St. Patty's

Shafer's the Elders Quorum President in our ward and his presidency gets put in charge of a Spring ward activity every year.  It turns out that the best weekend the last two years has been St. Patrick's day, so we go with it and have a party!  This year we borrowed some wedding decorations from one of the counselors.  He and Shafer went early and strung up all the pennant banners and lanterns, with a few strings of lights.  It turned out so pretty!  I also took a leaf from my sister-in-law, Abby's book.  She's basically a professional ward party planner by now and she had the idea to have a separate table for the kids.  We took all the long tables from the nurseries and covered them with butcher paper and had crayons all along for them to color.  Then, the adult tables were around the outside.  It was so nice to be able to sit and chat with other adults while still being able to see the kids.  Our family usually takes up a whole table at ward parties and we don't get to socialize. 

 My genius idea this time around was to do a green jello contest.  I'm so mad I didn't get a picture until after the party, so it's all a mess, but this was the voting table, it had 3 big mason jars to cast you votes in, the categories were 'Best Tasting,' 'Most Creative,' and 'Most Ingredients.'  The winners received a green trophy.  I think it was a big hit, and hopefully it will be even better when we do it again next year!!  We also did a few games with the adults and the kids got to do a scavenger hunt.  It was a success!  And, I'm glad it's over!!

 

The next morning was the real St. Patty's day.  The boys woke up to a message on the chalkboard.  I bought some little leprechaun toys and hid them all over the house.  They had fun looking for them.

They always love to see what the leprechaun was playing with. 

We went later that evening to our friends' home to eat a traditional corned beef and cabbage meal.  It was a fun day for all!