Whether your family actually hails from The Emerald Isle or you just like to pretend you’re a wee bit Irish every March, St. Patrick’s Day can be a fun excuse to enjoy festive food, drinks, music and more as winter winds down. Since my days of bar crawls are over, we keep our festivities kid-friendly. Here’s a list of local events I found in the Bucks County, PA (and nearby) area, and ways you can celebrate at home, too!
Local Events
Newtown Irish Festival at the Green Parrot
When: March 7 through March 17
Where: 240 N. Sycamore Street, Newtown
Make your plans (and optional reservations) NOW to visit Green Parrot for St. Patrick’s Day – always a local favorite.
Leprechaun Scavenger Hunt at New Hope-Solebury Library
When: March 11 – March 18 during regular library hours
Where: 93 W. Ferry Street, New Hope
Mr. Leprechaun left his treasure for you to find. Come to the library and earn a piece of his pot of gold. Just stop by the circulation desk for your participation sheet. No registration necessary.
St. Patrick’s Day Storytime at the Warminster Township Library
When: Tuesday, March 12 and Thursday, March 14 at 10:30 a.m.
Where: 1076 Emma Lane, Warminster
A St. Patrick’s Day themed storytime with stories about leprechauns and rainbows. Suggested for ages 2 through 6, but all are welcome.
Leprechaun Scavenger Hunt at the Warminster Township Library
When: Tuesday, March 12 through Saturday, March 16
Where: 1076 Emma Lane, Warminster
Patrick the Leprechaun has lost his colors and needs us to help him find them again so he can follow the rainbow to his Pot of Gold!
Starting on March 12 at 10AM, pick up a Lucky Leprechaun Log to begin your scavenger hunt. Search the library for the colors of the rainbow. Once you find all the colors, create your rainbow and show it to the Information Services Desk to receive your golden surprise!
Glue and Lucky Leprechaun Logs will be placed on the specially marked table in the children’s area.
St. Paddy’s UnWINEd Weekend at Shady Brook Farm
When: March 15, 16, and 17
Where: 931 Stony Hill Road, Yardley
UnWINED with Irish music, Irish dancers, and of course, IRISH FOOD! Playground and balloon artist (during select times) for this kids! Tickets are $12 Friday and Saturday, $15 Sunday. Buy online HERE.
St. Patrick’s Day Party at Chatter Splatter
When: Saturday, March 16 from 10 a.m. to noon, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: 537 Foundry Road, Eagleville
Play, decorate shamrocks, collect gold coins and enjoy a visit from Paw Patrol’s Marshall. There will be food and drinks too! Tickets are $25 per child over 6 month, $10 per adult. Purchase tickets HERE.
Bucks County St. Patrick’s Day Parade
When: Saturday, March 16 at 10:30 a.m.
Where: Begins at Conwell-Egan and ends at the Levittown American baseball fields on New Falls Road, Levittown.
Dancers, Mummers, scouts, and more! The parade usually goes until around 1:30 p.m.
Upper Bucks Celtic Festival
When: Saturday, March 16 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Downtown Perkasie
An afternoon of Irish music and performers, food vendors, artisan vendors, crafts, contests, etc.
St. Patrick’s Day at The Five Four Bar & Grill
When: Saturday, March 16 (Parade Day) and March 17
Where: 8919 New Falls Road, Levittown
The Five Four is always a popular spot after the Bucks County St. Patrick’s Day Parade. They typically have live music the day of the parade and on the actual holiday. I haven’t seen this year’s details yet. It is kid friendly during the day.
Find the Pots ‘O Gold at Peddler’s Village
When: Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: 2400 Street Road, Lahaska
Find the pots of gold and rainbows throughout the Village in a fun scavenger hunt! To participate, check in at the Visitor & Event Center (the red barn) to get your playing card. There will also be live entertainment and many of the restaurants will have Irish specials. You can also see the PEEPS displays!
The Great Narberth Leprechaun Hunt
When: Saturday, March 16 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Downtown Narberth
Kids start by going to the “Blarney” Booth at the corner of Haverford and Forrest Ave to get a game card with clues and an empty black plastic pot-o’-gold. They search all through the town, with parents in tow, to find hidden leprechauns in various shops and restaurants. When they find one, they get a “gold” coin to put in their pot. Once they’ve found all the leprechauns, and have all the coins, the kids return to the NBA booth for their prize. The event is free and hosted by the Narberth Business Association.
Conshohocken St. Patrick’s Day Parade
When: Saturday, March 16 at 2 p.m.
Where: Fayette Street, Conshohocken
The annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in Conshohocken will start at 11th and Fayette Street and travel down to Elm Street. Restaurants and pubs lining the one-mile parade route typically offer specials and host events both during the parade and after.
Shake Your Shamrock Fun Run at Peddler’s Village
When: Sunday, March 17 from 9:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Where: 2400 Street Road, Lahaska
There will be an 8K, 5K, Kid’s 1/2 Mile Fun Run, and a 2 Mile Fun Run Walk. Register and get more details HERE.
Celebrate at Home
If you can’t make it to a local event, or you just want to stretch the celebrating out even more, there are ways you can have St. Patrick’s Day fun at home, too!
Make a St. Patrick’s Day Craft
Cut out shamrocks from green construction paper and make a banner to decorate your home. Use scraps of colored tissue paper to make rainbow or shamrock suncatchers like the ones at this link. Cut out leprechaun hat shapes, decorate and glue to a paper band to wear on your head. Paint a rainbow. Or draw rainbows on your driveway with chalk to let leprechauns know they’re welcome! There are a lot of ways little ones can get creative with this holiday.
Tip: My ol’ stand-by for holiday crafts is to let the kids loose on canvases that I usually buy by the pack at Michael’s. (If you can’t get to the store, here’s something similar from Amazon.) To give them some direction, I’ll sometimes cut out holiday-themed shapes to tape on. They paint around them, and then I remove the taped shape for a reverse stencil effect. Or, like shown here, I had some wooden rainbows that they painted and then I glued on at the end.
Design a Leprechaun Trap
If your kids prefer a craft with some engineering involved, get to work on a leprechaun trap! The sky is the limit here as older kids can get more technical with their designs, while younger kids will be happy just decorating a small box with paint, markers or stickers. Tip: Legend has it that they’re attracted to shiny things since they love coins!
While those tricky leprechauns are tough to catch, they just might leave behind a few little treats (or a funny mess) in the morning!
Cook an Irish-Inspired Meal
While it’s always fun to “cheers” the holiday with the Irish folk in your community (even if they’re just Irish for the day), you can also make a perfectly festive meal to enjoy at home!
Here are links to a few of my family’s recipes that I’ve added to the blog:
Other ideas include Irish ale cheese soup, Irish potato soup, shepherd’s pie, and corned beef and cabbage.
While this idea might seem like it’s just for adults, most kids love to help in the kitchen. Depending on the complexity of the dish and the child’s age, this can mean anything from helping with the measuring, stirring, reading steps from the recipe, chopping, or taking over a dish completely!
Bake a St. Patrick’s Day Treat
Get in the kitchen and make a tasty surprise for the family, or get the kids involved as an activity with a sweet reward at the end! Irish potatoes are a Philadelphia tradition that are easy to make at home. (Recipe below!) You could use some Guinness to make incredible cupcakes (don’t worry, it bakes off but makes them SO moist.) And if all else fails, just add some green sprinkles or food coloring to any favorite treat. You could even add some green food coloring and peppermint extract to milk and ice cream for a homemade shamrock shake!
Irish Slammer Cupcakes – Coming Soon
And/Or Pick Up a Festive Treat from a Local Spot!
I love to bake, but it’s sort of become a tradition that the leprechaun leave my kids a themed cupcake from a local spot.
Read a St. Patrick’s Day Related Book
I know I’m always saying this, but we’re a big “book family.” I give the kids books for just about every holiday, so I typically rotate the holiday/seasonal books in their rooms throughout the year. If you don’t want to add more to your home book collection, check out your local library to borrow a few this month. And if holiday-specific books aren’t your thing, maybe go with a story about rainbows to tie into the holiday.
Here are a few that are available through Amazon*:
The Night Before St. Patrick’s Day
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover!
Pete the Cat: The Great Leprechaun Chase
The Luckiest St. Patrick’s Day Ever!
Pout Pout Fish: Lucky Leprechaun
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Minnie’s Rainbow
How the Crayons Saved the Rainbow
(*As an Amazon Affiliate, I receive a small amount when you make a purchase through one of my links.)
Give the Kids a Festive Bath
This one might sound weird, but hear we out. My kids LOVE taking baths. If time allows, they both easily will spend 20+ minutes in the tub. Every once in a while, I’ll surprise them with a “special” bath, which usually means some type of surprise toy, maybe music or colored water. For St. Patrick’s Day, I’m thinking a little bit of green food coloring. (It’s so diluted that it doesn’t stain anything.) New tubes of their favorite Crayola Finger Paint Soap (I get it in the front section of Target!), and some gold coins that will be hidden at first by bubbles! I might even bring the Echo in and ask Alexa to play some Irish music.
Go On a Hunt
Here’s an idea so the kids can get out some energy! This can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. If you have some of those cheap gold coins (or you could always use pennies in a pinch), hide them around your house or yard. Or, plan a scavenger hunt to make them think a little harder. Or, keep it easy (especially for little kids) by requesting they find something for every color in the rainbow.
Listen to Irish Music
Before (or instead of) heading to a local festival, practice your best Irish gig with some music at home! Look some up on YouTube or ask Alexa to play some Irish tunes.
Sweet Mini Moments 