Oktoberfest!

Week 4 of our country studies found us in Germany, and we decided to cap the week off with an Oktoberfest celebration.

It only takes a bit of research to learn that the yearly festival held in Munich is very much an extremely large beer party.

Needless to say, our Oktoberfest was modeled more off a German kid's birthday party than a true Oktoberfest.  :)

Celebrating Germany week in our Cowboy hat.

We began with our "feast" as Alan called it:

Brats, sauerkraut, warm German potato salad.  (And baked beans.  Because we're just American like that - note the cowboy hat above.)

To drink: apple soda!  (And sweet tea.  Because we're just American like that.)

We started our meal with this quirky German Polka from youtube.  Viewer beware, the suggested videos in the margin and after the video ends are quite questionable, but the music itself lent the perfect celebratory festive atmosphere to out little party!  We listened several times throughout the meal, just to keep things peppy.  ;)

We followed our feast with... games!

First up: Topfschlagen. Or, in English: Hit the Pot.  We put a small candy prize in a pot, ignored the advice to give a wooden spoon (opted for plastic, and was later glad I listed to my mother-sense on that one), and blindfolded the boys one by one.

The object is for the blindfolded child to swing his spoon across the floor until he finds the pot.

The game continues until every child has had a turn finding the pot.

The boys liked this game best, I think.  They all wanted to play again and again!

Alan especially enjoyed it.  He was the reason I was glad I had gone with a plastic spoon, as he very much enjoyed whacking floor, feet, ankles, chair legs, and the pot once he found it.  He took "Hit the Pot" quite literally and seriously!

Topfschlagen was followed with a few rounds of Ein, Zwei, Drei...Halt!

Better known 'round these parts at Red Light, Green Light.  

Again, we know how to dress for in international party: 
please note Dale's Texas shirt.
 It ain't lederhosen, I'll tell you that.  
(And for the record, Alan's shirt has a a camo "USA" blazing 
across the front.)

This works better as an outdoor game, but we adapted for in the house and really, counting in German and shouting "Halt" with a fun accent served our purpose quite well!

As it was getting late and dessert had just come out of the oven, we only played one round of our last game, but I have a strong suspicion we'll be playing "Sardinen" again.  Or, in English: Sardines.  I've played this game before but didn't know it was German.  

Much like hide and seek, but only 1 person hides.  The group then scatters to find the hider.  When a player finds the hider, instead of 'outing' them, they quickly and quietly join them in the hiding place, until many players are packed in... like sardines! 

Detailed directions for our games and several more can be found here and here.

Mimi and Gramps had joined us for our Oktoberfest celebration, so the boys were delighted to seek, find, and squeeze into hiding with Mimi for our one round of Sardinen.

Then it was on to dessert!  I learned this week that Black Forest Cake is from Germany, and instantly knew that would be our Oktoberfest dessert.

I found a super-easy 4-ingredient dump-cake version that turned out ugly as slop but terribly yummy warm and topped with cool whip! 

A fun time had by all, no doubt, and many thanks to Mimi & Gramps for taking all the pictures and  lending their presence to add to the festiveness!