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Every year we recognize the month of March as Women’s History Month. It’s the perfect time to recognize women’s suffrage throughout our history and to embrace the spirit of women we celebrate! But how can...
St. Patrick's Day Traditions
If you’ve been here for a minute, you know how much we love holidays at KJ, big or small! St. Patrick’s day is on the way and we couldn’t be more excited. There are so many different traditions for celebrating this fun and unique holiday. So whether you have your own already or are looking to mix it up a little, take a look at our list of St. Patrick’s day traditions that sound as fun as can be.
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Who’s St. Patrick?
Fun fact, St. Patrick was a British nobleman born around 400 A.D. and was kidnapped by Irish pirates when he was 16 years old! He was then held as a slave for 17 years until he escaped and found his way home. The interesting thing is that he ended up returning to Ireland to work as a missionary. You can definitely celebrate St. Patrick’s day by researching all about the holiday and Irish culture.
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Wearing Green
Did you know that Leprechauns are the reason you’re supposed to wear green on St. Patrick’s day? According to folklore, wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns, who like to pinch anyone they can see! But that’s good news for us, because only the leprechauns can pinch people - anyone else is just being mean. :) Some people also wear green for good luck, while others wear it to honor their Irish ancestry.
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Leave Signs of Luck
We heard of this fun tradition where you leave little green footprints or gold pieces around the house. So whether it’s dyeing your kids bath water green, leaving chocolate gold coins around the apartment, or rolling up dollar bills with green ribbons for your co-workers. Whatever your creative minds can think of, spread the luck around for the holiday.
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Festive Food
Many Irish-American people in the United States have taken to eating corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day. If you haven’t tried it, you can definitely give it a go this year! Not a fan of corned beef? Here are some other ideas for St. Patrick’s day food: green pancakes topped with whipped cream and Lucky Charm marshmallows, green charcuterie boards, rainbow fruit salad parfaits, and much much more. Take a look at our Pinterest board for more ideas. You could even do a “Green Food Taste Test” where you fill cupcake pans with different green foods and have your little ones or roommates taste each one and rate which one is the best. Have fun with your food on this holiday!
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Leprechaun Traps
This St. Patrick’s day tradition is so fun for little ones! Challenge your kids to make a leprechaun trap, either with legos or shoe boxes. They can decorate their traps with green, to attract the leprechauns, filling them with gold pieces, chocolate, or actual money. They’ll love to make their traps and will spend time making them as good as can be. You can even make it similar to elf on the shelf by finding a “leprechaun” to put in their traps or taking the bait overnight so your minis think the leprechauns came and went without getting caught!
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Watch the Green River
Every year for St. Patrick’s day, Chicago dyes the Chicago River GREEN! If you’ve never had the chance to see it, you can watch this timelapse to see what it’s like! The Butler and Rowan family clans have been doing this for more than 50 years and use a top secret recipe to do it. It really is a family affair too, since you can’t be a part of it unless you marry into the Butler or Rowan families!
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Parades
While many major cities may not have a St. Patrick’s parade this year, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying a parade for the holiday. One option is to make your own St. Patrick Parade, having every member of your family create some sort of “float” or “outfit.” We suggest using boxes or laundry baskets for your floats. Make it yours with festive music, colors, decor, the works! Or, if you want a more laid back holiday, settle in and watch previous parades on YouTube. There are some good ones on there that will surely be entertaining.
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Scavenger Hunt
We are going gaga over any kind of scavenger hunt! They’re just so fun! For St. Patrick's day, you can send friends, family, or co-workers on a wild hunt and in any direction you choose. You could do a Green Scavenger Hunt, where players will find various items that are green. OR you can hide gold boxes/eggs/bags with treats and prizes inside them. OR you can have different St. Patrick themed clues that will take them all over the house, apartment, or workplace. Have fun with it but keep it on theme for the holiday!
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Movie Night
We love a solid movie night, especially one centered around a holiday. Settle in with St. Patrick themed snacks, like Sprite, green sour patch kids, green M&Ms, green jello popcorn, or green gummy bears. Then pick out a movie centered around St. Patrick’s day or Irish Culture. Some of our personal favorites are Luck of the Irish, Leap Year, and Darby O’Gill and the Little People. Or if none of those movies tickle your fancy, watch anything that has to do with the color green, like Flubber, Shrek, or Star Wars (you know, because Yoda is green, and the lightsabers).
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Well are you excited for March 17th?! We may just start using all of these traditions and taking the whole day off for it! Check out our Pinterest Board for decoration + activity ideas if you’re really wanting to go all out! We hope you have a fun St. Patrick’s day, no matter what you get to do. From wearing green to a cozy movie night, there’s no wrong way to celebrate. What are your favorite things to do for St. Patrick’s day? Comment below so we can add those traditions to our list!
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xoxo
Kortni + Team
- Tags: KJ Everyday
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