No Two Alike: St. Patrick's Day Birthday Party

When a person is born on a holiday it can be easy to run with a theme. This is exactly what happened on St. Patrick's Day. This year a friend turned 30 on the largest Irish Holiday celebrated in the US and we went all out, it helps that she is also Irish.

There was a mix of store bought items along with hand made items, homemade sweets table, mini Reuben sandwiches along with lots and lots of green! Even the guests all arrived wearing this color of choice. Since I was unable to locate exactly what I was looking for when it came to decorations, I created them myself using my computer and printer, tissue paper, white (Elmers) glue, hot glue and floral ribbon to give everything a personal touch. I even created a "Pub" sign that can be changed from "open" to "closed" depending on how people are feeling out of wood with the help of a friend. Overall, the party was a success and cost effective.

Front of Oval from Custom "Pub" sign

Pub sign created out of plywood. The wood was cut to the desired size and stained using leftover stain from a floor refinishing done earlier in the year. The lettering and horseshoe were purchased from a local craft store unfinished and painted to the color desired. The shamrocks are green stickers purchased from the dollar store and the green border was hand stenciled onto the wood. The "open" portion of the sign can be turned around thanks to the addition of some hooks to reveal "closed".

Reverse side of oval

Decorations can be a difficult challenge for even the most experienced party planner to be able to accomplish, expecially with a $30.00 decorations budget and a large area to decorate. I solved this problem with a variation of different methods that were all cost effective.

Some of the decorations

First, using leftover consturiction paper, computer paper and any green colored paper I could get my hands on without payinf for it and a stapler I created many paper chain streamers. These decorations that we made as children brought much needed color into the space and the single color palate kept it from becoming too childish. Some simple green curling ribbon attached these streamers to everything from the fencing to the windows and doorways.

Secondly, using green tissue paper that was leftover from Christmas wrapping, some floral wire and large green beads (I had to buy those) I created the green balls to hand around the party area. These were made by taking one piece at a time from the center, creating a cone shape, I wrapped the wire tightly around the small (or point) of the cone. I continued to add pieces of tissue paper to the first piece until I got half of the desired fullness. This entire process was repeated and the two pieses were combined to create a whole sphere using the florist wire. The beads were added using more florest wire and curling ribbon was added to hand them.

Finally, the baloons, necklaces, hats, gloves and all the other funny party items were purchsed at the local dollar store for $24.74 bringing my total decoration budget to $29.57 plus my labor.

With decorations completed it was time to focus on the food. I ordered some food from a local delicatessen including a tray of Mini Reubens in honor of the Holiday but the main focus was on the sweets table, most of which was homemade.

Green Cake Pops: White cake mix, green gel food coloring, green melted chocolate, green sprinkles, white frosting, candy sticks and mini bags.

Green Rice Krispie Treats: Rice Krispies, Marshmallows, Green Food Coloring, Butter.

Brownie Pops: Brownie Mix, Brown Choclate, Green Sprinkles, Candy sticks and mini bags.

White lollypops: Wilton Wedding party favors found at a local craft store

Green Cupcakes: White cake mix, green gel food coloring, white frosting, green sprinkles, and chocolate gold coins

Giunness Cupcakes: http://nookandpantry.blogspot.com/2009/02/guinness-chocolate-cupcake-with-baileys.html

Rainbow bags: Skittles, snack bags, custom label

Lucky bags: Lucky Charms Cereal, snack bags, custom label

Chocolate covered pretzels (in bags in the custom green bags scattered on the table): bag of mini pretzels, green chocolate, green sprinkles, snack bags

I could not find labels that I loved so I just created them for myself with my computer. Here is what I came up with: