St. Patrick's Day Party Ideas

Wearing green is, of course, compulsory. Make sure your guests know this and insist that they come wearing as much green as possible. You can provide party favors such as paper hats, glittery shamrock headbands, beaded necklaces or other items for guests to wear.

Green, of course, will dictate the décor as well as the apparel. Look for green paper tablecloths, napkins and plates. The shamrock is the symbolic shape of the holiday. (Legend holds that St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach the Irish natives about the idea of the Holy Trinity.) You can even buy clover plants to decorate your buffet table.

Drinks are an important part of any St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Be sure to provide your guests with copious amounts of Irish beers and whiskeys. Guinness, Harp, Murphy's Stout, Kilkenny and Smithwick's are all popular brands of Irish beer. Jameson is the traditional whiskey for the Republic of Ireland; Bushmill’s is distilled and drunk in Northern Ireland.

Serve traditional Irish favorites for your guests to eat. Corned beef and cabbage is the St. Patrick’s Day standard. Try baking the beef and sautéing the cabbage rather than boiling them for a more gourmet approach.You can also whip up some Irish stew, made with lamb or beef. Set up your slow-cooker and let is go all day. It’ll be ready to eat when the party starts. Soda bread is easy to make, as it does not require yeast to rise. A slice of bread slathered with butter is the perfect accompaniment to either dish. Try fun desserts like specially decorated cupcakes or green cookies. Serve with Bailey’s Irish cream or make a float out of Guinness stout and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Since St. Patrick is credited with ridding Ireland of snakes, consider a silly scavenger hunt for a party activity. Hide rubber snakes throughout the house – coiled around a houseplant, perched on a bookshelf, underneath a side table – and challenge guests to find them. Each guest who finds one receives a prize.