St Patrick’s Day Party Ideas For Kids That Will Make Wee Ones Jig With Joy
Are you about to fling yourself into planning a St Patrick’s Day party that a bunch of kids will enjoy? Well have I got a list of brilliant party ideas for you (if I do say so meself!).
From ideas for Irish themed decorations in rainbows and greens, to tantilising treats to eat, and funsies activities and games to play.
How to host a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day Party For Kids
Take all the inspo you need from my braindump of fun ideas.
Paddy Powered Decor!
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Right, let’s get started with some ideas for decorations to set the stage for the party.
- Inflatable shamrock ornaments – fill them with helium to create floating bunches or hang them from the ceiling.
- How about this 6.5ft LUCKY rainbow inflatable on your front lawn to welcome guests?
- These gold foil LUCKY letter balloons can be strung up to make a fun wall hanging
- Scatter St. Patrick’s Day shamrock embossed coins around tables and other surfaces
- Layer a rainbow table runner over a shamrock print table cloth
- Feature some of these super cute plush gnome leprechauns around the party space
- This painted MDF pot of gold is super cute
- This green leprechaun confetti is perfect for scattering over surfaces and the food table
And of course, you HAVE to have leprechaun footprints to thrill the kids!
Here’s a video that shows you how to make some:
Games and Activities
There is so much mischief and fun to be had on St. Patrick’s Day, especially if you plan your games and activities just right.
I find it’s good to have two or three games prepped and ready and then perhaps a craft activity for something quieter for the kids to focus on.
Here’s a roundup of fabulous ideas for St. Paddy’s Day fun.
Pin The Buckle On The Leprechaun Hat
An Irish twist on the classic game of Pin The Tail On The Donkey. This game has a leprechaun who has lost the buckle from his hat!
The aim of the game is to pin the buckle as close as possible to where it should be on the hat.
- Number of players: 3 or more
- Supplies needed: Download this free Pin The Buckle printable, tak or tape, blindfold, small prize/s
How to play:
- Print out the leprechaun poster and buckles. Stick the poster on the wall, cut out the buckles and add tak or tape to the back of each buckle
- Line players up, put the blindfold on the first player, hand them the buckle and challenge them to pin it where they think it should be on the leprechaun’s hat.
- The winner is the player who gets closest to the correct place.
St. Patrick’s Day Treasure Hunt
Set up a fun treasure hunt with a St. Patrick’s Day theme… get the kids searching all around your home for a pot of gold (AKA gold-wrapped chocolate coins!)
- Number of players: 2 or more
- Supplies needed: A set of sequential clues, a pot of treasure filled with gold covered chocolate coins (or treasure of your choosing!)
How to play:
- Hide all but the first clue and the treasure pot around your home
- Hand the first clue to the players to start the hunt
- The players solve the clues to find the next clue card until they are eventually led to the pot of treasure.
You’ll need to come up with a set of clues that follow on from each other, with each clue leading the players to find the next clue and so on, until they hunt down the treasure.
If you want to make things really easy on yourself, grab my ready-made set of St. Patrick’s Day Indoor Treasure Hunt Clues in my store, BigHeartLittleStar.com.
There are 16 clues that work for most homes, plus a set of blank clue cards if you do want to freestyle by coming up with your own clues.
Lucky Coin Toss
Now this is a super simple game, but if your friends and family are as competitive as mine, it can turn into a nailbitingly tense competition!
- Number of players: 3 or more
- Supplies needed: A large pot or bowl (go one step further and paint or cover it to make it look like a leprechaun pot), some play coins like these, St. Patrick’s Day shamrock embossed coins.
How to play:
- Set the pot at one end of the play area (base distance on age and ability of the players)
- Have the players stand in a line at the other end of the play area
- Give each player the same amount of coins
- Each player takes it in turns to try and toss a coin into the pot
- The player who gets the most coins in wins
Leprechaun Tag
Ok, so this is a fairly obvious riff on a classic game of tag! But this goes to show how simple it is to take something and theme it up.
The goal of Tag is simple: avoid being the Leprachaun for as long as possible or, if the player is the Leprechaun, they must try to tag someone else to pass the role onto them.
- Number of players: 4 or more (it’s more fun with a larger group)
- Supplies needed: A leprechaun hat for the person who is ‘It’ AKA the Leprechaun Tagger.
How to play:
- Decide who the first Leprechaun Tagger is and have them put on the hat
- Have all the other players spread out. Start “go” and the Leprechaun must try reach another player to lightly touch them and make them the new Leprachaun.
- The game continues as long as everyone is enjoying it!
Shamrock Bop
This is an energetic game great for little kids to enjoy. The game is along the same lines as musical statues, except when the music stops they must get to an activity shamrock and perform the activity on it.
- Number of players: 3 or more
- Supplies needed: A set of shamrocks (cut from US Letter Size paper is perfect), each shamrock should have an activity written on it, Irish-themed music, a stop watch
Shamrock Bop activity ideas:
- Star jumps
- Squats
- Lunges
- Run on the spot
- Touch toes and jump back up
- Spin
- Wiggle
- March on the spot
How to play:
- Cut out paper shamrocks and write an activity on each
- Get all the players standing on the floor, start the music and get them all the dance around.
- When the music stops they must get to an activity shamrock and perform that activity for 15 seconds
- The game continues until everyone tires of it
Printable Games & Activities
Want to make things really easy? Grab one of our instant download-and-print St. Patrick’ Day games and activities bundles.
There are 17 games and activities in the bundle that will keep kids, teens and adults happily amused and entertained as part of your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Here’s a list of what’s included:
- St. Patrick’s Day Trivia
- Fact or Fiction
- Word Scramble
- Word Search
- Mix & Mingle Bingo
- What’s On Your Phone?
- What’s Your Leprechaun Name?
- Who Is Most Like A Leprechaun?
- Selfie Scavenger Hunt
- This Or That
- A-Z Race
- Candy Dice
- Scattergories (LUCK)
- Guess How Many Candies in the Jar
- Charades (20+ prompts)
- Pictionary
- Would You Rather?
Craft Activities for Kids
Here’s a few fab ideas for crafting ideas that kids will love to make.
Mini Leprechaun Hat
Follow this step by step video tutorial to make mini leprechaun hats. These can double as fun party favours too!
Shamrock Suncatcher
Follow this great video tutorial to prep everything you need to make shamrock suncatchers.
Leprechaun Trap
Use small boxes (shoe boxes work well), paint, and craft items to build traps to “catch” leprechauns.
Follow this easy leprechaun trap tutorial by Crafts By Amanda to get set up for kids to make their own traps.
If these craft ideas have whet your appetite, I’ve got a roundup of some other wonderful St. Patrick’s Day craft ideas for kids you can browse for inspiration.
Food and Drinks
St. Patrick’s Day lends itself to so much creativity when it comes to party food and snacks. Oh and drinks too.
Take a look at my roundup of St. Patrick’s Day themed sweet treats to get started.
Oh and if you aren’t big on baking, but don’t mind a little making, take a look at my roundup of St. Patrick’s Day Oreo Cookie decorating ideas.
And then browse this list of quick and easy kid-friendly snacks.
Kid-Friendly Snacks
Green and rainbows are the theme colours for St Patrick’s Day snacks!
Shamrock-Shaped Sandwiches
Make shamrock-shaped sandwiches using cookie cutters like these. Fill them with a thin slice of cheese and then add some cress for a shamrock-esque green filling.
Rainbow Skewers
Rainbow fruit skewers are so easy to make and look wonderful – use grapes, oranges, strawberries, and kiwi fruit for a good mix of colours.
Leprechaun popcorn (or LepreCORN!)
Leprechaun popcorn is easy to make. Follow this video tutorial to make yours:
Themed drinks for kids
The Paddy Day fun doesn’t have to stop with snacks, you can also get creative with soft drinks. Here are some ideas…
Lime sherbet Floats
Lime sherbert floats are a favourite – follow this recipe.
Green Lemonade
Green lemonade is simple to make by adding a few drops of food colouring to regular lemonade.
Shamrock Shake
This shamrock recipe, made with vanilla ice-cream as its base, is so fun!
Serve the drinks in paperp cups decorated with shamrock stickers.
Don’t forget to add stripy green and white straws for extra fun! You could even rim the glasses with green sugar for a festive touch.
Party Favour Ideas
Looking for fun treats to send kids home with after your St Patrick’s Day party?
Here are some ideas they’ll love:
- Small bags of chocolate gold coins
- Fun green Irish shamrock necklaces
- Mini rainbow slime pots
- Mini leprechaun bubble wands
- Fun St. Patrick’s Day temporary tattoos
Another idea is to hand out treat cups…
Pot of gold treat cups
Use small green or gold paper cups and fill them with gold-wrapped sweets. Then, top them with scrunched up rainbow-coloured tissue paper.
Before you go, you might also like…
- 27 Fun St. Patrick’s Day Craft Ideas For Kids
- 11 Fun St. Patrick’s Day Oreo Cookie Decorating Ideas
- 19 Fun Ideas For St. Patrick’s Day Treats
Hello, I’m Luci, founder of Mums Make Lists. The site is full of useful and fun ideas for life and seasonal celebrations. Plus a growing selection of instantly downloadable fun printables and party planners. Read more.