Being part Irish, we’ve always had a lot of fun with St. Patrick’s Day. My mom would make green eggs & ham and leave traces of mischeivous leprechauns throughout the house. We loved making traps to try to catch them (if you do, you get a wish!) and wearing lots of green so we didn’t get pinched.
Now that I have kids of my own, I’ve noticed that the excitement for St. Patrick’s Day isn’t what it used to be. For one thing, schools seem to have cracked down on the pinching thing (which I fully support), but this year, they don’t even have school on St. Patrick’s Day, because the district scheduled a staff work day. I heard of other districts that did the same thing for Valentine’s Day this year, too. I’m curious if you’re seeing similar trends at schools near you. If you are, make sure to share in the comments below this post.
Anyway, I am taking this as an opportunity to have more fun with it at home. If you’re also looking for ways to make St. Patrick’s Day a bit more magical, I hope you’ll be inspired by some of these easy ideas.
1. Make Leprechaun Traps:
This is one of the ideas on this list that you’ll want to do before St. Patrick’s Day. The day before is just fine, so long as you have your trap ready to go on the morning of St. Patrick’s Day. The goal here is to lure those magical little leprechauns into your trap and catch one! Legend has it that if you do, you’ll get a wish! Lots of household items work great for this, like empty boxes, construction paper, popsicle sticks, or a ladder pulled from a toy, and more. Since leprechauns love rainbows, glitter, and gold, you can encourage your little ones to incorporate these themes.
We’ve never successfully caught one *wink wink*, but they usually leave a little note in the form of a limerick and treats for a job well done. And, I always make sure to make it look like a leprechaun has visited their trap while they’re asleep. They love to investigate where the leprechaun was and how they got out!
If you’re inspired to make your own traps this yer, I wrote a post with a round-up of ideas to get the inspiration flowing. Take a look at that post here if you want more ideas.
2. Wear Green Clothes:
There’s so many funny shirts and accessories that bring the St. Patrick’s Day spirit. Here’s just a small round-up, but you can find a lot more. Luckily, most of these are very affordable, with shirts under $5 at times. I also like to hit up the dollar store for fun St. Patrick’s Day headbands, necklaces, jewelry, and other goodies, or grab a big pack on Amazon. They have great seasonal items for so cheap. Here are some links to where I found the items above:
- St. Patrick’s Day clothes at Target
- St. Patrick’s Day clothes at Old Navy
- St. Patrick’s Day Accessory Pack – Necklaces, headbands, etc.
Affiliate links used in this post. If you make a purchase through my link, I may receive a commission at no cost to you. Thank you!
3. Make Green Eggs & Ham:
Start the festivities first thing in the morning with easy green eggs & ham! It’s just eggs with a couple drops of food coloring and chopped up ham. You can make these however your kids like. If they drink milk, add a little green to their milk, or you can blend up a green smoothie for them to drink, too. My mom used to say that the leprechauns turned all of our food green and it brought some easy magic to the day.
4. Make Green Treats:
When they get home from school, have some rainbow or green themed treats for them. A rainbow shaped fruit platter works if you don’t like sugary treats, but green cupcakes, green rice krispy treats, shamrock shaped cookies, and all sorts of gold wrapped candies make for a festive dessert table, too.
Go with what works for your kids and your family. When they get home from school and see the themed treat, it will brighten their whole day.
5. Do St. Patrick’s Day Activities:
I have a couple of free St. Patrick’s Day activities on the blog that you can download and use for free, at home, or in the classroom. There’s a St. Patrick’s day I Spy, which can be colored and used for counting practice, and a shamrock shaped St. Patrick’s Day word search.
Feel free to use and share!
6. Make Shamrock Shakes:
Probably the most popular St. Patrick’s Day themed treat of them all – these minty ice cream shakes are so easy to make and delicious! You can use mint chocolate chip ice cream that is already green at the store, or make your own with vanilla ice cream and mint extract. Here’s a simple recipe if you’re making your own at home:
Ingredients:
Serving: this makes 4 milkshakes
- 4 cups vanilla ice cream
- 1 1/2 cups milk of choice
- 20 drops or so of green food coloring
- 1/2 tsp. mint extract
- Whipped cream and green sprinkles for the toppings!
Add everything but the whipped cream to the blender and blend until milkshake consistency. Add to cups, add toppings, and serve!
Adjust the recipe based on your serving sizes and preferences.
7. Go To a St. Patrick’s Day Parade:
Last year on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, we happened to be in San Francisco, and they were having their annual parade on the street right outside our hotel! We had the best view of the entire thing. The kids loved seeing all of their outfits, listening to the bagpipe music, and watching the leprechauns dance around. If you’d like to see one, look for one in your area. It might be the weekend before the actual day, but it could be a fun (and free) experience.
8. Make St. Patrick’s Day Crafts:
There’s a ton of great ideas online, and I am working on sharing some of my own here as well. I have a packet of printables I’m going to be putting up in my shop soon with lots of St. Patrick’s Day ideas, like fingerprint rainbow painting, photo leprechauns, four leaf clovers they can decorate, a “How Lucky Are We?” wreath activity, and more. I’ll come back and add links soon, but until then, you can find lots of super easy ideas online.
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More Holiday Ideas:
I love celebrating holidays. For me, it’s a chance to slow down, celebrate the passing of time with my favorite people, and make special memories I hope my kids will remember as they grow older. I have a lot of family and celebration content on the blog. Here are a few more posts you might like, and you can always find more under the CELEBRATIONS tab.
- How To Throw a Pop Star Karaoke Party
- A festive Christmas Song Emoji Printable Game
- Free Easter I Spy Printable for Kids
- 10 best Easter basket printable scavenger hunts
- 3 Free Colorable Mother’s Day cards
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Thanks for reading. I hope this inspires you to have a festive and magical St. Patrick’s Day!
– E
