Here's what we did for St. Patrick's day this year:
I found this idea for handprint leprechauns on Tip Junkie's site, though they looked a lot better than ours; I think the heads are too small. Here's Keaton's
Waverly's
And Brighton's.
We also made leprechaun traps. This time Brighton participated, though I may have done a little more than him. I copied this hat idea from Family Fun, just miniaturizing it to fit around a hot chocolate can. It turned out cute! Unfortunately the little green men found a way out again, drat! But they did leave behind some gold chocolate coins for Brighton, and a gold dollar each for the girls.
Savannah's trap was copied from one we saw on the web.
The bait was 2 shiny pennies, glued to a diving board kind of thing. Too bad for us, though, Brighton left his "fishing pole" close by and the little guy pulled himself out with the rope.
And this was Irelynd's. She used our pot of gold to lure him in. Like the antennae? I'm not sure what function these were used for. I'm sure she would though.
I packed the girls each a green lunch. Savannah got a ham and cheese wrap on a spinach tortilla, and Irelynd a PB&J in the shape of a shamrock.
I went the easy route this year and did cold cereal instead of the green-tinted hot breakfast. My kids have a hard time with green eggs:)
Ok, I earned mega Mom brownie points for this one. I bought a green shirt for Savannah and Waverly last year at Target when they went on clearance (expecting to find one for Ireynd, too, later). Well, the older girls grew more over the past year than I expected, so Irelynd got the green shirt. I hate to pay full price for a holiday tee, so I took a plain white shirt of Savannah's and embellished it. I found this perfect green ribbon in my supply box and made roses from it, which I attached to her shirt. I was so happy that it worked! Thanks Sallie, for the ribbon, and the inspiration!
Here's the close up. It was fast and relatively easy, once I got the technique down, but kept me up til 2am regardless. If I'd had time, I would have liked to embellish the centers with white beads.
Those pesky leprechauns stacked cups, chairs, and created a train with Winnie, Minnie, and the Easter Bunny.
As per tradition, we had a green dinner. This year we all wore hats, or green leis.
I almost had everyone smiling. Brighton was in a royally bad mood before dinner, so I was doing well just to get him to sit for the photo. The girls chose to wear their leis like crowns.
Keaton was lucky and got the silly headband.
We had Thai cilantro chicken, broccoli, beans, green grapes, green lime punch, and green jello. I made Irish soda bread, but it didn't cook in time.
I even got Scott to wear a hat for a short time.
After dinner, we played the shamrock game. I was very inspired by the
Super Mommy blog this year, and she had this as an idea. Check her blog out; it's full of amazing ideas. I took 25 green plastic coins, and numbered them 1-5 (so there was 5 of each number, one per child). Then I got 5 paper bags and numbered them 1-5. In each I put 5 of something. The categories were fruit, gum, mints, candy, and juice boxes. I found all green items to go in the bags. I hid the coins in the living room, and then called the kids in to find them. They each found 5, and could choose a prize out of the bag that corresponded with the number on the coins. The Super Mommy explains it better. It was a fun activity that even the twins could do.
For dessert we had grasshopper pie: oreo crumb crust, hot fudge layer, mint ice cream, drizzled hot fudge on top. Mmmmmmm! No wonder I'm getting so fat lately!
Another fun idea that we stole from the Super Mommy and did today was a green bubble bath. I turned the water green for the little one's morning bath. {It did not turn the kids green, if you're wondering!} The girls also found gold coins hidden in the drawers and cupboards this morning when they went to put away the dishes. And the tricky leprechaun turned our toilet water and milk green, too! I made a treat bag for Scott, too, filled with cheesy lines and green candy. Can't forget the hubby!
I love this holiday, maybe because there aren't any heavy expectations like there is for Christmas. And how easy it is to celebrate, armed with little more than a bottle of green food coloring! Erin go braugh!
