Easy ways to have a blast with St. Patrick for kids. Simple St. Patrick's Day activities for kids, fun Irish recipes, and last-minute leprechaun jokes to start their day with a bang.
I can't help myself. I think St. Patrick's Day is one of the most fun least pressured holidays to celebrate with kids ever!
No gifts, no big parties, no major effort needs to be involved in any way. It is just a fun mid-winter holiday to have some playful family fun.
Other than making something different for dinner and ensuring everyone wears green, I never really did too much with St. Patrick for kids until last year.
The Peanut had to make a leprechaun trap at school and enjoyed it so much, she hoped we might be lucky enough to have one stop by our house on St. Paddy's.
I took a few minutes at the very last minute the night before to pull together a few easy things and they made such a huge impact on the girls!
After seeing how much they enjoyed the easiest of surprises, I pulled together all my resources for you so you can enjoy a little laughter with your own kids this year.
Everything you'll need to have a blast with St. Patrick for kids is:
- A color printer, I adore my HP Envy 5660 for last-minute jobs like this!
- A few pieces of white card stock
- A box of Lucky Charms
- And a few simple ingredients from the grocery store for the easiest dinner ever
Good luck!
6 Easy Last-Minute Ideas for Fun with St. Patrick for Kids:
1. Luckiest Morning Ever!
Start the day off on the right foot with a big bowl of Lucky Charms and a mason jar filled with green milk left behind by a leprechaun! The girls loved opening the fridge to find the little bundle ready to go.
Simply print out the adorable It's Your Lucky Day printable tags by Tiny Me to leave as a message on the morning treats. If you're super organized, maybe have some green and white striped straws ready to go!
2. Load the Leprechaun Trap:
IF your child is already doing this for school, it only took a minute to print off a letter from the leprechaun and leave behind some green M&Ms. I loved the letter over on Julie from Creekside Learning's site. She has the perfect copy and paste rhyme!
3. Have a Little Photo Fun!:
I love adding festive photos to our rotating wall gallery. I have St. Paddy's pictures of my girls from babyhood on wearing their shamrock shirts.
Last year, I took a few extra minutes to print out these adorable St. Patrick's Day photo props by Tiny Me! I trimmed them out and taped them to kabob sticks I had in my kitchen. The girls had a good time giggling and goofing off for our very un-serious photo shoot.
4. Festive Home Decor:
I already had my favorite St. Patrick's Day banner hanging on the mantle, but last year I added a simple print out of this sweet Lucky Us printable by Landeelu to my wall gallery in the dining room.
After the holiday was over, I printed out my favorites from our photo session so they were ready to go into the rotating wall gallery for this year!
5. What's for Dinner?:
If you planned ahead, maybe you have a batch of our favorite Irish Beef Handpies ready to bake off straight from the freezer. If you've been too busy or are running last minute, try simple grilled turkey reuben sandwiches with raw baby carrots instead!
I bought a loaf of caraway rye bread and grilled up some deli turkey and swiss cheese for the kids and added the Thousand Island dressing and kraut to mine. Yes, their's were more "mock" than "reuben" but it felt plenty festive and much more kid-friendly!
If your kids can't stand corned beef, you need to check out our list of easy St. Patrick's Day dinners you could make.
Dessert was a simple batch of instant pistachio pudding with a dollop of whipped cream and another green M&M for garnish. Ridiculously simple and my kids loved it!
Maybe your kids will like one of these 11 easy St. Patrick's Day treats, too.
6. The Sounds of Ireland:
Growing up with many 100% Irish friends, I'm no stranger to Irish music and dancing. For me, it is just isn't the holiday without a little of that as background sound.
I love that Pandora has a St. Patrick's Day station. I streamed it during our dinner to set the mood!
7. Read a St. Patrick's Day Book:
Enjoy a family read aloud with one of my favorite St. Patrick's Day books for kids. (And don't forget to have your own Irish book to read later that night!)
8. Watch a Romantic Irish Movie:
Once the kids are in bed, have one of these fantastically romantic Irish movies to watch and enjoy your quiet night in!
Peanut Blossom is proud to be part of the HP Smart Mom Panel. We were provided our Envy to test out and have loved finding new uses for it to celebrate the holidays as a family. We also received some Lucky Charms from our friends at General Mills to celebrate National Cereal Day. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
Aine
please please PLEASE please... don't call it Patty's day....... it's PaDDy's day. paddy is the short form of Patrick... Patty is an uncooked burger!!!
thank you
Aine
Tiffany Dahle
Oh my goodness, I had no idea! Thanks for letting me know Aine. In real life, I always say the full "Patrick" but shortened it online. I can't change the URL, but will correct the mentions within the post!
Julie
Thank you, friend, for including a link to our letter from a leprechaun. I love your gorgeous photos! Top o'the morning to you. 🙂