St Patrick's Day 2019

Happy St Patrick's Day! What a wonderful, magical morning we've had, starting with the children waking us up to excitedly show all the tricky things the leprechauns did and left for our family. The pictures and couch cushions were all upside down in the living room and the pillows piled high. The leprechaun trap the children worked so hard on had been turned on it's side and all the coins were gone! We also found leprechaun pee in our toilet and found our milk had been turned green. 

Sidenote: Finn went to the bathroom in the middle of night and saw the green water in the toilet. It totally wigged him out. Actually, each child woke up during the night, freaked out about sounds they were hearing and worried it was the leprechauns. I just about pulled the plug on the whole thing, but when I heard the little shouts of glee and joy in the morning...#worthit. 

We decided to make green waffles (we LOVE this grain and dairy-free recipe) to go with our green milk. And the children enjoyed some chocolate coins that had been left for them. 

You know I really dig my "celebration table" to bring festivity into our home and I enjoyed creating something fun for St Patty's- simply and on the cheap! #motto 

I think my favorite part was the rainbow table runner: 

I grabbed some crepe paper rolls for $.97 each at Walmart and cut clouds out of white printer paper we already had. I hurried and stapled them together to create a bright, colorful centerpiece. I found some chocolate coins and spread them all over the table runner. 

I also got out some gold stars (leftover from Kate's birthday) and took the leftover shamrock cutouts from friend friday and stuck them in my favorite white pitcher. 

I have a basket full of balloons and I grabbed some green ones to create shamrock-like shapes and added a star garland I use for birthdays, along with a darling rainbow pendant banner I found at the Dollar Tree for additional decor over the back door. 

The Dollar Tree is my favorite place for colorful paper plates, napkins, and cutlery. I rolled forks, spoons, and knives in a green napkin and tied with some gold pipe cleaner (originally from Dollar Tree) I had leftover in my craft shelf to add a little festivity to the simple place settings. 

To finish it off, I put together little gift boxes for the children. I found green gum, tic tacs, life savers, and chapstick/lip gloss at the Dollar Tree, along with these darling little green chevron gift box/bags. I also added some green playdough (*Note: You can get playdough at Dollar Tree for $1, but you can get them for $.50 each at Walmart!). 

I will make my disclaimer again- none of this is necessary. To be honest, I was kind of crabby apple, with an attitude of "How many holidays do I need to remember?!" when my children first mentioned excitement surrounding St Patrick's Day a couple years ago. Concerning holidays and traditions, I had a good friend remind me:

"I've decided if I feel like I want to and it works with our current situation, we celebrate and make it fun! If not, we don't. It gets rid of any expectations that have the potential to create unneeded stress or guilt." 

This wisdom changed my life. And my attitude towards little green men. ;)

Happy St. Patty's Day, everyone! 

-M