Forget about hiring a party planner for St. Patrick’s Day. You can make your friends green with envy by hosting a simple yet fun St. Paddy’s Day celebration complete with all the bells and whistles you’d find at a party planned by the pros.
Start by going green–literally. Decorate your home from top to bottom with inexpensive green-hued streamers, balloons and cardboard cut-outs in the shape of shamrocks and leprechauns. You can find St. Patrick’s Day decorations at party stores, discount chains and online. However, if you are working with a tight budget, then simply make your own decorations. For example, you can save a ton of money by creating leprechaun footprints. Simply cut small footprints out of green construction paper and tape them around your home. Kids will especially love following the prints to see if they lead to a pot of gold.
A St. Patrick’s Day party just isn’t the same without favors. However, you don’t have to break the bank loading up on expensive goodies. Rather, head to the Dollar Store and stock up on cheap shamrock necklaces. The plastic jewelry is similar in style to Mardi Gras beads, only instead of straight beads, the necklace features shiny shamrocks. St. Patrick’s Day buttons are also inexpensive crowd pleasers. Get a variety of buttons that feature fun phrases, such as “Kiss Me I’m Irish” or “Mom’s Good Luck Charm.” You can also purchase cute leprechaun or shamrock-shaped buttons for the kids to wear. Another option is to hand out green plastic bowler hats or fabric leprechaun hats to guests as they enter the party.
Finally, you can’t celebrate St. Patty’s Day without some green food. Dessert can be cupcakes and cookies decorated with a slew of green ingredients. The easiest way to pull this off is to mix a few drops of green food coloring into store bought frosting, and spread it on the treats with a knife or spatula. You could even have your guests make their own cupcakes or cookies. Serve up the green frosting and then spread out a bunch of green toppings, such as green jelly beans, M&Ms, sprinkles, Skittles, or gumdrops. You could also make green sheet cake. To do so, simply mix a few drops of green food coloring into white or yellow cake batter, and then swirl it around before popping it into the oven.
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