Top five ideas for Oktoberfest events

Before you can say ‘lederhosen’ or ‘dirndl’ you may want to know a bit about how the locals celebrate Oktoberfest in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. The end of September and early October is Oktoberfest, the traditional Bavarian festival celebrating beer culture.

If you’ve been to Germany during Oktoberfest, you will know what fun it is. In the southern hemisphere, having a beer-drinking festival is a great way to celebrate the end of winter. Even if you don’t have German heritage you can get into the spirit. While you may be able to take part in large public Oktoberfest events, you can also have a bit of fun during the lockdown. For those doing Oktoberfest during the lockdown, you can do some of these games via zoom or other video streaming chats.

oktoberfest costumes

1. Have a ‘best Oktoberfest costume’ competition.

If you decide to host an Oktoberfest theme party you can make it more fun by having an Oktoberfest costume competition. You can award prizes for best lederhosen outfit for men or best dirndl costume for women. Some of the prizes you can award would be free steins of lager. You could also have the best Oktoberfest couples costume award. If you are hosting an online event, you can put the competitors’ best German costumes online on social media for people to vote for each of the categories.

2. Beer Checkers

You can create a large checkerboard and on each piece, you place a glass of beer. When you take your competitor's piece, you drink the beer. This works well as a team event, maybe men versus women or couples against couples.

3. Stein carrying race in beer maid or barman costumes

In Oktoberfest celebrations in Bavaria Germany, a popular pastime is participating in or watching people in their Oktoberfest costumes trying to carry empty beer steins on a race track. It can be as long or short as you would like. Those who drop any steins are disqualified. It is a race of speed and strength. You can even run bets on the winner and raise money for charity.

couples oktoberfest costume

4. Bratwurst eating competition - keep your lederhosen outfit clean

The trick to this competition is not just to eat the most bratwurst (traditional german) sausage but to do it without making a mess of your lovely dirndl blouse or shirt. This can be very difficult if you have just been playing beer checkers and your coordination is not very good after all the beer. It is a very funny thing to watch as well.

5. Beer chugging - beer wench or beer bloke drinking competition

As Oktoberfest is all about celebrating beer, a great way to do this is to have a chugging competition where everyone, in their best lederhosen or dirndl outfits, must drink their glasses or steins full of beer as fast as possible. All the while, the onlookers scream encouragement by yelling, ‘chug, chug, chug’. It’s harmless fun and a great way to celebrate the spirit of Oktoberfest in Australia.

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