To me, planning kids’ birthday parties is one of the fun parts of parenting. I’ve always loved birthdays, but it is extra special to celebrate the little growing lives of your children. Elliott’s birthday is not actually on St. Patrick’s Day, but this year, his party was scheduled for March 17. I had two previous ideas for his party- a big red ball theme and a ‘Go Dog Go’ theme- but he outgrew them by the time his birthday rolled around. I decided to embrace the holiday and plan a green-themed “lucky day” party.

I focused more on the green idea than the St. Patrick’s Day theme, though I did throw in some shamrocks here and there for good measure. There was green food, green activities and everyone was asked to wear green to the party (the “Little Charmer” t-shirt you’ll see on the birthday boy is from Target).

I had a lot of fun coming up with the food ideas. I needed semi-healthy snack foods that were simple to throw together- you never know what will happen when you have two kids, a party to prepare for and a house to keep clean. It gets a little crazy- I’m lucky I remembered to snap these photos!

The Menu:
Hot Spinach and Kale Dip (based on this Martha recipe)
Homemade Guacamole and Chips (similar to this Oven Love recipe)
Green Veggies and Hummus
Green Grape Skewers
Pistachios
Irish Potato Candies
Shamrock Shake Cupcakes
Melon Cooler (similar to this Smitten Kitchen recipe)
Ice Water with Limes

These Shamrock Shake cupcakes are some of my favorites and certainly a hit with our guests. I found the wrappers at Hobby Lobby and the pearlized sprinkles at Michael’s.

I sent everyone home with Lucky Charm Treats (made with the natural version of Lucky Charms if you’re wondering why they look a little different) and some homemade green play dough for each child (you’ll see them pictured below). I used this great tutorial from How Does She to make the play dough- it takes just a few minutes, lasts forever and is much more pleasant than the store-bought type.

I made the No. 2 pinata with this tutorial from Oh Happy Day. I filled it with chocolate coins, Creme de Menthe Hershey Kisses, stickers and small toys. It was easy to construct, but make sure you don’t tape it up too tight if you’re making it for young kids. It was a little difficult for our kids to break, even though I only used clear tape to seal it up. I made some paper shamrocks, fringed streamers and a “Lucky Number Two” bunting as well, but none of those decorations managed to show up in my photos- we were too busy enjoying ourselves!

The main activity we set up for the kids (besides the pinata) was a big balloon pit. We blew up around 150 balloons with my husband’s compressor (no way were we blowing them all up ourselves!) and corralled them in our sunroom. The kids went nuts for it! They loved “swimming” in the balloons, playing catch and kicking them into the air.

Since I was keeping things low-key, I didn’t go crazy with a cake for the birthday boy. I just baked up some of the extra cupcake batter into a small round pan and used the extra frosting to make a tiny-layer-cake version of the Shamrock Shake cupcakes. He only had one bite anyway, so I’m glad I didn’t spend much time working on it.

Happy second birthday, little man! It was your Lucky Day, but I think we are the lucky ones.