How to Plan a Leprechaun Visit

Tell your children to expect a visit from a mischievous leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day! March 17 falls on a Friday this year.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Gold-coin Candies
• Scissors
• Scissors
• Colored Pens
• Construction Paper
• Colored pens

1. Purchase some gold-covered coin-shaped chocolates or other prizes suitable for St. Patrick's Day.

2. Explain to your children what leprechauns are the day before St. Patrick's Day.

3. Tell them leprechauns are magical little people from Ireland and that they come out just after midnight on St. Patrick's Day to do mischief and leave prizes for those they trick.

4. Tell them that leprechauns know how to find gold at the end of the rainbow and that they sometimes share their gold.

5. Do some harmless pranks around the house after your kids are in bed the night before St. Patrick's Day.

6. Turn kitchen chairs on end, switch the cereal with the rice, hang clothes on towel racks, set the dishes upside-down on the table, hang up shoes and place clothes on the floor of a closet ...

7. Think of as many silly things as you can that children will notice.

8. Place one gold coin candy or prize at each spot where mischief happens. If you have more than one child, you could leave one candy for each child at every spot.

9. Have the children search out the mischief when they get up in the morning. There will be a lot of laughter.

10. Give each child a shamrock card with a silly note from the leprechaun thanking him or her for being such a good sport.

Tips & Warnings

• You could also plan a different type of visit. Use colored paper in the colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). Cut out a rainbow shape from each piece. Place the pieces throughout the house with gold-coin candies hidden with the color that is the last one in the rainbow. Have your children follow the colors of the rainbow in order to find the leprechaun's gold.

[buggers]

on 10/22/2009 this is racist, homie. as an irish midget i am highly offended. how rude.

on 8/8/2006 A Leprechaun visits our home each year too. Some of his pranks include: turning the milk green, having the kids wake with every stuffed animal they own on their beds, and putting shamrock confetti in their shoes.

on 3/16/2006 In our "Irish" family, Shawn the Leprechaun comes to visit us every year looking for gold coins. While he is on his quest, he makes quite a mess -- opens cabinets, turns over chairs, dumps over toys, spills cookies/cereal, unravels toilet paper, etc. Sometimes he even plays tricks on us -- like changing our milk green or switching the cereal into different boxes. (He only does these things when we try to trick him by putting out a "fake" pot of gold). He is thoughtful in the fact that he always leaves a note behind apologizing for the mess and leaves a treat for each child.

on 11/22/2005 I do stuff like this every year. The kids love it. This year, I painted the outside of the front windows green. I hung their coats outside on the bushes. The leprechaun turned our macaroni and cheese green, too! :)