St. Patrick's Day Party Games
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Are you planning a St. Pat’s Party and need some games to bring extra luck to your guests. Party411 has St. Patrick's Day party games that are sure to get everyone excited like a leprechaun dancing in a pot of gold.
Pin the Shamrock on the Leprechaun
Pin the tail on the donkey has been updated for St. Patrick’s Day equipped with a Leprechaun and a shamrock.
Ingredients
- Leprechaun cut out
- Bright Green Paper
- Scissors
- Sticky Tack
- Blindfold
- Green Beverage
- Beer or Whiskey
To Play
- Cut out shamrocks out of the green paper and stick sticky tack to the back of the shamrocks.
- Hang the Leprechaun cut out on the wall.
- Blindfold each person and have him or her tack on the shamrock to the leprechaun’s pot of gold.
- Each person that misses has to take a shot of beer or whiskey or some other green beverage, those that get it on the spot win a prize.
Pot of Gold Toss
Ingredients
- Cardboard Box
- Gold Spray Paint
- Plastic Tub
- Paint Brush
- Gold Coins-Chocolate or Regular
To Play
- Using a cardboard box and gold spray paint make a pot of gold or you can buy a plastic tub found at any home supply store and spray paint it gold.
- Then, place the pot of gold in front of a field of clovers
- For the toss, purchase some gold coins or chocolate gold coins.
- Hand out 3 to each of your guests. Each person gets 3 chances to get it in the pot of gold. The guest that gets all 3 in wins a prize at the end. As a lucky prize, you can give the winner $1.00 for every coin that landed in the pot of gold.
Irish Jig Dance Off
We may not know how to do the Irish Jig, but we do know how to dance or at least try. An Irish Jig Dance Off gets everyone moving to classic Irish Folk songs.
Ingredients
- Green Paper
- Markers
- Scissors
- Irish Music
- Shamrock Necklace
To Play
- Clear off an area big enough for all of your guests.
- Cut out shamrocks and write numbers on each one, if using. Or give everyone a Shamrock Necklace.
- Bring or drag everyone onto the dance floor, then start the music. You can play some traditional Irish tunes found by clicking here or download some songs from the Itunes Music Store, if you have access to it or a trip to a music store is always worthwhile.
- Everyone dances, jigs, hops, and twists until they can’t anymore. The last 3 or 4 people on the dance floor win a prize. You can also award prizes to the best and of course the worst dancers.
Heave Ho
A traditional Gaelic game originally played with a hay sack and pitchfork in the Irish countryside now can be enjoyed using a spatula right from your kitchen drawer.
Ingredients
- Clothesline
- Crossbar
- Paper bag
- Newspapers or Tissue Paper
- Spatula
To Play
- Arrange an area with a clothesline or crossbar through a door way or across one end of the room to pitch a sack across.
- Make a sack out of a paper lunch bag stuffed with newspapers or tissue paper.
- Everyone lines up and tries to heave the sack across the line using the spatula.
- The person who succeeds the most times out of 10 tries wins the game.
St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt
Everyone loves a clever scavenger hunt.
Ingredients
- Irish Gifts
- Green Paper
- Scissors
- Markers
To Play
- Start by thinking of some Irish gifts to hide that relate to your scavenger hunt clues.
- Write the clues on cut out green shamrocks. Each clue should bring about thoughts of Ireland, leprechauns, fairies, St. Patrick’s Day, Irish authors, musicians, or being raised Irish. For example, you could ask, “Who is a famous Irish poet who wrote about the Irish country side and the politics of Ireland especially Bloody Sunday as well as When You Are Old?” The answer is W.B. Yeats.
- The hunt could lead guests to a bookshelf with a copy of his collected poems. Another question you can ask is, “What is the name of a well known Irish rock band, whose singer is originally named Paul David Hewson?” The answer, you guessed it, U2.
- The person who is able to get all of the items wins the scavenger hunt.
Other St. Patrick’s Day Games Include:
- St. Patrick’s Day Pictionary with Irish themed clues written on small shamrocks.
- St. Patrick’s Day Trivia
- St. Patrick’s Day Green Beverage Contest, see who can make the best green cocktail or beer. All the losers have to drink up.
- And of course there is always a good game of darts!
Prizes
- A case of Guinness
- Jameson’s Whiskey
- Book on Irish History
- Irish Tenor’s CD
- Irish Pub Crawl Coupons
- Traditional Irish candy, and other Irish Gifts