Fun Ways To Celebrate St. Patty's Day

Andy and I decided to revive our St. Patty's Day parties of years gone by.  Here in Utah, St. Patrick's Day is not a big deal.  I guess because of the large number of mormons who don't drink and because when it comes down to it, St. Patty's Day is a day of drinking for the Irish Americans!

So if you're going to have a party, the first thing you need to do is decorate.  (I really wish I would have had more time to take pictures prior to our guests arriving because the table filled with food looked great!)  Here's what I did for our home:

This banner was so simple!  Cut some green burlap into triangle shapes, cut out freezer paper stencils and paint your triangles.  Hot glue them onto some jute and tie some white ribbon bows between each triangle and ta da!  A cheap, cute holiday banner for your mantel!

Some cute little Irish signs that I used with a shamrock plant to decorate my sofa table.

There are LOTS of free printables available online for almost every holiday and season that look great framed and on a table.

Here's the chalkboard paint plate we made at MOPS this year.  For each holiday or season, I change the saying.  Paired with a mini shamrock plant, it was adorable on my kitchen counter.

This is what I used for my centerpiece on my dining room table...I really wish I had taken a picture of all of it set and ready for guests!  Oh well.  I just took a witches cauldron and filled it with plastic bags, a black garbage bag on top, then topped it off with gold coins.  I had a  bunch of chocolate gold coins around the pot of gold on the table - you can still see a single one left on the table after my son got into them!  I also had a bowl of Rolos and a bowl of Hershey's nuggets.  Both candies come in gold packaging so they looked like gold pieces for the pot of gold!

Now what would a party be without a St. Patty's Day themed menu?  Here's what I served:

Mini shepherd's pies

Rainbow fruit w/ green pina colada dip

Watergate salad

Pesto pasta salad

Corn dip

Guacamole

Green, orange and white veggies with dip

Irish cream shamrock shaped sugar cookies

Mint brownies

Leprechaun hat cookies

What would a St. Patty's Day celebration be without some good ole' Irish folk music!  Download some Hair Of The Dog from itunes and you'll start to dance an Irish Jig!  This is a great Irish band from Albany, NY!  

And of course, the whole reason you host a St. Patty's Day party is to DRINK!  So, find some green or Irish drinks to serve.  We made appletinis, orange and lime jello shots, and served a variety of beer and wine.  

I had created a St. Patty's Day quiz with a bottle of Jameson (Thought of you Beth!) as the gift for the person with the most correct answers, but we never got around to using it...I guess that's a good thing that the party didn't have that awkward feel to it, especially since there were people from different parts of our lives there.  It was nice for Kevin and Cara to finally meet my other Utah friends.

I can't wait to see what the pesky little Leprechauns do to our house Thursday morning!  Last year he caused all kinds of trouble.  Wonder if the milk in our bowl of Lucky Charms will turn green again?  If the chairs will be overturned?  If he'll leave any gold coins behind?  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE St. Patty's Day?