St. Patrick's Day Party Ideas

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Who was Saint Patrick?

Over the years, many fantastic stories have been told about Saint Patrick, including the one about him banishing all snakes from Ireland, but what he is most famous for is introducing Ireland to Christianity.

Many dispute this claim believing that Christianity was alive in Ireland well before he came along. Whether he introduced the religion to the country or merely perpetuated it, he is celebrated for having a very important role in spreading Christianity in Ireland.

It is known that Saint Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who attacked his family's estate.

They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. During this time while working as a shepherd, he became lonely and afraid so he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian.

According to his writing, God told him it was time to leave Ireland so he eventually found a way to escape. He walked over 200 miles to the Irish coast and made his way back to Britain.

Not long after his escape, he claims that an angel in a dream told him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than fifteen years.

After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland to begin his mission of converting the Irish to Christianity.

Most scholars believe that he died on March 17th around the year
465 AD. The date of his birth is not certain so he is celebrated on the date of his death, March 17th.

Let the Celebrations Begin!

Irish people around the world celebrate Saint Patrick in pretty much the same way. Good Irish food, drinks galore, green outfits and lots of fun with family and friends.

If you are going to have a St. Patrick's Day party at home, check out my recommendations below.

Invitations

First of all, you need some really great invitations for this special party. There are so many to choose from, but here are a couple of my favorite sources:

• Printed Invitations. If you would like to send something
  through the mail, check out these St. Patrick's Day invitations from Internet Invitations.com. I like the last one with the Leprechaun Hat.



• Evite. I haven't used Evite to send invitations but I have received an invitation from a friend who did. It's pretty cool. You can design your invitation, send them to whoever you want in your email address book and then Evite keeps track of the RSVPs for you. People can make comments back to you like, "Sorry I can't be there. Don't have too much fun without me." Click here to check out the Evite website.

Decorations

It's fun to decorate the house because you can get so many fun products. I found:

• Confetti. Throw some around on top of your serving tables and brighten up your spread.
• Hanging Swirls. They are sparkly metallic and will dress up any part of your home.
• Holiday Centerpiece. Matches the Hanging Swirls.

Party Attire

You can't host or go to a St. Patrick's Day party without having some appropriate attire. You could go with a simple St. Patrick's Day t-shirt but why not check out these shirts from CafePress.com?

I've spent a lot of time perusing their merchandise and laughing hysterically. You will definitely find some very funny St. Patrick's Day shirts here.

Serveware

When buying serveware, like paper plates and napkins, there are a lot of different patterns you can buy. I like these from Amazon because they coordinate and are reasonably priced.

Good Food

I selected the recipes below either because they are made with traditional Irish ingredients or because they are green. You are sure to find at least a couple that your guests will love.

I serve many of these regularly and I always get asked for recipes.

Appetizers

Soups, Salads and Sides

Entrees

Desserts

Drinks

For more recipes, check out the Recipes Hub

I hope you learned something about Saint Patrick that you did not already know and that I have given you some ideas to think about when planning your next St. Patrick's Day party.