St. Patrick’s Day is March 17 and if you are entertaining this is the perfect time to get organized. Today I want to share ideas to get you started; setting a festive table, some simple DIY decor and a menu of traditional Irish fare with a twist . What I love about St. Patrick’s Day parties and dinners is that the menu is basically pre-determined and a little bit of green in your decor goes a long way. For a busy working Mom like me this takes the stress out of planning and makes finding a few wow factors an easy task. This year my husband’s Irish side of the family is coming from Texas and Colorado for another event and stopping in for dinner at our house, its time to get my act together and start planning. Above, printables are a fun and easy way to add some pizzazz to any Irish inspired display, find these free printables at Catch My Party.
You can easily achieve a festive feel with a piece of green pottery filled with Bells of Ireland. Add a few green items from around the house like these vintage books and your set, this is a must for my table! The table-scape is an easy focal point for your St. Patrick’s Day festivities from elaborate to simple, loving the potato place-card and fresh clovers.
For my family their favorite part of St.Patrick’s Day is making, sharing and eating Irish Soda Bread like this one pictured below from Green Eggs & Ham. There are many different versions of this bread but we just love my husband’s great grandmother’s family recipe. One of our family secrets is baking the Irish Soda Bread in an old cast iron pan, ours has been past down to us from my mother-in -law Maureen and it makes a huge difference.
Adding green is the key when decorating for St. Patrick’s Day, you don’t need to infuse a tone of green, touches here and there are enough to make a festive impact. Learn how to make this simple DIY wreath from one of my favorite craft blogs Made in a Day, steps here. Perfect for my front door, adding instant holiday curb appeal to greet my guests, love it.
Last but definitely not least, what is on my menu? As I mentioned we are going with a traditional Irish menu with a twist. This year we decided to make Shepard’s Pie our main dish so I had to find an appetizer with corned beef. I found a real wow factor appetizer that is beyond delicious and easy to make. Corn beef and cabbage rolls from Sweat Peas Kitchen, recipe here. The main course is scrumptious Shepard’s Pie recipe from Iowa Girl Eats, YUM! What would St. Patrick’s Day be without a Guinness? Delectable Guinness brownie bites from Sweet Tooth that is, Happy St. Patrick’s Day friends!
