Celebrate the Irish with a St. Patrick’s Day party!
Are you Irish or at least Irish at heart? If so spread the luck of Irish with an authentic St. Patrick's Day Party. You can have fun and honor your Irish ancestors by hosting your friends and celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a festive party. After all everyone can be Irish for a day. Start the entertainment early by having fun planning your party. After all people love to party so planning a party should be fun too!Step 1. Start the St. Patrick's Day party planning with a list of task categories.
Use this activity as an opportunity to flex your organizational skills. Break down all of the party to-dos by category such as the following:
- People
- Venue
- Decorations
- Door prizes and favors
- Entertainment
- Food and Drink
- Post party thank you gifts
Step 2. Track your St. Patrick's tasks with a party planning template or app.
Use a party task checklist template application to stay on top of all your tasks. Then customize it to fit your St. Patrick's Day event. Years ago before desktop computers became ubiquitous, my mom used simple index cards to plan birthday and dinner parties. She developed an index card for each task she needed to accomplish. Then she added all of the related resources such as recipies, shopping lists and suppliers to the cards. After the party she made notes on things to improve. She kept the cards and pulled them out the next year for the same party. As a super keepsake for me I found all of her party cards when I cleaned out her house a few years ago. I am still holding on to the cards as a memory of her great entertainment skills.Now with handy apps on your mobile phones, tablets and desktops you have so many wonderful opportunities to use other people's ideas, there is no need to start your party plan from scratch. So depending on the size and scale of your party plan consider using one of the many party planning templates and apps that are available online. Most of them are free! Here are a few examples:
- Evernote offers: 9 Templates to Help You Plan the Perfect Office Holiday Party
- For Kanban format using Trello read: How I Lifehack Dinner Parties Using a Trello Board
- Prefer a Spreadsheet, consider this Airtable Base: Event Planning & Budgeting
Step 3. Select a dynamite venue for your St. Patrick's Day party.
Before inviting people and making the party plan you need to determine the best location for your celebration. St. Patrick's Day parties are often about shenanigans and some overindulgence. So you need to make sure that your venue is appropriate for what might become a slightly rancorous party. Alternatives to consider include the following:- Office, lobby, conference or meeting rooms
- Hotel event center
- Bar or restaurant
- Community center
- Your home
Step 4. Design and order Irish themed invitations online.
So forget about boring and have some fun designing your invitation using clover art, shamrocks, Irish top hats and gold beer glass designs. And of course, your invitation and envelop has to be green! If you want to add some fun, add green glitter or confetti to put your invitees in the party mood when they open your invitation. Simply add an event title, date, time and location with a short personal message asking your party to wear green. If you are offering a dinner or expensive finger foods be sure to provide RSVP details. You may also invite your friends through social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Send your invitations out at least two weeks prior to your party.
Step 5. Who to invite to your St. Patrick's Day party?
They say everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day. Invite any of your friends and co-workers who are of Irish descent. Then add to that list of invitees those who like to party and who always claim to be Irish at least on St. Patrick's Day. Of course, you will want to include your adult family members who always enjoy a good party. You might also use your party as an excuse to make some new friends by inviting new neighbors and co-workers to attend. As a rule of thumb, party planners suggest inviting 20% more people than you can accommodate.Step 6. Decorate with personalized Irish gifts and St. Patrick's Day accessories
Finish off your room by floating both green latex and Mylar Irish themed balloons. Hang green streamers and cutouts of shamrocks and leprechauns. You can also use green twinkling Christmas lights or green clover-shaped lights. Spread green glitter or sequins down the middle of the tables. Finally, add green herb arrangements as part of your table design. Then light some green candles and dim the lights to get the party started! Make clean-up easy by adding St. Patrick's Day welcome doormats and use matching green paper plates and napkins. Help friends who arrive in business attire look the part with St. Patrick's Day shirts and lucky shamrock and clover adorned aprons for them wear over their clothes. And to top off their party look by giving them Irish top hats. Make sure you wear one too and stay dressed in green!
Step 7. Entertainment ideas for a rocking St. Patrick's Day party
Authentic Irish music will truly get everyone into the spirit and ready to party. Whether you have a live band or use a DJ and a playlist consider Celtic duos, trios or bands, and bagpipers. It is a good idea to print out and distribute the lyrics of popular Irish songs. This will encourage guest to participate in sing-a-longs. If you have friends in a dance group or know a group, add Irish step dancers. Then get your friends to join in. Finally be sure to have your servers dressed as leprechauns or other fun characters.
Step 8. Promise a blast with St. Patrick's Day party drink menu.
Keeping the beer flowing is one of the most important priorities of a St. Patrick's party host. So keep the options limited to make it easy to serve everyone without overworking. Here are some of the most popular drinks recommended:- Green Beer served in clear mugs
- Irish Guinness Jameson Baileys Cocktail! - This St. Patrick’s Day favorite is known as a great Irish celebration drink. It is a tasty combination of a pint of Guinness with a shot glass full of Jameson Irish Whiskey and Baileys Irish Cream plopped right into the glass of beer. As soon as the shot drops to the bottom of the beer glass, it’s time to chug away.
- Irish Coffee
- Guinness Jameson ice cream float
- Non-alcoholic green shamrock punch - A super easy combination of lime sherbet and ginger ale
Step 9. Serve traditional Irish easy to serve and eat finger goods.
You need more than drink to satisfy an Irish appetite so be sure to add some hardy foods along with sweets to your party plan. This will help to solve hunger and soak up some of the beer if your guests overindulged their thirst at the bar. Since green is the primary color associated with Ireland, the best appetizers for this type of event are carbs that are both green and easy. For our party, we are recommending table ready finger foods and appetizers. Here are some easy to make suggestions.- Irish soda bread
- Green pizza - Start with green pesto instead of tomatoes sauce and add green items such as arugula, spinach, green onions, green peppers, and broccoli.
- Mini pastry cups filled with spinach or guacamole
- Shamrock chips and pot of gold dip
- Clover-shaped spinach quiche
- Spinach muffins with ricotta.
- Corned beef and cabbage egg rolls with a green dip
- Guinness pulled pork served on mini buns
Step 10. Satisfy their sweet tooth with and St. Patrick's Day bakery treats.
Step 11. Send your helpers St. Patrick's Day themed thank you gifts.
The party is over and everyone who attended had a great time. Even though you may be a little hung over, keep the party fun going by thanking those who helped you with the party. Our favorite gift idea is to send a personalized Irish picture frame with their photo from the party featured inside. For more gift suggestions, just check out our collection of Irish Themed Gifts or custom St. Patrick Day gift ideas. All of our suggestions truly showcase Irish spirit. Here are just a few of the other gift ideas you might like:- Irish themed gift baskets
- Personalized Irish water bottles
- Irish whiskey humidor with personalization
- Personalized Shamrock beer mug
- Kiss Me I'm Irish gold dipped rose
- Irish pub barrel top sign
- Monogrammed pint glasses
- Engraved flask