St. Patrick’s Day Party

The big parades might be postponed but it’s still St. Patrick’s Day and if you and the kids are celebrating at home here’s our Ni4kids round-up of super suggestions for St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans…

Crafty Kids

☘️ Rock Art. Search the garden for some round, flat pebbles paint white and then decorate with a shamrock in green felt-tipped pen or paint green with a gold shamrock.

Make leprechaun faces out of paper plates. Add googly eyes, orange wool or tissue paper for a beard and a green card paper hat!

Make a shamrock hand painting by using green (wash-off) paint or trace around tiny hands and add a bit of sparkle with green glitter!

Stringy St. Pat’s Snakes with Mister Maker

“Grab some wool and make a super-soft snake! Let’s make!”

1. Draw a wiggly snake shape onto some thick card and cut it out.
2. Cover the snake shape in gloopy glue, then wrap lots of colourful wool around it.
3. Stick on some googly eyes or draw eyes on paper!

Game On

 ☘️ Have a St Patrick’s Day themed scavenger hunt around the house. Make a list of lots of green items in different rooms around your home e.g. a cuddly toy, an apple, a book, a plant, a T-shirt. Hide them if you want to make it a bit more difficult and the winner is the one who finds the most items on the list!

? Pot of Gold. Hide golden chocolate coins all around a room or in the garden and let your little leprechauns hunt them down. Plastic Halloween cauldrons / trick-or-treat buckets are perfect to hold their treasure!

? Host an Irish Myths and Legends Quiz! Read the kids a few short stories then see how much they can remember about the plot and characters! Click here for our re-telling of The Legend of Lig-Na-Paiste 

☘️ Watch Disney’s wonderfully whacky Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959) featuring a young Sean Connery, a raging leprechaun party and a banshee!

Party Food

Mint Aero Cheesecake

This is a family favourite and an easy one for everyone to get involved with. The kids will love crushing the biscuits (be careful of those tiny fingers) and who doesn’t love yummy mint chocolate?

Ingredients:

130g Digestive Biscuits (around 13 biscuits)
90g Melted Butter
340g Soft Cheese
260g Icing Sugar
250ml Whipping Cream
1 x Large Aero Share Bar

Method

1. Crush the digestive biscuits and add in the melted butter. Don’t be shy, the more butter used the more your base will stay together.
2. Grease the tin as this helps get the cheesecake out easy when it is set.
3. Press the crushed biscuit mix into the bottom of the tin. Use the back of a spoon to pack it in tight.
4. Mix together the soft cheese and the icing sugar.
5. Whip the whipping cream and then add it to the mixture.
6. Crumble the Aero bar.
7. Add about 3/4 of it to the mixture and mix together.
8. Spread the mixture on top of the biscuit base.
9. Add the rest of the crushed chocolate to the top of the cheesecake.
10. Leave to set over night in the fridge.

Cupcakes with Buttercream

These sweet treats are easy to make and look as good as they taste! You could even finish these off with cut-up coloured laces to make mini rainbows or

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 110g butteror margarine, softened at room temperature
• 110g caster sugar
• 2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 110g self-raising flour
• 1-2 tbsp milk

For the Buttercream

• 140g butter, softened
• 280g icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp milk
• a few drops of green food colouring
• Green Smarties on top or leftover crushed Aero pieces

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Mix butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale. Add in the eggs a little at a time and stir in the vanilla extract.
3. Fold in the flour, adding a little milk until the mixture is of a dropping (but not runny) consistency. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.
4. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden-brown. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
5. For the buttercream icing, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
6. Add the remaining icing sugar with one tablespoon of the milk, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
7. Add the food colouring and mix until well combined.
8. Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a nozzle and pipe the icing onto the cupcakes in a large swirl.
9. Top with Smarties or crushed Aero for an added sweet treat.

Leprechaun Bites

What’s a Leprechaun’s favourite snack? Leprechaun Bites of course! Here’s how you can make your very own.

Ingredients:

• 45g butter (or margarine)
• 300g marshmallows
• 180g Rice Krispies
• Green food colouring (a few drops)

Method:

1. Melt the butter over a low heat in a large saucepan.
2. Add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from the heat.
3. Add the Rice Krispies and stir until combined. Add the green food colouring, a drop at a time, until you have the desired shade.
4. Evenly press the mixture into a lightly-greased baking tray. Leave to cool.
5. Top with chocolate gold coins for added sparkle.

Author: Nadia Duncan

Editor