Decorations

St. Patrick

You have a bunch of people coming over, and you know what you’ll be feeding them. Have you thought about decorations? Just green, right?

Green is absolutely the go to option in terms of a color scheme, but you certainly aren’t limited to just that. Most St. Patrick’s Day parties will have green table covers, green paper good, green streamers. I say go with the flow – use a liberal dose of green for your own St. Patrick’s day party, but don’t limit yourself.

When you think of St. Patrick’s Day, you’ll think of leprechauns and their pots of gold and rainbows. You can add rainbow accents – napkins, paper goods, balloons – with green table covers. Gold is another great color to throw in where you can. Go with green table covers and gold paper products.

The colors of the St. Patrick’s day flag are reported to be green, white, and gold – although to most of us, that last color looks a little orange. Using green as your base color, throw in the white and gold (or orange) accents.

Pot of gold centerpiece with shamrocks

Another option in terms of decorating is to think “green” – really! Shamrock plants are pretty well available during the St. Patrick’s Day party season, and they come in all green, a beautiful purple, or they feature leaves with both green and purple. You can buy the plants at your garden store, or order them online in advance. Wrap the pots yourself in green cellophane, and spread them out as centerpieces or cluster them on coffee tables.

Items you can also easily find that can be used in decorating your St. Patrick’s Day parties include blackthorn walking sticks or shillelaghs. Although originally thought to be used for violent purposes, the shillelagh has become very well known as an Irish symbol, and you can tie the handles with green satin ribbon and use them just standing as decoration, or you can mount them on the wall over a buffet table. Choose some aspect of Ireland and incorporate it into your decorations.

Charm City Cakes St. Patrick

One St. Patrick’s Day party we hosted was for our daughter’s Sweet Sixteen. She was fascinated by Newgrange in Ireland – an ancient Celtic tomb. We had the talented Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes in Baltimore make her cake using the scroll work from Newgrange. It turned out to be a hit with the birthday girl!

Votive candles are always good for setting the mood, just be careful of putting them too low where small children could get hurt. Also use fabrics that have celtic knots and scroll work on them. You typically find a lot of this type of thing at Renaissance Faires, but you can easily get your hands on wraps, shawls, scarves, etc. online, and that size lends itself perfectly to decorating an end table or just tossing over the back of a chair.

Use green mardi gras beads, either clustered on tables with gold coins (either the plastic variety, or the kind that are really bubble gum or chocolate), to add some sparkle to your party, and you should have no trouble finding some green bowler type hats that people love to wear to celebrate at St. Patrick’s Day parties. Use them as decorations, but allow your guests to grab them as favors when they leave.

Party decorations can be found online and in party stores all over

You will find any number of paper cut outs that you can decorate with – every party store will have them. I find local to me that Party City has a huge selection of all things Irish for your St. Patrick’s Day party. This is not to say your favorite party store won’t have just as great a selection, but Party City is one of my favorite stops for my St. Patrick’s Day parties.

Other party outlets will have shamrock shaped twinkle lights and other novelties that are reasonably inexpensive. Check out places like Oriental Trading for great ideas for favors that will add to your decor.