Keep Calm & Get Your Irish On!

This past weekend we had our annual St. Patrick's Day party!  This is the 9th annual St. Pat's Party we have had and, although it was smaller than other St. Pat's parties we have had, it may have been my favorite!!

Let's break this party down by the details!

Pre-Party:

Evelyn & Isaac were quite the little helpers in the kitchen while I prepped everything!

THE FOOD:

People have come to expect some of my favorite recipes each time they come. Here is what this year's menu consisted of:

To make the fruit rainbow, I just pick fruits in the ROYGBV color scheme with mini marshmallows as a garnish of clouds.  For a fruit dip, I love to use Tastefully Simple's Key Lime Cheeseball and add marshmallow fluff to make it sweet and creamy - PLUS it is green!  BONUS - with the fruit & fruit dip leftovers, I tossed them all together for a fun fruit salad!

Eat your greens and a little orange!

My mom makes an incredible Irish Soda Bread, that she even won an award for!  You can enjoy it with or without raisins (I always choose NO raisins!)  

I simply boil my cabbage with a few shakes of Tastefully Simple's Seasoned Salt & Garlic Pepper.  Adds just a little flavor to an otherwise bland veggie.

Salt potatoes are a staple in my home in the summer and I always feel like when we have them for the first time at the St. Pat's party, spring/summer is just around the corner.  What I didn't realize is what a regional phenomena that salt potatoes are!  My family in Long Island cannot purchase salt potatoes down there, let alone even heard of them!  Basically, it is boiled, small potatoes with a large bag of salt poured over them as they boil.  You serve the potatoes with melted butter.  This year, I was excited to use my Christmas gift of a large stock pot to boil them in!

And for the main reason people come to the party....the Hot Corned Beef Buns.  I originally found this recipe in Taste of Home's Quick Cooking magazine.  Over the years, I have adapted it and Tastefully Simplized it, too!  It has been a highlight each year and this year, it went over without a hitch!  I always cook my corned beef in the crockpot with water and the spices that come in the package.  I usually do this over night Friday into Saturday.  Then I am sure to let the corned beef sit and rest before cutting into it.  As best I can, I put the meat into shreds and then add the mayo, cheese, and Onion Onion.  Butter always makes it better and I butter the buns before dolloping on the meat mixture.  Be sure to cover your buns with foil before baking them at 425 as I have forgotten this before and it makes for very burnt buns :*(  Never a good thing!  Bake for 15 minutes and let them slightly cool before serving.  SO YUMMY!

Fan Favorite each year!

Finally, I can take no credit what-so-ever for the amazing cookies my sister-in-law Gina makes.  These are Sour Cream Cut-Out Cookies.  The recipe is long and is a 2-3 day process, but the result is perfection of a cookie!  She always makes these for family events and we all sing her praises as there are never any left!

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OH - And the beverages!  I tried out a Tastefully Simple recipe using the new Pina Colada Drink bucket called Put the Lime in the Coconut - OMG - this was outstanding!  I couldn't get enough of it!  Our liquor store did not have the Key Lime Liquor so we used Lemon Lime vodka - GREAT SUBSTITUTE!

THE DECOR

I try to decorate the house a little here and there with small touches.  It's quite eclectic and not really the cutest looking decor, but it has little pieces of green here and there and of course little projects the kids have created throughout the years.

For little party gifts, I made a rainbow in a bag using rainbow Twizzlers and Rolos candy.  They were a hit!  I found the original idea here.

I did have a complete #partyfail because I only had blue cups!  I thought I still had white ones leftover from a previous party - Oh well - garnished them with green and orange straws instead!





THE FASHION
This year, after losing the baby weight, I was determined to find a cutie pie outfit for the occasion!!  I searched through pinterest and created what I felt was an appropriate, fun outfit for a mama of 3.  The boys wore their new "I-rish you were here" t-shirts featuring Darth Vader and Evelyn wore "Daddy's Little Clover" outfit that I purchased LAST YEAR during Spring Break!  Of course I had her hair up in mini beebops on top!  Gary wore a "classic" St. Pat's Day t-shirt from Old Navy.

THE FUN

Pretty much the purpose of this party is to celebrate our heritage and gather our close family and friends together.  St. Patrick's Day is also the day that Gary and I became engaged, so it holds a very special place in my heart, too! Some years we double dip the party with other family events like last year with Evelyn's Baptism.  This year, it was just about enjoying each others' company, chatting it up, and enjoying our Irish Feast.  By the end of the night, my Irish eye were smilin', but my Irish tooties were hurtin'!