I’m Italian and Irish, so this is one of my favorite times of year. I get to celebrate St. Joseph’s Day with delicious zeppoles and St. Patrick’s Day with crafts and drinks! In the past, we’ve shared some great tips for hosting a frugal St. Patrick’s day party. These crafts could be a fun addition to your celebration. I love to have a crafts table at my holiday parties. Not only do they keep kids busy, but you can also have contests! Maybe this year we’ll see who can make the best Leprechaun Hat!

Four Frugal and Kid-Friendly St. Patrick’s Day Crafts

 

 

 

Leprechaun Hat

Materials

• Paper Plate
• Scissors
• Green Poster Paint
• Green, Black, and Yellow Stock Paper
• Glue
• Gold Glitter
• Double Sided Tape
• Pipe Cleaners
• Q-tip

Directions: First, take a paper plate and paint it green with the poster paint. While the plate is drying, tape two pieces of green stock paper together to form a cylinder. Then, cut a 2.5″ wide piece of black paper and a yellow square (this will be the buckle). Decorate the buckle with glitter by applying the glue with a q-tip and sprinkling with glitter. I recommend doing this over a trash can or another paper plate to prevent mess. Once the plate has dried, cut out the center of the plate. Next, tape the plate hat rim to the cylinder to create the basic hat. Then, tape the black piece around the hat and the buckle to the middle of the black paper.

To make the pipe cleaner flowers, start by looping one end of one of the colored pipe cleaners and twist to secure it. Do this until you have made 3 petals. Take another pipe cleaner and follow the same steps to make another three petals. Combine them by wrapping the remaining ends together in the middle. Cut a regular yellow pipe cleaner in half and swirl it, leaving a small stem at the end. Then, poke the stem through the center of the petals. Twist the end of the yellow point and one end of the green pipe cleaner together to secure the flower to the green stem. Tape or glue the flowers to the side of the hat and your leprechaun hat is ready to wear!

Pipe Cleaner Rainbow Bracelet

Materials:

• Pipe Cleaners (one each of red,orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and gold)
• White Felt
• Glue
• Cotton Balls

Directions: Take all of the pipe cleaners except the gold and line them up in the order of the rainbow. Then, cut two inches off of one of the pipe cleaners. Wrap this piece around the pipe cleaners to hold them together. Next, do the same to the other side, but measure the child’s wrist to make sure the bracelet will be the right size. Then, twist the open ends together and Cut the gold pipe cleaner in half and swirl into a a circle (like with the yellow for the flower!) and this will be the gold coin. Cut a small oval out of white felt and glue the cotton balls to it to create cloud. Next, glue the coin to the center of the cloud. Lastly,glue the cloud to the center of your bracelet.

Handprint Leprechauns

Materials

• Orange and Peach Paint
• Paint brush
• White Paper
• Green and Black Craft Foam
• Scissors
• Glue
• Yellow button
• Sharpie

 Directions: Use a paint brush to paint your child’s finger (except the thumb) orange and paint their palm peach. If you’d like, you can paint the top of their palm orange too for hair.  If they’re old enough you can let them do it themselves! Then have them press their hand firmly on the palm.  While it’s drying, cut out a hat from the green foam and a stripe of black to add to the had. Next, glue the stripe to the hat and glue the button to the middle of the black stripe. Then, glue the hat to the leprechaun and use the sharpie to draw your leprechaun’s face.

Bell Pepper Shamrocks

Materials

• White Paper
• Green Tempura Paint
• Paint Brushes
• Green Pepper

Directions: First, cut off the top of the green pepper and put aside. Then, pour some green paint on a paper plate and spread it around. Take the large section of the pepper and press it into the paint, making sure all sides are covered. Then, have kids press the painted pepper down firmly on the construction paper. The pepper should be used the same way you would use a stamp. After this is done, you can use the paint brushes to add stems and lines inside the shamrock to make it look more realistic.

How do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?