St. Patrick’s Day Green Dinner

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We have quite a bit of Irish on my Dad’s side, so my Mom always made a big deal about St. Patrick’s Day growing up. Its little things that I remember fondly that I knew I could look forward to each year for whatever holiday. We never had lots of money, but I always knew I would get a jar of dill pickles on St. Patricks Day because they were my favorite! My sister Meg posted about two of our traditions HERE we had growing up that made things super fun and magical as a kid. When I was in college I was roommates with some of the best ladies ever who are still my good friends. We had both a blue dinner and a green dinner and I remember the boys we invited eating it all up without a problem, but I had a hard time stomaching everything dyed green. I am not sure when we started doing a green dinner at home growing up, but over the years I have modified it for my little family, as eating things that are dyed green is honestly not very appetizing to me 🙂

We started off with some brown mailing paper I love to buy for gift wrapping at the Dollar Store. I saw it used as a runner on Pinterest several years ago and I have loved using it ever since. Washi tape is the perfect way to secure it to the table with out it doing any damage!

My sweet daughter and my mother-in-law helped me prep the decorations. We made a felt shamrock bunting from over at CreativeKin. I have to say it was a lot of work because I wanted it to be so long, but we had fun watching a movie, cutting, sewing, and gluing. I think they turned out super cute and I am thrilled to have it for years to come!

My other most favorite decoration was the centerpiece. I purchased 3 tiny pots of daffodils for a dollar each, (such happy flowers) and put them in this little cauldron I got for St. Patricks Day last year. My dad left the cauldron on the porch with the DVD Darby O’Gill And The Little People. Its one that we watch every year for St. Patricks Day, and Sean Connery acting when he is young is something I would not ever say no to 😉 If you have not seen it, you definitely should! It will get you into the “Irish” mood!

I had some gold coins that I got from JoAnn’s last year on clearance for .29 (clearance items are the way to go to decorate for the following year 🙂 so we sprinkled them around. My mother-in-law added this cute bow which I think gave it the perfect touch! Our “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow!

The night before we decided to do the green dinner, our daffodils had not yet bloomed. When I woke up the next day they bloomed just perfectly to make our centerpiece look adorable! I love daffodils!

Rather than dyeing everything green, we have little green “accents”. My kids love Alfredo pasta and broccoli. Add some parsley and some garlic knots and you have some fun green everyone is bound to love. And you know the best thing about this meal? It took less than 30 minutes to make, and costed me less than $10! Win!!! I also used these white, square paper plates and cups from the dollar store so it was an easy clean up!

Bertoli Alfredo sauce is awesome! $2 at your local Wal-mart and you just dump it over cooked pasta. The pasta I always stock up on at Smith’s. I got this bag for a whole .49! The garlic knots are so delicious (not very healthy, but so yummy!) and they only take 9 mins to heat up in the oven! Steam your broccoli and you have a yummy meal in about 20 minutes!

For dessert we did lime sherbet, 7-up poured over the top, whipped cream and some fun green and white sprinkles. Something super simple, and yet my kids were so happy because they got to eat it in the “special” cups as they call them 🙂

This dinner and the decorations were really super simple, but my kids loved being a part of it all. It does not have to cost a ton of money, or take you all day in the kitchen preparing a meal for you to make some fun memories with your family. Do it all simple, but get everyone involved. Our kids don’t need more toys, more extracurricular activities, more material things. What kids really need is our time. Spending time as a family helps us to develop deeper relationships, and helps us to make good memories. Life is so hectic, but this is something I am really trying to work on. Spending more time with my kids, and getting them involved in planning and prepping fun. I want my kids to have so many fun and silly memories, that it will be hard for them to remember all the many times I fall short and the crazy mom in me comes out!

How do you like to spend time with your kids? I would love to add to my list and make more meaningful memories with my own kids 🙂

See the Happy!

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