How to Celebrate St Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day originated across the ocean in Ireland, but it is now one of the United States' most celebrated holidays. While wearing green and decorating with shamrocks and leprechauns are among the more mainstream holiday traditions, this year, celebrate with some of the true, but lesser known, St. Patty's Day customs.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Try your luck with some classic shamrock wishes. Tradition says that if you swallow a four leaf clover on St. Patrick's Day while thinking of the one you love, you will marry them. Hanging a four leaf clover in a doorway or in the heel of your left shoe and waiting for the first lucky man or lady to pass will also ensure that wedding bells will ring.

2. Celebrate St. Patrick's Day by watching the rivers turn green. While this tradition started in Chicago as a means of tracing illegal sewer dumping, the green effect is now used in select cities across the nation in honor of St. Patty's. If your city doesn't partake, call the city hall and see if you can inspire a new tradition.

3. Pack some cabbage when you head out for your local St. Patrick's Day parade. While most "throws" at parades include candy and small toys, on St. Patty's Day, tradition ups the ante and calls for throwing whole heads of cabbage. Play it safe, though, as hurling a cabbage at the wrong place or the wrong time can turn a fun event into a trip to the emergency room.

4. Starting in mid-February, call you local McDonald's and ask them if they will celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year with their famous mint shamrock shake. While only available in select restaurants, if you're lucky you just might get to enjoy this sweet green drink on the St. Patty's Day.

5. Forget green beer, instead ask your bartender to make you up a Shamrock Special, which is just coffee and Irish cream mixed with just enough colored mint liqueur to turn the drink a deep shade of green.