Family Fun Ideas for St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner and even if your family isn’t Irish, you can still have some fun celebrating this event. Unfortunately, many of the celebrations set up in local communities may be centered around green beer and may not be very family friendly. If you have kids, here are some family activities you can do on your own to help get out your green and celebrate.

1. Parade—Most kids love parades and the St. Patrick’s Day parades in most major cities can be a huge production with marching bands, floats, and Irish musicians. If you live near a place that is scheduling a parade, be sure to check it out.
2. Treasure Hunt—You can get a jump-start on your Easter Egg Hunt practice with a St. Patrick’s Day themed treasure hunt. Head out to the yard and hide gold coins from your leprechaun’s pot of gold. Then turn the kids loose and let them track them down. As a bonus, you can hide something special as the big prize for the lucky child who finds it.
3. Holiday Cookies—Baking together is always a great idea. You can make easy “leprechaun gold” cookies by baking sugar cookies and adding a little yellow food coloring for the right gold tint. If you want to get creative, switch it up for green food coloring and get some shamrock shaped cookie cutters to make a variety of cookie types.
4. Craft Bracelets—If you own a rainbow loom or something similar, you can spend the day making green friendship bracelets to give out on St. Patrick’s Day at school or daycare.
5. Do some Research—Fun…research? Actually, yes. You don’t have to be Irish to spend this day talking to your kids about your family heritage. This is the perfect time to do a little online research about your family’s origins. And who knows—maybe you can trace some of your ancestors back to the “Emerald Island” itself.
6. Movie Night—How about a themed movie night to wrap things up? It’s a bit of a lost classic, but Disney’s 1959 Darby O’Gill and the Little People is a great family classic about Irishman outsmarting a group of leprechauns. Adults can also be on the lookout for a very young Sean Connery is this film that is based on a beloved children’s book. If you get a chance, you can even tuck the kids in with an Irish folk tale as a bedtime story.

St. Patrick’s Day is a great opportunity to have some fun with your family. Take some time to do an activity or two this year with your children to celebrate this special day.

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