Do you do anything special to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Wear green? drink a few Guinness? maybe eat corned beef and cabbage? If you’re looking for some ways to enjoy the holiday without stepping into a rowdy pub tomorrow, I’ve gathered some last-minute inspiration…
Bake a Guinness Stout Cake (like the one pictured above), or make Oatmeal Stout Cookie Bars.
Rent a movie set in Ireland. Think Circle of Friends, or Far and Away, The Commitments or my recent favorite, Once. For kids, consider Small Beauties: The Journey of Darcy Heart O’Hara or Song of the Sea.
Muddle, shake, and stir your way to some delicious green cocktails that don’t require drop of Midori sour.
Make Shepherd’s Pie for dinner, or wake up to Hash-brown Waffles and Irish Soda Bread. Or, for something a bit sillier and simpler: serve up a box of Lucky Charms and add a few drops of green food coloring to a glass of milk.
Set out a rainbow at snacktime.
Watch your local parade. (This is New York’s event.)
Wear plaid instead of green. (Here’s a grown-up version of this wool-throw cape.)
Make a clover crown or, with younger kids, consider rainbow beaded necklaces or paper chains.
Listen to folk music and read some Joyce—perhaps Finnegans Wake. (Or any works by one of the incredible writers to come out of that small island. Frank Delaney, who wrote Ireland, came up with this list of suggestions.) For kids—though this won’t arrive by tomorrow—a book of poems.
Or maybe it’s time to plan a trip to Ireland! That would be best of all, wouldn’t it?
Will you do something to celebrate tomorrow?
P.S. How to pour a proper beer and the best non-alcoholic beers.
[Photo credits: Lead photo by Athena Splichta / Oatmeal Stout Cookie Bars / Once, Fox Searchlight Pictures / Green Cocktails / Shepherd’s Pie / Rainbow snack cups / Bagpipers / Girls in Plaid / Clover Crown / Trinity Library and Dingle Penninsula from our Ireland Travelogue]
9 Comments