St. Patrick's Day At-Home Celebration

It's almost St. Patrick's Day, and you know what that means! Bars are going to start serving disgusting green beer and be packed with drunken revelers that announce that everyone's Irish on March 17th. As lovely as the Irish are, I'm not entirely sure they agree with all that nonsense, regardless of them doing similar things in Ireland for tourists.

If, like me, the thought of cramming into a pub with a million other people who are loud and don't understand personal space sounds like one of the worst ways to spend your time, then perhaps having an at-home celebration is more for you. Make it kid-friendly for your family, or use it as an excuse to have your own celebration with friends in a less obnoxious environment. Plus, it's way cheaper to drink beer at home, and you can stream the parade, Irish musicians, and even watch the celebrations in Dublin as they happen.

We dug out our Ireland banners and created a little outdoor pub feel in our dining room. We put on our Ireland colors and headwear to get in the spirit.

This year, I made my own spread, because it was easier than ordering something and driving to go pick it up during dinnertime and I wasn't limited to the menu at that restaurant. I made a leprechaun tree for my centerpiece and sprinkled gold coins around the bottom of the cauldron. The topper is actually a dog toy/wearable, that the dog will neither wear or play with, and the green boa in the bottom and the shamrock garland are both from the dollar store. I found the green cauldron at Party City and I snapped it up, because you can't have enough cauldrons in our house.

Eric picked up some beer cheese fondue on a trip to the store and I made sure that was our starter for this meal. If you don't have a fondue pot, it's no big deal. I have this dip contraption that you can either put hot water or ice in to keep your dip hot or cold and it worked perfectly. Just make sure to keep it covered until you're ready to eat it, so it doesn't congeal. I paired it with a cut up baguette.

On the left are my desserts: Irish potato candy and grasshopper bars (which I just cut into a slab, because it didn't totally set in the fridge). I added Lucky Charms marshmallows to the top for some whimsy.

St. Patrick's Day is the perfect excuse to make colcannon, a potato, leek, and cabbage dish.

That was my most involved dish, which is really only involved, because of all the chopping you have to do, but I only dirtied two dishes to make it, because I made the mashed potatoes, emptied them into the baking dish, then make the other half of the dish, added the potatoes back in at the end to mix together, and then put it all back in the baking dish to finish in the oven. I picked up a pre-made corned beef from Trader Joe's and whipped up some ginger maple carrots to round out the meal.

Just me at an iconic Dublin bar with my iconic leprechaun tree. LOL!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shereen Travels Cheap (@srayle)

We put on a stream of a previous year's parade in Dublin (which I still don't really understand, because it doesn't seem to have anything to do with Ireland) and just had a really low-key celebration. I took this time to try some stouts I had in the fridge that I hadn't gotten around to drinking. This is a great time to try all the interesting things you see at the store, but never buy.

Here's a fondue cheers to great St. Patrick's Day shenanigans, no matter how wild or tame they may be. Here are a few other things you might want to decorate your space:

• Rainbow Plates
• Sham-Rock napkins
• Celtic tablecloth
• Irish blessing
• Banners & garlands
• Shamrock wreath
• Lucky coins or chocolate coins
• Headwear
• Mini green hat
• Leprechaun hat
• Head boppers
• Shamrock wreaths
• Pompom headbands
• Green & white floral headband
• Light-up accessories
• How To Catch a Leprechaun book
• The Great Book of Ireland
• Activities
• Bean bag toss
• Irish Gauge strategy game
• Scratch-off fortune cards
• Gnoming A Round card game

I hope this helps you have a wonderful and fun celebration full of delicious food and travel facts and maybe good friends. With a week to go, you have plenty of time to get any of the suggested items and round people up for a good time.

How do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links and I may be monetarily compensated if you make a purchase through these posts. This helps me to keep this blog running and bring you more posts you enjoy, so thanks in advance.