st. patrick's day in pictures

Well we started celebrating St. Patrick's Day on Saturday with a cocktail party for some friends and then just kept right on celebrating until the actual day on Monday. I'm just now getting the house back in order! On Saturday we had an Irish cocktail party. I made Irish Stew, Pulled Pork with Guinness, Smoked Salmon on Brown bread and mini shepherds pie. I also made Bailey's rice pudding, Baileys sugar cookies, Guinness Pretzel truffles, Lucky Charm treats, and Car Bomb Cupcakes! If you would like the recipes for any of these please feel free to email me and I will send them along. I found most of them from my St. Patrick's Day Pinterest board. I decorated simply with lots of white flowers and gold candles and for favors we gave each couple an individual serving of Lucky Charms with two green spoons attached. My husband also had an Irish Whiskey tasting in the basement.

 

 

On Sunday my family came over for Irish Stew. I thought it would be fun to make a centerpiece, for my teen-aged nephews, with some "lucky" lottery tickets attached to balloons.

 

On Monday the kids woke up to their new shoes and muddy leprechaun footprints! We had rainbow fruit salad and cereal before they headed off to school.

 

 

Of course we had to send in a little treat for their teachers and classmates.

 

 

I couldn't let the day get away without a picture of my sweet kids in their Irish sweaters.

I hope everyone had a fun St. Patrick's Day (or weekend like us!)

For each petal on the shamrock
This brings a wish your way -
Good health, good luck, and happiness
For today and every day.

irish flowers

 

I love fresh flowers in the house and when I saw freesia at Trader Joes this morning I couldn't resist.  I also found the perfect vessel for them, an Irish Oatmeal tin!  I hope everyone has a fun, happy and mischeveous St. Patrick's Day on Sunday. 

live colorfully

Last year the kids gave their friends some rainbow lollipops for St. Patrick's Day.  This year I saw this idea on Pinterest and loved it.  Instead of giving paint I found these rainbow crayons on sale at Target for 80 cents each!  The free printable can be found here. It was easy to put these together and I think that they came out very cute.  These would be great for a favor if you are planning on having a St. Patrick's Day party too.

that's a wrap

This was a little gift we brought to a friend this past weekend.  I just used a plain green paper bag and attached a gold paper shamrock.  I used some of the extra scrapbook paper to make the clothespin.  They are so easy to customize to match any gift.  All you need is paper or fabric, a glue stick, and a clothespin! 

decorating for st. patrick's day

Since my husband is from Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is a big deal around here.  I love decorating for all of the holiday's, but for some reason I can never find simple, elegant ones for St. Patrick's Day.  So, this year, I decided to take things into my own hands and made my own.  I added some glittery gold shamrocks to moss wreaths.

I made a bunting with some green and gingham fabric, gold paper shamrocks, twine, and tiny clothespins. 

I also set up an area for family and friends who may stop by for a Guinness or an Irish coffee to grab some tattoos, necklaces, green fortune cookies and candy.  I made some gold shamrock confetti with paper and a craft punch.

little leprechauns

Well, the leprechauns struck again!  They left tiny muddy footprints all over the house (thanks to Anna, who told me to use REAL mud and my thumb to make them.) They also left the kids new shoes filled with treats, including some green mustaches.  The children thought they were hilarious!  Since the children never get sugar cereal they were thrilled to find some lucky charms at their seats this morning. I am thinking that next year we will have a top of the mornin' brunch.  But, for today. we don't have any plans, which is fine with me. I plan on making some Irish Soda Bread and hanging out with my little leprechauns!

For each petal on the shamrock.
This brings a wish your way
Good health, good luck, and happiness
For today and every day.

wearing of the green

At the play date yesterday the girls also made some St. Patrick's Day shirts.  I had seen this article in Family Fun around Valentine's Day and then another friend had made one and posted it on Facebook.  She suggested it would be fun to make with shamrock shaped doily's and even purchased a pack for me.  Thanks, Laurie!  This was a very easy craft and relatively inexpensive too. I got the shirts at Micheal's- they are on sale right now- 2 for $6. You will also need a bottle of fabric paint and some foam brushes.  Both girls decided to wear their shirts to school today.  I am so glad that they liked them too.

somewhere over the rainbow

My daughter had another play date yesterday so I created a fun St. Patrick's Day menu for lunch.  I made these rainbow fruit sewers and added some fun rainbow ribbon to make them even more special.  The kids also had shamrock shaped sandwiches (that I cut using a cookie cutters) some rainbow goldfish and green limeade for their drink.  For dessert they had some shamrock shaped sugar cookies.  These fruit skewers are perfect for a school party or a top of the mornin' breakfast tomorrow. 

keep calm and kiss on

Another little "Kiss me, I'm Irish" gift for my daughter's kindergarten teacher.  I found the acrylic basket with shamrocks on it at Michael's.  I filled it with kisses and attached some ribbon and a tag.  It was that simple!

that's a wrap

These are little gifts that my kids will be giving to their classmates for St. Patrick's Day this year.  The lollipop pictured above is for my daughter's kindergarten class.  I attached skittles for my son's class.  I found the idea and free printable here. 

kiss me,i'm irish

In keeping with trying to teach our children about community service we decided to adopt a convalescent home for St. Patrick's Day.  I called to ask if it would be ok and to inquire about how many residents there were- 44!  We explained to the children about how people in convalescent homes can get lonely and that it would be nice to do a little something to cheer them up for St. Patrick's Day.  I got some green bags at the craft store and our older two children helped stuff five kisses into each bag (five - since the bags were small- and then there would be one kiss from each of us).  We also included a little piece of gold paper that reads "kiss me, i'm irish" along with a gold paper shamrock.  We are going as a family to deliver them and I know that the response from the residents will be enough encouragement for my children to know in their hearts that they made someone happy!

leprechaun trap

We were asked to work as a family to create a leprechaun trap for my daughter's class.  We took a tiny birdhouse that cost $1 at the craft store and turned it into a tiny house/trap for a leprechaun.  My daughter painted it brown and covered it with moss.  We stuck a pot of gold inside the house and made a ladder out of sticks.  We also put a rainbow and gold sign in a miniature terra cotta pot.  We had fun coming up with a story to go along with it about how the leprechaun would climb up the ladder and fall into the house only to realize that the gold was fake and that there is no ladder inside to climb out.  This would be a fun activity to do for a fairy party too!

that's a wrap

Can you believe that tomorrow is the first day of March?  That means that St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner! While running errands I have been grabbing some little things for the kids. So far I found rainbow nerd ropes, gold chocolate coins, t shirts and some fun lip gloss.  Of course the kids will also be getting some new shoes!  You can read more about that tradition here. 

that's a wrap

For Valentine's day this year I did a "We Belong Together" theme for my husband.  I found this little board book called "We Belong Together" and a card that had a mug and marshmallow on it that read "We go well together" and my idea was born.  Last week he broke a mug that I had given him for Valentine's Day years ago- when we were just dating, so I bought him a new mug and made him some homemade Baily's flavored marshmallows.  They were very easy to make and so delicious!!!  You can find the recipe that I used here.

 The kids made him a gift too.  I found the idea on Pinterest, but you can read more about it here.  I basically just used the kids fingers to make some hearts and then framed it.  I am considering labeling them with the children's names, but it is easy to identify them by size and I like the clean look of it without.  The card read from "thumb" body who loves you.

The kids got all sorts of love bug themed gifts and found out that for our Valentine adventure this year we will be going to visit a butterfly conservatory.  We are going this weekend and can't wait!

cliffs of moher

The west coast is a must see for any visit to Ireland. Galway, Dingle, and the Cliffs of Moher are some of my favorites. I remember the first time I saw the cliffs, it was a similar feeling to when I first saw the Grand Canyon. It is simply breathtaking and pictures just don't do it justice.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Duit!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

st. patrick's day menu

Most Americans enjoy eating Corned Beef & Cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. In Ireland they have something similar that they call Bacon & Cabbage- but, Corned Beef and Cabbage would not be a traditional meal to eat on St. Patrick's Day. I thought I would share our menu for St. Patrick's Day this year. To start we are going to have brown bread with smoked salmon. For the main course, I am making Avoca's recipe for Shepard's Pie and will be serving it with a simple green salad. And for dessert...Irish Cream Rice Pudding. I like to set a table that is both simple and elegant and that has a mix of formal and casual. I have some bells of Ireland in a crystal vase and have pulled out my Irish linen napkins. This year my husbands sister will be visiting us from Ireland, so I wanted our table and menu to be extra special. What will you be serving for St. Patrick's Day this year? I would love to hear about your recipes and menu.