How to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day This Year

We know that St. Patrick’s Day was this past Wednesday, but honestly with midterms and Module 1 finals around the corner, you might not have had time to celebrate! Why not just turn it into St. Patrick’s weekend? This St. Patrick’s celebration may be a great way to reconnect with friends you haven’t seen in a long time over Zoom, or just create some excitement on your own or with friends a safe and socially distant group of friends on campus. Here’s how we did and are still celebrating St. Patrick’s day, and how you can channel St. Patrick’s Day spirit whenever you need some extra motivation this semester. 

Green Food & Drink All Day

As both of my parents worked full time during my childhood, I often spent my afternoons and summers at daycare. Every year, the woman who ran the daycare would turn the first-floor of her home upside down in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. She would even put green dye into jugs of 2% milk and serve mint chocolate chip ice green to celebrate the holiday. Although she said this was all the doing of leprechauns searching for treasure at the end of the rainbow, it became clear as I grew up that she was the culprit for this fun. In honor of her memory, I plan to enjoy some green food and drink on St. Patrick’s Day this year. Whether it is as simple as choosing cucumbers over carrots, or as extravagant as ordering an iced matcha latte with almond milk from Coffee Grounds, I plan to get creative with adding more green to my plate (or cup for that matter). I also stopped by the St. Patrick’s Themed Mocktail Hour on Larrabee Green. I orered an “Irish Margarita” which had the typical delights of lime and orange, but also a pleasant surprise of lemonade. They also offered a Leprechaun Punch and Long Ireland Iced Tea which also received rave reviews.

– Elizabeth Berry ‘21

Watch a St. Patrick’s Day-adjacent movie

I know that St. Patrick’s Day isn’t exactly known for having a bunch of movies about it, but movies are always a nice to way to relax and celebrate, especially in the midst of chaotic midterms. So, instead, you can try a St. Patrick’s Day-adjacent movie. The first movie I thought of was the throwback Disney Channel Original Movie, The Luck of the Irish (2001)–you know, the movie about that guy, Kyle, who played basketball and, after losing his lucky charm, found out he was actually part-leprechaun–but it’s honestly pretty dated and problematic. And the 1993 fantasy-horror movie, Leprechaun, with Jennifer Aniston, only got a 21% on Rotten Tomatoes. So, even though it’s a bit of a stretch, and doesn’t really connected to St. Patrick’s Day, I would recommend watching Leap Year (a personal favorite), which is a romcom with Amy Adams and Matthew Goode that is at least set in Ireland about a woman who ends up going on a wild road trip through the countryside of Ireland as she tries to get to Dublin to propose to her fiance on Leap Day.

– Elizabeth Vinson, ’21

Wear Green

I know this one is a bit simple, but it also feels like one you can’t leave off the list. Maybe more than any other holiday besides Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day festivities involve themed clothing. You can not go wrong wearing a bold green shirt or dress, but if you want to really go for it, you can also add a pop of green to your makeup, or coordinate St. Patrick’s Day-themed outfits with your friends. 

– Elizabeth Vinson, ’21

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• food/drink
• green
• st.patricks day
• weekend