St. Patty's Day Fun

St. Patrick's Day is a very special day in our home.  No, we aren't Irish... but it is the same day that my hubby and I met about 14 years ago.  So we like to find ways to make the day special.  Now that our kids are getting older, it is fun to find ways to make it special for them too.

So here are some of the things we've been up to...

Hanging, Sparkly Shamrocks

We made these shamrocks to hang in the window, which the kids had a lot of fun making.  We followed the directions for the Stained Glue Valentine Hearts found at HolidayCraftsAndCreations.com, HERE.

We used green yarn in place of string, and added lots of green glitter to the top of the glue.  I hung them with fish line.

Just note, it took our shamrocks a couple days to completely dry... and we are in the dry winter here in the Midwest.  So prepare your kids for a long wait to enjoy their creations!


Shamrock Snacks

Aren't these cute?!  I came across the idea in the March 2011 issue of Family Fun Magazine.  I couldn't wait to try these with the kids.  HERE is the link to the FamilyFun.com directions.  However, I've outlined them with photos below :)

Ingredients:
- Pkg of Yogurt Pretzels
- White Chocolate Chips (I used about 1/2 a bag, or 1 cup)
- Green Frosting (I made my own, using a great recipe from Allrecipes.com found HERE)
- Green Sprinkles

Directions:
1)  Place about 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips in a glass dish, and microwave for 30 seconds at about 50% power.  Stir.  Do this two or three times, until you are able to completely melt the chips.  DO NOT OVER HEAT!

You should be able to stir the chocolate smooth and free of lumps.

2)  Line a surface or baking sheet with wax paper.

3)  Dip the bottom half of a pretzel in the melted chocolate, making sure each side is nicely coated.  Place the pretzel onto your wax paper.

4)  Repeat Step 3 with the second and third pretzels, laying each to form the shape of a shamrock.

5)  If you have broken pretzels, you can use them for the stem of your shamrock.  If not, you can carefully cut pretzels like we did below.

 6)  Dip the end of the shamrock stems into the melted chocolate, and put into place on the wax paper.

 Here is what your shamrocks will look like when assembled.  Some of them, we chose to lay the stem flat, while others (like this one below) we had placed so that it stood off of the wax paper.

And we thought we'd try to to make some four-leaf clovers while we were at it... of course, right?

7)  Time to mix up some frosting!  I used a great Sugar Cookie Icing recipe from Allrecipes.com, found HERE.  I like this frosting because it sets hard, and is easy to whip up.  I doubled the recipe, and found that I had twice as much frosting as I needed.  So if you use one package of yogurt pretzels, you can expect to follow the recipe as it is written.

Icing Recipe:

- 1 cup powdered sugar

- 2 tsp milk

- 2 tsp light corn syrup

- 1/4 tsp almond extract (or vanilla)

- we added green food color

I added it to a piping bag with a small tip, but you could just as easily use a Ziploc bag and cut a small tip off of the corner.

8)  Outline your shamrocks with the icing.  Add your sprinkles soon after, before the frosting begins to set!

And there you have it!  A fun St. Patty's day snack!

We ended up with 18 shamrocks, using all of the pretzels that came in the package.  Not too difficult, and the kids were able to join in.  We give this one a thumbs up!