Oktoberfest once conjured images for me of crowded tents held up by wooden stilts, sudsy liter-sized mugs brimming with ale, and throngs of tipsy carousers gawking at beer waitresses, their bosoms bursting from bodices; however Oktoberfest first and foremost is the largest volksfest, or folk festival, and a celebration of Bavarian traditions. Those tents or not shoddy hovels – they are complete weather-proof wooden structures with high ceilings, multiple levels including a platform for the band, flooring, water and gas connections to support full-service toilets and kitchens. Tent construction starts in July and the largest ones can seat roughly 6,000 guests inside. The servers are talented hospitality staff who can juggle numerous liters of beer at once and attend to the requests of roughly 6 million Oktoberfest visitors annually to provide a memorable experience.

Among those visitors are kids. Many family-friendly activities abound at Oktoberfest, welcoming children of all ages, as we discovered when we took our 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son to the wiesn last year. It’s not uncommon to see parents pushing along prams or toting tots in kangaroo carriers…as the adults carry a brew in hand.

TL DR: Don’t take your kids to Oktoberfest if you want all other festivals to pale in comparison afterwards. My kids had a blast dressing up in traditional Bavarian wear, spinning on the carnival rides, listening to live bands and scarfing down spoonfuls of sweet kaiserchmarrn, deconstructed fluffy pancakes doused in a sugary fruit compote. It’s safe to say München’s Oktoberfest set the standard pretty high for all other festivals going forward.

The Backdrop

My husband’s friend wanted to host a belated “bachelor party” at Munich’s Oktoberfest(He was already married by then with a child, but Covid had postponed his stag events). Given that some of the bros were already married with kids, the “groom” let his friends know that the event did have family-friendly activities in case the guys wanted to bring their wives and kids on an international trip while they men met up for the bachelor activities.

You didn’t have to tell me twice. That was an invitation.

The Logistics- Tips for Attending Oktoberfest with Kids

Given I would be solo parenting internationally while my husband was at bachelor events, I wanted to keep things as easy as possible. Here’s what I suggest:

• Book a table in advance. It’s not necessary, but there may be some waiting around for a seat if you don’t, depending on the tent you choose and the time at which you visit. I wanted a hassle-free, complete experience, so I booked a table and meal service through Oktoberfest Reservations.
• Verify the booking website. There are many booking websites and some are fraudulent. I felt good about Oktoberfest Reservations because I received prompt responses, and I noticed that they had corporate clients as well. I may have paid more than I should have, but in my view, this was the price to pay for a guaranteed, safe, high-quality experience. In Munich, the host provided by this service took us to our table at the Hofbrau tent (one of the most popular and lively tents of the wiesn) not only provided information about the festival, but also kept my kids entertained with coloring for a few minutes when she saw me solo-parenting while Jis was with the bachelor group.
• Go before 6 p.m.: Children under 6 aren’t allowed in the tents after 8 p.m., but that’s typically bedtime for most children anyway. Strollers are turned away (not even allowed to be checked in) by 6 p.m.
• Carry cash and coins for the rides. Card is accepted for food and beverage inside the tents, but you’ll want change for the carnival rides. You’ll whiz through those Euros as fast as your kids can spin, so keep a pouch of $1 Euro handy.
• Be ready to check-in your stroller. You can bring the stroller to help navigate the outdoor parts of wiesn, and I recommend it, but inside the tents, no strollers allowed.
• Take bottled water if your kids are picky. By default, the water served at the wiesn was sparkling water, which didn’t work for my kids.
• Keep noise-reducing headphones on hand. For smaller children or those sensitive to sound, carry noise-cancelling headphones. My kids didn’t have a problem, but they were 2 and 4. For one portion of the event, my son was actually napping through the noise.
• Carry another activity like coloring books or puzzles. After a couple hours seated at the table in the tent, they will get bored if you’re still working on your liter of beer.

They frolicked through the carnival rides

The most fun aspect of the festival for kids are the rides, and we’re not talking about just a Ferris wheel or go-karts. I was amazed at the number of attractions including mini roller coasters, dizzying pendulums, hovering slingshots, bumper cars, virtual reality coasters and a number of other illuminated spinning contraptions that whirred children around in rides comparable to Disney. The Oktoberfest team does not mess around: rides take months to construct from scratch.

As my son napped in the double stroller, my daughter enjoyed a few rounds on the aviation-themed merry-go-round where she was spun around swiftly inside a miniature helicopter.

They munched their way through München fare

Fresh multi-grain rolls that fit in your hand and crunchy crudites like radishes with creamy cheese dips were the fun finger foods my kids loved.

And which kid doesn’t love mac-and cheese and pancakes? The Bavarians elevate these with their Käsespätzle, a cheesy pasta with carmelized onion, and their ooey gooey kaiserchmarrn, which translates into “the emperor’s mess” given it is decomposed into bite-sized pieces and smothered in a thick fruit sauce.

Of course, there’s also regular carnival foods like funnel cakes, pretzels and more at the fairgrounds.

They posed oh-so-adorably in their Bavarian garb

Kids love costumes, and getting into traditional garb is a must for the volksfest. It is not considered offensive — it is encouraged, and you’re going to feel left out if you don’t partake since Oktoberfest is a celebration of Bavarian culture. It’s cheaper to order a costume online or stop by a store further away from the festival to get your getup. Shops closer to the wiesn are likely to charge more. For adults, it’s possible to get affordable adult versions online starting at $50-60, but when you see the crowd, you’ll wish you had purchased an authentic one made of high-quality material.

I just so happened to have kid-sized outfits available thanks to my parents having bought these as souvenirs on a recent trip to Austria.

Males wear lederhosen, short breeches and suspenders made of leather, and women wear a dirndl, a tied up bodice, white blouse, skirt and apron (the bodice and skirt typically come as a single piece together). Of course, the more authentic and rich material your attire is made of, the better. A decent adult dirndl or lederhosen set will start around $100. Outfits can get quite elaborate depending on the fabrics and detail of embroidery.

For myself, I made the mistake of thinking I could purchase a basic white apron and call it a day– when I got to the wiesn I felt major FOMO and the very next day, I purchased a proper dirndl in a shop. Though I knew I would only get one use out of it, I considered this to be my souvenir from the trip. Plus the variety of fabrics, richness in textures, colors and patterns in which these were available reminded me of the range we see in sari shops in India.

They delighted in live music and entertainment

Within each tent, a live brass band renders traditional oompah music, and on the stages outside of the tents, there are magic shows and puppetry presented by the Schichtl variety theater. These demonstrations offer a PG-rated vaudevillian-esque show poking fun at members in the crowd or oddities on stage.

They (could have) danced at the Oide Wiesn

There is a section of the wiesn, referred to as the Oide Wiesn, or the “old wiesn” which offers a tamer, more authentic atmosphere. Here, you’ll be able to hear some of the more traditional folk songs and eat even more traditional foods (like chicken giblets), and festival hosts invite guests – including kids- to participate in group folk dances on a central dance floor. We didn’t stop by the Oide Wiesn, but I heard they also have games for kids.

Real Talk

Let me not paint a completely rosy picture either. Two things for families traveling with kids were less than ideal for me:

First, since you can’t bring the kids into the tents after dark, you will miss out on some of the wilder vibe of Oktoberfest, making you wonder if you indeed experienced Oktoberfest to its full extent. My husband, who stayed for nighttime events at the Hofbrau tent told me it was a different ambiance in the evening, so if this is something you truly want to experience, don’t take kids with you on your Oktoberfest trip. I initially felt a little FOMO when I heard this, but I got over it fast because I felt I had experienced 90% of the event.

Second, while the outside carnival rides are fun for kids, it is also a reason they won’t sit still inside the tents. My kids enjoyed the atmosphere in the tents for the first hour or so, but after that, they got bored and kept asking to go back outside on the rides. Just as I would when taking my kids to a restaurant, I had brought coloring books and pencils to keep them entertained. However, even this didn’t keep them completely occupied, and eventually I gave them screen time so that I could relax.

Bottom line

I don’t regret taking my kids to the festival. Octoberfest now elicits different images for me: my daughter laughing on the spinning helicopter ride and my son peering over the festival grounds in amazement from the top of the Ferris wheel. Now, every time we tell my kids we are going to a festival, my daughter says, “Like in Germany?” We have to say, “Not quite, but it will still be fun.”