• St. Patrick's Day is the celebration of the patron saint of Ireland which is celebrated every year on March 17. If you are planning to celebrate the holiday, you can use foods and activities to set the mood. You can draw inspiration from Irish traditions or Irish symbols such as the color green, leprechauns or rainbows.
  
  

Irish Recipes

• When choosing your menu for a St. Patrick's Day celebration, you can choose a number of traditional Irish recipes. For example, one of the more popular Irish dishes is corned beef and cabbage. This meal is often served with boiled potatoes as well. Another common Irish meal is shepherd's pie. Shepherd's pie is a one-dish meal made with ground meat and vegetables, cooked in a gravy and topped with mashed potatoes. Another idea is to make Irish soda bread. Irish stouts or lagers are a good option when choosing a traditional Irish beverage.
  
  

Themed Foods

• If you are not inspired by traditional Irish fare, you can modify other recipes to make them St. Patrick's Day friendly. Since most people associate green with St. Patrick's Day, you can color your foods to match the theme. For example, a few drops of green food coloring can turn regular mashed potatoes or scrambled eggs green. Green colored desserts, such as key lime pie, and green colored beverages, such as green beer or green lemonade are also colored options. Or you could choose naturally green foods, such as collard greens or green beans. Another way to follow a theme for your food is to make meals in the shape of shamrocks. Sugar cookies can be cut using cookie cutters to the shamrock shape or you can use the cookie cutter to cut sandwiches. Rainbow colored foods are another idea. For example, you can bake cupcakes and dye the batter the colors of the rainbow.
  
  

Activities

• To complement your Irish dishes or themed foods, planning St. Patrick's Day activities can keep you and your family entertained. Just like leprechauns hide their pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, you can hide chocolate gold coins or plastic rainbows around your home. Give players a scavenger hunt list of where to find the different hidden objects. Or if you prefer to make St. Patrick's Day crafts you could make rainbows out of finger paint or draw leprechauns.