How to Decorate for an Oktoberfest Party

It's early autumn and you've offered to throw an Oktoberfest for your friends and family. Wunderbar! The beer is chilling and the sauerkraut is simmering, so now it's time to make the event location look like good ol' Bavaria.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Decorations
• Fresh-cut Flowers
• Beer
• Beer Mugs
• Tarps

1. Use cobalt blue and snow white as basic colors for your event. These are the official colors of the German state of Bavaria, home to Oktoberfest. Look for tablecloths, streamers, balloons and napkins in these shades.
2. Decorate tables with fresh-cut, potted or dried flowers and wheat. Primary colors - red, yellow and blue - are perfect. Bavarian favorites include Lobelia and geraniums.
3. Suspend a bouquet from the middle of the ceiling and hang streamers radiating out from the center bouquet to the ceiling edges; it's a low-cost yet authentic look.
4. Use large glass or ceramic beer mugs as vases for the flowers or wheat.
5. Adorn the walls with posters of Germany. Contact travel agents for old advertising posters, or check with agencies associated with the Federal Republic of Germany to see if they can send you freebies. Teaching materials catalogs usually offer wonderful posters and other decorations at great prices.
6. Use German flags or crests from the 16 German states as decorations. If you're creative, you can make flags and crests out of construction paper. Travel shops and import stores often sell international flags.
7. Ask German beer distributors for any promotional freebies they may be able to offer you from the German breweries. If you're ordering a keg of beer, the distributors may be obliged to give you some glasses, banners or posters. Remember, it doesn't cost anything to ask.

Tips & Warnings

• Contact party stores about renting decorations and materials if you don't want to buy them.
• Remove your decorations and store them carefully to keep them pristine for next year's celebration.
• Use a tarp/waterproof cover underneath your beer keg to avoid floor damage and to prevent people from slipping on the moisture.
• Be careful when hanging streamers, bouquets, posters or balloons at great heights.