yodel”, “Most Authentic Yodel” etc.
Pretzel Making (for kids):
Buy a pretzel making kit from Wal-mart or Amazon. Have different toppings for them to put on their pretzels.
Beer Race:
Set up an obstacle course for your guests to run through with a stein full of beer. They get points for faster time completing the course and points for keeping more beer in their glass.
Wurst Brat Toss:
Give each team of 2 a bratwurst and a bucket. Each team lines up across from each other at the same distance apart. Each team then proceeds to throw the brat and the other side catches it in their bucket. With each successful catch, the teams back up one step and do it again. The team that throws their brat the furthest without breaking it wins.
Fillen Zee Bucket Team Game:
Each team has a set number of players about arm’s distance away from each other in a line, each with their own stein or mug. At the end of the line of players is a bucket and at the other end is a tub of water. The person closest the tub of water must fill his mug with water and proceed to pour it into the mug of the next person in line. This continues down the line and the last person pours what’s left into the bucket. The first team to fill their bucket wins.
OKTOBERFEST INVITATIONS:
Probably the easiest invites are online at evite.com. You can open a free account and use one of their pre-made invitations. Just upload your email list to their service and they will send the invites out. They provide a way for people to respond online and allow you to send out reminders as well.
You can also pick up postcards of Germany to mail out, check your local party store or even make your own. Here’s an example of a do-it-yourself card >>
We hope you found this helpful. If you are throwing an Oktoberfest party and have questions or would like to find out more about our catering options, just give us a call at (630) 350-3500.
