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Throw a backyard Oktoberfest with planks and pretzels

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marshmallow on a stick

1Build the long table from what you have

Two sawhorses and a door make a table. So do scaffolding planks, plywood on hay bales, or every folding table you own pushed end to end and hidden under one runner. The point is length, not furniture. People sit closer on a long bench than they ever would at a round table, and by the second round of toasts they are friends.

2String the lights low and zigzag

The classic mistake is one straight line of lights way overhead, which lights nothing but the sky. Run strands in a zigzag between the house, a pole, and a tree, dropping them to about seven feet so the glow lands on the table. Warm white only. The blue-white ones make everyone look like they are waiting for a bus.

3Blue and white, but not a costume shop

The Bavarian colors work because they are just two colors. A runner, some paper pennants strung between poles, a few checkered napkins, done. Skip the cardboard gingerbread hearts and inflatable pretzels unless the kids insist, and they will. A handful of small potted mums down the table center reads festive without turning your patio into a carnival booth.

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4Food that forgives a crowd

Brats in a slow cooker with beer and onions, big soft pretzels from the bakery, mustard in three jars, sauerkraut for the brave. That is the whole menu and nobody has ever complained. Put the food at one end of the table so people have to walk the length of it, greeting everyone on the way. It works like a receiving line with mustard.

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5Plan for the October chill

The first frost does not care about your party. Blankets folded on the benches, a fire pit or patio heater at the far end, and the table pushed near the house so the wall gives back some warmth. Candles in jars down the middle add light and a little heat right where hands rest. Cold guests leave early; warm ones stay for the polka.

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