How to Throw an Oktoberfest Themed Party

Yes, mamas! I am referring to the beer and pretzels and all the fun Oktoberfest entails. Keep reading to learn how I incorporated it into my son’s first birthday party.

It may sound odd and perhaps a little inappropriate to combine beer and your child but hear me out! 

Oktoberfest is a huge, well-known beer festival in Germany and usually lasts from September to October; you may have seen similar themes at our local Beer Gardens. My son’s birthday is on September 29th and as we approached our son’s first birthday last year, I knew I wanted it to be something related to Fall and would be fun for adults too.

Let’s be honest, first birthdays are also for the parents to celebrate too, right?! I am one of the first of my friends to have kids so we really only had handful of little ones coming to the party, with a majority being adult friends and family. So as I brainstormed for party theme ideas, drinking my pumpkin beer on the patio, it just hit me! Oktoberfest.. but we’ll call it “Carterfest” (after my son’s name). 

I started searching online for inspiration and of course I wasn’t the first person to think of this idea so it was easy and fun to pick and choose how we wanted to implement it! I’m listing ideas I compiled and some links that we used here in case you’d like to reference them to plan our your version of the theme.

DECOR

• Carter’s ‘Lederhosen’ onesie from Etsy
• Carter’s army green (could also be khaki) shorts and high socks from Carter’s
• Banner Sign: “Prost” (which means “cheers” in German) printed from Vistaprint; they always have promotions/discounts on their site. 
• Stickers for the kiddos and a few tshirts that matched the signs from Vistaprint
• [Plastic] “Boot” glasses and beer mugs from Amazon
• Blue and white argyl table cloth, plates, paper cups and straws from Oriental Trading
• Blue, white and yellow balloons, cutlery, and napkins from Party City
• I filled the tables up with mini pumpkins and ghords
• Yellow and white mums throughout the patio

FOOD & DRINKS

• Pretzel platters with various mustard and cheese dips
• Brats, Potato Dumplings and Sauerkrat 
• Potato salad
• Lebkuchen as party favors,  which are popular German gingerbread cookies that I got customized with “Carterfest” written on them
• Beer, beer, and more beer (for the adults, of course!!)

ACTIVITIES

• We had a ‘pretzel necklace station’ where kids and adults took string and pretzels and made their own festive necklaces and snacked on them throughout the day
• Fall-inspired coloring books and crayons for the kids, although they ended up playing with each other outside the entire party which worked too! 
• A (Guess the Beer) taste test for adults

Overall, this theme was pretty easy to put together and was a total hit with everyone! If you’re in a pickle for a last minute fall party theme (whether it be for a birthday or not), Oktoberfest is definitely one to try!