Oktoberfest Munich 2012 Dates: Sept 22 – Oct 7.

Oktoberfest in Munich starts Saturday, September 22, 2012, and ends Sunday, October 7, 2012. The Munich Oktoberfest originally took place during the sixteen days up to and including the first Sunday in October. In the United States, it is often thought that Oktoberfest only occurs during the month of October, while traditionally it has to start in September to include the first weekend of October.

Oktoberfest is one of the most famous events in Germany and a celebration of Bavarian culture, food and drink. It is the world’s largest fair attended by more than 5 million people. The Oktoberfest has been held since 1810 in Munich. Many other cities across the world also hold festivals modeled after the German Oktoberfest, with attendees wearing lederhosen and dirndls while drinking German beer and eating German food.

Red Robin restaurants are serving a new Beer Milkshake made with Sam Adams Oktoberfest draft, now through November 11. The beer is combined with vanilla soft serve and caramel. The picture says it all: it looks like a Starbuacks vanilla-chai-venti-latte-with-whip-and-caramel.

The media are swooning, which is probably what Red Robin wants. They are bringing back the Oktoberfest burger that made such a big media stir last year, and they will also have cheesy pretzel bites with beer mustard.

Now, we’re going to play devil’s advocate, and say that this is sacrilege. Oktoberfest beer is delicious and nutritious as is. Why add 1,000 calories to it?!

Would you try this new milkshake?

If you are planning to dress as a German beer girl this Oktoberfest season, one name says it all: “Gretchen”. Gretchen is the generic name given to most beer girl costumes by the big costume companies. And the best Gretchen costume of all is the Leg Avenue Gretchen Costume.

Leg Avenue Gretchen Costume

The Gretchen by Leg Avenue is the most-popular and best-selling women’s Oktoberfest costume. Headed to a German bar or Oktoberfest festival? You will likely see many of the female waitstaff in this sexy German outfit by Leg Avenue. The costume includes a sexy beer girl top with a pink satin ribbon bodice and a green skirt. The included matching stockings have detailed bows.

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati has a great video featuring several women dressed in Gretchen outfits performing the chicken dance on stage. The beer girls in this video are not wearing the optional chiffon puffy mini petticoat that is shown in the product photo. The petticoat is popular to puff the skirt portion of the costume and add a little extra color.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG_jbcI6Aoc

Gretchen Plus Size Costume

The plus size Gretchen costume by Leg Avenue is available in 1x/2x and 3x/4x and has the same dirndl dress design. The stockings shown in the photo are not included with the costume and must be purchased separately.

The Bavarian Guy Costume is our top-selling Men’s Oktoberfest costume every year, and we finally have it back in stock for 2012 Oktoberfest season. Bavarian Guy Costume is also available in Plus Size, 2XL and 3XL. OktoberfestHaus.com finally has it back in stock. We’re ready for Oktoberfest season. Are you?

We posted another video advertising our Bavarian Guy Costumes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqH1FXcBE2U

The annual Fremont Oktoberfest Brew Ha-Ha 5K is back for it’s 10^th race on September 23rd, 2012. Last year, Oktoberfest Haus sponsored the Fremont race, and it was a great success. Best of luck again to all runners again this year.

The race will start in the heart of Fremont neighborhood at Solstice Plaza and track the Burk Gilman Trail. The runners will be greeted at the finish line by the beer garden! Runners don’t have to pay entrance fee to the beer garden and will have the Fremont Village Beer Garden all to yourselves for the first hour.

Racers are encouraged to embrace the spirit of the Fremont Oktoberfest by wearing a dirndl or lederhosen. Gr.eat Oktoberfest costume selection can be found at Oktoberfesthaus.com.  Create a team of dirndl and lederhosen wearing racers!

Here’s the Freemont Oktoberfest 5k race course:

Yes, there’s something to be said for wearing authentic, goat skin lederhosen to an Oktoberfest party. But not everyone wants to fork over the $250+ just to goof off and act like a crazy Bavarian for the night. That’s why our Bavarian Guy Costume from InCharacter Costumes is the most popular Oktoberfest costume year after year. It’s a great, authentic look, replete with lederhosen, suspenders, high socks and a hat. It fits most budgets and most waistlines (see elastic stretch band waist). You won’t be disappointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEScTrpN76o

JibJab has a great new cartoon video of Oktoberfest Bavarian Polka dancing. Just plug in pictures of you and some friends, and you have a oompah video card to send to friends and family for a good laugh. Check out the Oktoberfest Haus staff version. Our company owner, graphic designer and customer service team are having a great time in their lederhosen and dirndls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daWyn2mIAbk

PartyPoker.com is offering a contest with the top 7 players winning a luxury trip to Oktoberfest 2012 in Munich. We’re not advocating online gambling, but for those so-inclined, winners receive:

- Two nights’ accommodation for two at a five-star hotel in Munich during Oktoberfest.

-Dinner and poker tournament at a luxurious venue.

-Tickets to VIP box at the Hippodrom Okroberfest.

-VIP night club entry.

-$500 spending money.

Notice, airfare is not included. That might set you back $800-1000 each from the United States. But anyway, we thought our readers might like to know….

The official Oktoberfest logo souvenirs are printed and ready to go in Germany. Oktoberfest Haus is always the first, and generally the only, seller of the official logo products in the U.S. If you can’t wait, we won’t be offended if you order yours from the the Oktoberfest.de website – but you’ll be paying extra in shipping, taxes, duties and customs. Probably just best if you wait. We promise to announce availability of the Official Oktoberfest Steins as soon as they hit our warehouse. Check out the wares below:

Beer prices have been announced for Oktoberfest 2012. The average price for a Mass, or one liter of Oktoberfest beer, will be 9.35€ this year. That’s an increase of 35 cents, or 3.9%, over 2011. Ten years ago, one liter of beer at Oktoberfest cost an average of 6.55€, for an increase of 43% over the last decade.

Below are Oktoberfest beer prices by tent for 2012. See a map of the tents here.