Easy St. Patrick’s Day Celebration with Kids 2025

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St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate with kids. As a busy mom of six kids and teens, I need easy, simple ideas that can come together without too much planning. So I’ve collected this list of 13 family-friendly St. Patrick’s Day ideas that come together quickly so you can focus on the fun!

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1. Lucky Charms

When St. Patrick’s Day falls on a school day, this is the easiest way to add a little fun to the morning. I serve Lucky Charms cereal for breakfast with green milk (a few drops of green food coloring does the trick). My kids look forward to it every year!

@dinkumtribe Gotta love easy- our St. Patrick’s Day breakfast is Lucky Charms with green milk! @dinkumtribe @dinkumtribe @dinkumtribe #stpatricksdayactivities #stpatricksday2023 #luckycharmsmarshmallows #luckycharmscereal #nomnomnom #magicallydelicious #90sthrowback #momlifemadeeasy #momlifemadesimple ♬ Make It Rainbow – Lucky Charms

You could also make Lucky Charms treats to serve as part of your St. Paddy’s Day celebration. Just substitute Lucky Charms cereal in your favorite recipe for rice crispy treats.

2. Make a leprechaun trap

In Irish lore, leprechauns are tiny mischief makers who create havoc around the house. If you have little ones, you can easily leave signs around your house that suggest the presence of sneaky leprechauns (think Elf on the Shelf, but with a green twist and gold coins).

After reading about leprechaun traps in The Night before St. Patrick’s Day, my kids were all about making a leprechaun trap last year!

I had a good chuckle to myself about the engineering they were practicing without me having to teach it. It kept them happily engaged for several hours— parenting win!

I let my kids use whatever craft supplies we have laying around to create traps. However you can also order leprechaun trap kits to assemble for festive St. Patrick’s Day crafts. 

3. Scavenger hunt, treasure hunt or printable games

Send kids on a scavenger hunt around the house or neighborhood to look for green things, shamrocks, rainbows, Celtic symbols and more. Or send them on a classic treasure hunt with clues leading from place to place, finally ending with a pot of gold (chocolate coins) at the end of the rainbow.

There are lots of free printable options for a St. Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt or treasure hunt clues on Pinterest if you don’t feel like designing your own.

4. Party in green

Green is everywhere on March 17th, and it’s easy to celebrate by incorporating green into everyday activities. Serve a buffet of green foods (green eggs, green fruits and vegetables, green drinks, green pancakes or muffins, etc.) and decorate with green flowers or green paper goods. 

Of course everyone knows you should wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, but you can take it a step further by letting your kids decorate a green shirt to wear. For an even easier option, the local dollar store often has green bow ties, silly hats, and more themed items to show your holiday spirit.

Don’t forget to take some photos with your whole family in their St. Paddy’s Day outfits! 

5. Learn about the patron saint of Ireland

When we were homeschooling, we used to teach our kids the history of St. Patrick and his role as a missionary to Ireland. Patrick’s story is an amazing example of forgiveness that’s well worth remembering (see book list below for resources).

There’s an animated film by the Torchlighters about St. Patrick that is suitable for older kids, but may be too scary for younger kids. 

6. Enjoy traditional Irish fare

I have done the big corned beef and potatoes feast before, mostly because I enjoy corned beef on occasion. However, once I realized that I was the only one who actually liked it, I decided it wasn’t worth it for me to cook.

Last year we came up with a super easy alternate meal idea. We made corned beef hash and eggs with toast, and we all agreed that this will be our new St. Patty’s Day corned beef dish.

@dinkumtribe Most of our family doesn’t enjoy traditional corned beef stew, so this year we went with this easy alternative. #cornedbeefhashwithegg #cornedbeefhash #marykitchen #easystpatricksdayrecipe #cornedbeefandegg #stpaddys2023 #kidfriendlyrecipe #happystpatday ♬ The St. Patrick’s Day Song – St. Patrick’s Day Music Pub Crawlers

Irish soda bread is fairly easy to make, so that’s a great option if you’d like to try one of the traditional Irish foods.

I make shepherd’s pie often, following the recipe below (you could also grab a premade shepherd’s pie from Costco).

Shepherd’s pie recipe (cottage pie in the UK)

• 1 lb. Ground beef
• 1 10 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 14 oz. can mixed vegetables (or 1 bag frozen vegetables)
• 4-5 potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• Garlic powder, salt, pepper (to taste)

Sauté onion in pan in about 1 tbsp. Butter until tender. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to ground beef, then cook ground beef in pan until browned. Remove from heat and stir in mushroom soup and veggies.  

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, then add milk and remaining butter and mash. 

Spread ground beef mixture in rectangular 9×13 inch glass dish. Top with mashed potatoes. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until ground beef mixture is bubbling. Sprinkle with cheese and heat for about 5 minutes more until cheese is melted. Serve hot.

7. Experience Irish culture with music and dance

A few years ago I hunted up some YouTube videos of kids in Irish dance schools performing traditional step dances. Our kids tried dancing for themselves, and came away with a better appreciation of the skills and practice necessary to dance a jig well!

We often play traditional Irish music throughout the day, or during our special meals.

8. Watch Irish movies

It’s easy to help your kids get a feel for the Emerald Isle and Irish culture by watching a movie set in Ireland, or even a travel documentary. Here are a few suggestions (more in this list):

• The Quiet Man (best for middle school and up)
• The Secret of Kells (best for ages 8 and up)
• Darby O’Gill and the Little People (all ages)
• Luck of the Irish (all ages)

9. Read St. Patrick’s Day books, books about Ireland, or Irish history

We have loved reading holiday books with our kids! Here’s our favorite St. Patrick’s Day books.

• Jamie O’Rourke, by Tomie DePaola
• The Story of St. Patrick’s Day, by Patricia A. Pingry
• The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day, by Natasha Wing.
• St. Patrick’s Day, by Gail Gibbons

Don’t forget to check your local library for more book and resource suggestions. They may even have fun activities and events to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!

10. Shamrocks and Four-Leaf Clovers

The shamrock is a traditional symbol for Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day. Legend has it that Patrick used the shamrock with its three leaves to teach the concept of the holy trinity to his disciples.

Similarly, four-leaf clovers are a traditional symbol of good luck in Irish culture. Four-leaf clovers occur naturally at a rate of 5000 three-leaf clovers to 1 four-leaf clover, and most kids love looking in clover patches to find one. I actually found one once, so you never know!

You’ll find dozens of St. Patrick’s Day ideas involving shamrocks and four-leaf clovers on Pinterest. Clovers and shamrocks are clusters of heart-shaped leaves, so you can repurpose your Valentine’s Day cookie cutters and heart punches to use on green construction paper crafts.

It’s pretty easy to incorporate shamrocks into food ideas as well. The last couple of years, Costco has had this fun ravioli in shamrock shapes that makes a super easy lunch or dinner.

Many places offer shamrock shakes in March, or you can make your own at home with green mint ice cream. You can also make clusters of heart-shaped foods in green (honeydew melon, or baked goods with green sprinkles).

11. Rainbows and the legend of the pot of gold 

Who doesn’t love a beautiful rainbow of bright colors? Even if there isn’t really a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, that doesn’t stop every kid (and most adults, if we’re honest) from looking for it!

There are lots of educational ideas with rainbow activities that would be perfect to do around St. Patrick’s Day. Younger kids can learn the colors of the rainbow and some basic color theory, while older kids can learn some of the properties of light that create a rainbow. We’ve linked some unit studies on our Pinterest board.

12. Attend a St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Many big cities in the United States have a St. Patrick’s Day parade that’s full of fun. Chicago is known for dyeing the river green, but there are plenty of unique celebrations all over, so be sure to check your local listings for St. Patrick’s Day activities.

13. Explore your family’s Irish heritage

Like many people in the US and Canada, both my husband and I have some Irish family members in our family tree. If you know that there are Irish immigrants in your family history, take some time to learn about your own family with your kids on St. Patrick’s Day.

General notes on how our family celebrates holidays

Our family tends to keep it pretty basic for Saint Patrick’s Day. In recent years, our focus has shifted away from direct instruction about Christian history. Instead, we use holidays as a way to help our children learn about different cultures and peoples. We also enjoy celebrating the fun and silly aspects of holidays. 

As parents, Brian and I tended to take life too seriously in our earlier years with our children (an occupational hazard of us both being firstborns😉).

@dinkumtribe When you realize your holiday is not serving the needs of your family, it’s time to reconsider. @dinkumtribe @dinkumtribe @dinkumtribe #momguilt #momguilttiktok #adhdholiday #adhdholidaytip #adhdholidayhack #adhdfriendlyhouse #adhdholidays #adhdholidaytips #adhdfamilies #adhdparenting #adhdproblems #adhdfamilylife #adhdfactoftheday #adhdinfo #adhdingiftedkids #adhdstruggle #adhdinwomenandgirls #adhdinformation #adhdlearningaboutadhd #momsofadhdkids #parentingadhd #adhdtiktok #neurodivergenttiktok ♬ original sound – DinkumTribe ADHD family travel

So now we are making a concerted effort to change that and just enjoy our children. We recognize that our time with them is finite and they will soon be grown and flown. 

Since Easter is celebrated on a different day each year, there are times when Easter and St. Patrick’s Day occur in close conjunction. In the years when St. Patrick’s Day is within a few days of Easter, we skip the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations altogether.

I love doing holidays with my kids! However, I discovered that when I put too much pressure on myself, I lost the enjoyment of being with my kids. It somehow became about performance and Pinterest-worthy creativity, and I don’t want to be a high-pressure parent.

@dinkumtribe Parents deserve to enjoy the holidays as well, so do what makes you happy, even if it’s not the traditional things. @dinkumtribe @dinkumtribe @dinkumtribe #adhdholiday #adhdholidaytip #adhdholidayhack #adhdholidays #adhdfamilies #adhdholidaytips #adhdparenting #adhdproblems #adhdfamilylife #neurodivergenttiktok #momsofadhdkids #parentingadhd #neurodivergentparenting #adhdchristmas #adhdthanksgiving ♬ original sound – DinkumTribe ADHD family travel

My new attitude towards holidays is this: if it’s fun and doesn’t take a lot of preparation, let’s do it! If my kids want to do something and they have the ability to do it, I say, “Go for it!” As a result, my kids engage their own creativity, and I get to just enjoy cheering them on.

Share your family St. Patrick’s Day ideas!

Do you celebrate St. Patrick’s day with your kids? I’d love to hear in the comments if you celebrate other late winter/ early springtime holidays too!

© Copyright 2022-2025 Jennifer D. Warren. Updated: February 20, 2025.

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