Simple Ways to Make St. Patrick’s Day Special for Kids (Without Breaking the Quarantine)

This goes without saying, but this year St. Patrick’s Day will not be the festive event we’re all used to. Even in the most Irish of Irish cities the parades have been called off. Parties are out of the question in the name of social distancing. And the kids will not get to wear green to school because, well, school is done.

Most of us are quarantined at home with our kids for what could prove to be quite some time. So, yeah, we are all now character actors in a strange apocalyptic movie that I don’t remember auditioning for.

If this pandemic doesn’t set the stage for holiday fun, well, really, what does?

Ahem.

But my kids? They’re at that fleeting age where they’re absolutely enchanted by anything remotely magical. Like a toothbrush that lights up. And slime.

And my Kindergartener is well aware that St. Patrick’s Day is this week, and even though the world is entirely insane at the moment, I’d like for him to still get to enjoy it.

I’m not really one to go all out in the name of holiday whimsy, but this year, of all years, I think it’s especially important to work in a little extra magic for our kids, whose lives are being disrupted for what may prove to be a long time.

I’m not encouraging anyone to break quarantine, I feel really strongly that we all need to do our part to be responsible and stay put right now.

The key here is to use whatever you have on hand at home – please DO NOT head to the stores to buy green food coloring! Unless you absolutely have to go out and are already there for staple supplies.

What I am encouraging is that you take what you have in the house, and if your kids are young/believe in leprechauns, give them a little something to be excited about on Tuesday.

The list below is just really to help you to think of something super easy you can do so the kids don’t think the world has lost all of it’s fun right now.

In that spirit, here are some simple ideas for St. Patrick’s Day that your kids will love (from the isolation of their homes)

• If you have an Elf on the Shelf, break him out for a one day special appearance, maybe wearing something green! (If this is taboo to take the Elf out for special appearances I apologize. We are new to the elf life around here).

• Make Shamrock Necklaces together

• Toss chocolate coins, or whatever other wrapped treats you happen to have on hand, around the house for your kids to find.

• Turn the milk or toilet water green (using 1-2 drops of food coloring if you have some at home!) I don’t usually like to put milk and toilet water together in a sentence, but I made an exception just now.

• Put a temporary tattoo on your kids’ arms while they sleep (unless they are light sleepers. You couldn’t pay me enough money to do this with my toddler).

• Leave some trails of shamrock confetti or green glitter on the floor (in an area that’s easy to clean up! Ain’t nobody got the patience for cleaning massive whimsical messes right now).

• Cut some shamrocks out of construction paper and leave them around the house for your kids to discover in the morning.

• Make a paper plate Pot of Gold craft.

• Make Leprechaun traps. This is geared toward those of you who are over-achievers/Pinterest enthusiasts. If you search for “Leprechaun Traps” on Pinterest you will find tons of ideas here. This might also be good in that it will use up an hour of the 8 million hours of free time you know have to fill with your child. Ha!

• Unravel all the toilet paper and strew it around the house (Just joking! That would be like telling you to dump out your hand sanitizer and defrost all of your meat! We are being whimsical here, not idiotic).

I hope everyone is hanging in there. This is an unprecedented time for all of us.

It won’t change the world, but I hope a little St. Patrick’s Day fun can at least help your family feel a bit more normal this week, and maybe brighten the day of a kid who is missing his friends.