Have a craic on St Patrick’s Day!

It may surprise you to know that St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in many countries throughout the world, not only in Ireland. So why not make this the year that you join in with the celebrations and host your own St Patrick’s Day Party? Read on for some simple ideas on how to make sure the guests at your party have a ‘good craic’!

Outfits

Ask your guests to come wearing something green…or for the more adventurous perhaps St Patrick’s Day themed fancy dress!

Decorations

Decorate the party room with green table cloths, napkins and balloons. St Patrick’s Day themed decorations are readily available in party shops online. Provide props for your guests – hats, headbands, badges, novelty glasses.

Food

Create a ‘green’ buffet table – you’ll be surprised how many green foods you can find…try sliced Irish soda bread served with a range of green toppings such as cream cheese mixed with chives and topped with cucumber slices; crisps with a guacamole dip; spinach pizzas, cheese and broccoli quiches. For something sweet, use a shamrock shaped cutter to make your own cookies.

Drinks

Guinness and Murphy’s are the most obvious choices but why not make some Guinness cocktails to really impress your guests? Our favourite has to be ‘Black Velvet’ – simply half fill Champagne flutes with Guinness, then slowly top them up with chilled Prosecco. Delicious! For non-drinking guests, you could make some green lemonade – just add a few drops of green food colouring to a bottle of lemonade.

Music

Traditional Irish music might get the evening off to a good start, but you may want to consider more contemporary music as the evening develops. More modern Irish artists include U2, The Corrs, The Script, Snow Patrol, The Pogues (and for a bit of cheesiness you could include some Westlife or Boyzone!)

However you decide to celebrate, we would like to wish all our readers a very Happy St Patrick’s Day!