Ah, Saint Patrick’s Day ; a celebration held on 17th of March across the globe honoring Ireland’s foremost patron saint. If you are Irish, of Irish decent or Irish-at-heart, you will be celebrating with beer, food, dancing, maybe even a parade, (did we mention beer?) and definitely a whole lot of green.
Research shows that, in the USA, approximately 127 million people mark St. Patrick’s Day and each of them spends an average of $36.52 during the celebration – resulting in a total of 4.6 billion US dollars spent and in a lot of non-recyclable waste created. If you are one of those brave, fearless and most lovable souls who are organizing a St. Paddy’s Day shindig, why not make it truly green? Make your St. Paddy’s day celebration eco-friendly with these DIY party ideas.
Pic by Martha Stewart
Getting Dolled up and Decked Out
Feel the luck of Irish by wearing green clothing and accessories made of sustainable fabrics such as 100% cotton and recycled paper. If you don’t own any green clothes, don’t buy! Borrow from family or friends. You can also reuse items to make your own St. Patrick’s Day-related swag. For example, you can make your own leprechaun hat out of an old round-shaped plastic container or mini leprechaun hats out of paper.
Set the scene for a green celebration with fun and reusable tableware, such as a table cloth you make from old bed sheet using the Tie-Dye method to color it green with a hint of orange to symbolize the leprechauns’ pot of gold. If you are feeling creative you can use the shamrock design with your Tie-Dye for your cotton table napkins.
Make a paper shamrock candy holder. Use real cutlery and crockery as well as tablecloths and napkins so you can just wash them afterwards. Disposable items are a little easier, but create so much unnecessary waste.
Green your Decor
Reuse your green LED Christmas lights instead of buying new decorative party lights. Make bunting out of scrap fabric or old bedsheets. Bunting is a great way to create an instant party atmosphere and you can reuse it for every celebration.
Package-free Food
Instead of buying packaged party snacks and add more waste to the landfills, why not make snacks from scratch. Some of the St. Patrick’s Day-related ideas are: shamrock-shaped pretzels, mint chocolate chip cookies, marshmallow cookies shaped like leprechauns’ hat, green homemade gummy drops, rainbow muffins, avocado dip for your corn chips, green sangria, strawberries dipped in chocolate first then in green hundreds-and-thousands sprinkles, and the list goes on…limited only by your imagination.
Au Natural Green beer
No party on 17th of March is a St. Patrick’s Day party unless there is green-colored beer. To make it a truly green drink try these natural ingredients: wheatgrass juice, spirulina powder, and organic food dyes made only with plant extracts to turn any light-colored beer green.
DIY Shamrock piñata
pic by The Centsible Life
You can make this DIY shamrock piñata from cardboard and crepe and fill it with green-colored candy. It will not only keep kids entertained, but it will be fun for your adult guests too.
Grow-your-own Party Favor
As a gift for your guests, you can give them a pack of herb seeds such as basil or oregano. The seedlings can be accompanied with instructions on how to grow these plants – and it goes without saying, the instructions should be printed on recycled paper.
Ridesharing
Get your guests to take public transport or share rides. This reduces the carbon footprint of your party and means fewer designated drivers.