Saint Patrick’s Day Party

Here are a few easy, quick, and affordable ideas to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. Hoping these ideas and printables may also be helpful and fun for your classroom or home as well!

Decorations:

We used a plastic black bowl from the Dollar Tree, a green pool noodle, and my daughter’s old tap shoes to create this easy and quick leprechaun leaping into a pot of gold. The legs are attached to wooden chopsticks which are inserted into a brick of floral foam that is hot glued to the base of the bowl. We added cut up gold streamers (also from the Dollar Tree) and went through our Christmas ornament stash to find all our gold glitter ornaments to complete this simple and fun decoration.

Outside, we used black plastic tablecloth to cover a large pot and inserted more pool noodle legs with tap shoes. My kids helped me to fill the rest of our pot with gold Christmas ornaments. We also swapped out our Christmas doormat for a rainbow one we found at Target.

More black plastic tablecloth were used to turn plastic orange pumpkin pails into pots of gold. We added more pool noodle legs and tap shoes and strung them to the ceiling in our kitchen.

I glued pool noodles together to create rainbows and put them into more covered pumpkin pails. My kids really loved these quick and easy decorations.

My kids helped me to make this large rainbow using just painter’s tape and colorful paper plates leftover from all of our past parties. It took only minutes for us to complete and has really helped to add a bit of brightness and fun to our home.

I used a few push pins and secured a large piece of black felt I had to the large blank wall in our kitchen and just used double sided painter’s tape to add gold paper plates on top to create this super easy and quick pot of gold that has served as a fun backdrop to our little dining area in the kitchen.

I made a few banners that are available here. We hung this one that says Happy Saint Patrick’s Day over our main eating area. They were just an easy and inexpensive way to quickly decorate a room.

This banner that says Make Your Own Luck helped to decorate our living room. I added the kids’ art to our mantle to complete the rest of the space. They had a large collection of painted leprechauns, Irish flags, rainbow birdhouses, and rainbows to choose from.

Throughout our home, my kids made these leprechaun traps which doubled as cute decorations.

They also made these articulated leprechaun puppets and positioned them everywhere.

Party Activities:

I like to set up a craft table that is self explanatory with all the supplies laid out, where guests can come and go as they please. Here my daughter is making Fruit Loop necklaces. I made these printable pinch proof shamrock charms that is free to download below.

Simply print onto white cardstock, punch out with a 2 inch circle punch, and add some hole punches. We initially punched one hole at the top but found that the charms work better with a hole punched out at both sides. Then lay out some green pipe cleaners and a bowl of Fruit Loops for kids to make and wear necklaces.

Coloring is always a welcomed addition to all of our family get togethers and parties. These coloring pages pictured are available to download for free here. I also make a larger set that can be personalized here. To make it even more festive and fun, place the crayons in little pots (we found ours at the Dollar Tree).

Whenever possible, I like to include a wearable craft for the kids. I printed these paper leprechaun hats out onto white cardstock and included a tray filled with markers, crayons, glue, scissors, glue, and glitter for the kids to embellish, cut, assemble, and wear. My kids like wearing their number age but usually for our parties, I will print out the hats without the numbers on them. I make more party hats here.

It is always fun to include a rainbow craft to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. I made this rainbow wand craft template that is free to download.

Simply print, cut out the happy clouds, tape them to popsicle sticks, then invite kids to glue or tape on strips of construction paper (or ribbon) to the back to create the rainbow. Then glue another cloud to the back to finish.

Tattoos are a fun and easy activity that my kids enjoy. They are also a low budget party addition.

I made a set of photo props which are free to download below.

There are nine photo props included. There are six speech bubbles that say Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!, Shake Your Shamrock!, Pinch Me!, Go Green!, Best Paddy Ever!, and So Dang Lucky! There are three arrows that say Leprechaun, Full of Shenanigans, and Lucky Charm! They are best printed out onto white cardstock and glued onto black posterboard, cut out again and glued to wooden dowels.

I like to have a few activities set up outside. Sidewalk chalk is inexpensive and the kids always enjoy this. I usually make one simple drawing that goes with our theme for an example and the kids take it from there.

Messy party activities that my kids enjoy like painting is also great to take outside. I purchased these little pots from Walmart for the kids to paint and provide them with black and green paint, gold glitter, and gold wrapped candy to fill their pots in, once dried.

Water play is easy to set up for kids and is always a win. For Saint Patrick’s Day, my kids really enjoy making Shamrock soup with rainbow pom poms, shamrocks formed from pipe cleaners, and ladle them into little pots. Sometimes we will dye the water green and add some gold glitter or just go natural with cut up limes and green leaves. Other times, we’ve made the water murky with cornstarch to create a seek and find with gold coins.

Food:

The main dish for Saint Patrick’s Day for us is corned beef and cabbage which is so easy to prepare. I just cut and peel two pounds of carrots, five pounds of potatoes, one onion, and dump it into my crockpot with the whole piece of corned beef (usually 3-4 pound flat cut) along with the seasoning packet that comes with it, fill it up with water, and cook it on low for 8 hours. Then after eight hours, I use the broth to boil a whole head of cabbage in a separate pot, mix everything together, and have a delicious meal for a party crowd. Depending on how many RSVPs we get, sometimes I will make this twice to have enough.

My kids love helping me to arrange vegetables to look like the Italian flag and make a rainbow out of fruit and mini marshmallows to serve.

Rainbow Jell-O and spinach artichoke dips are yummy and fun additions. To make the rainbow Jell-O, I use two 6oz boxes of berry blue Jell-O and prepare it according to the directions on the package, placing it into clear 9oz plastic cups. After chilling for four hours, I pipe whipped cream then add Airhead Extremes rainbow candy on top. If the rainbows don’t hold their arch, I cut the rainbow strips in half.

Here is a close up of all that spinach artichoke dip goodness! The key is to use fresh spinach and garlic, and full fat sour cream instead of mayo. I will post my recipe soon. It is a real crowd pleaser.

These Rice Krispies Treat leprechaun hats are fun and easy to make. Just add green icing gel to your melted butter and marshmallow before you mix in the rice cereal then cut them out into simple hat shapes. We then add some melted Ghirardelli milk chocolate wafers as the bands on the hat and one orange Skittle for the centers.

I made these Irish flag cupcake toppers to top chocolate cupcakes. This file is best printed out onto white cardstock, cut out, and attached to toothpicks with a little bit of tape. You could also glue on another flag to the back but I usually don’t bother. The delicious and easy Vanilla buttercream frosting recipe is from Two Sisters. I just use a few drops of Wilton’s Kelly green icing gel to add some color to it. The gorgeous glass plate pictured above was made by Pacific NW glass artist Terri Shinners.

I like to make shamrock shaped sugar cookies and leave the decorating to the kids as another party activity. This always ends up being so fun for kids of all ages.

Deviled eggs are another party favorite. My kids think it’s so neat how adding a bit of blue icing gel to the egg yolks will turn them green.

These string cheese leprechauns are easy to make and have helped to add a lot of fun to my kids’ school lunches. I plan to make a large plate for our Saint Patrick’s Day party this year too.

Other simple and delicious additions not pictured include chips and guacamole and shamrock punch (just lime sherbet and ginger ale). In some years, we’ve also arranged brownies to look like a pot and added gold foil Almond Roca candy on top. This year, we are planning on making chocolate cake pops and flatten the tops a little after dipping in chocolate so they will look like little pots, and add gold sprinkles on top.

My greatest joy in creating these parties for my children is seeing all their excitement and happiness. I also enjoy finding ways to use what we already have in new ways and to quickly and inexpensively make things for and with my kids.

I create more printable activities for kids here with the goal of helping to grow kids who love to learn.

To see my other parties click here.

If you use these printables or party ideas, I would love to see it! Please use #sodangfun on social media, tag me @sodangfun on Instagram, or post to my Facebook page.

I hope this post can help you to have an easy and fun celebration for Saint Patrick’s Day!