When you here “Ireland” what words come to mind? green, leprechauns, shamrocks..… Take your family and friends to a place drenched in history and traditions. Let’s embark on a trip to the Emerald Isle!
Here is an outline of how to make it happen:
Food ideas:
Irish Stew-there are lots of online recipes. Basically, you create a stew with lamb or pork, potatoes, onion, carrots, and turnips.
Pounds (mashed potatoes) – We actually had mashed potatoes and a gravy with shredded pork roast in it for our main dish.
Corned Beef Brisket – goes on sale at grocery stores around St. Patrick’s Day.
Irish Soda Bread – This is super easy to make! We have “traveled” to Ireland in the past so this time I added some extra sugar to the bread, because we like it sweeter. I also put dried cranberries in the bread instead of raisins. Here is a link to the recipe I used: Irish Soda Bread 
Cabbage – We steamed cabbage and put butter on it.
Hot Cross Buns – Here is the recipe I used: Hot Cross Buns I was intrigued that hot cross buns are an Easter tradition and that there is actually a cross placed on them with frosting. I guess I should have clued in by the name, but I didn’t. 🙂
Dessert—for dessert we didn’t stick with an Irish food. My little daughter and I created chocolate cupcakes with green frosting. The cupcake is the island and the frosting is the green grass and plants that cover Ireland. She glued a shamrock (made from construction paper) to each toothpick and we placed them in the cupcakes. Traditional Irish dessert would have been tarts and cakes.
Another time we visited Ireland we had a Full Irish Breakfast/Fry: It included eggs, potatoes, sausage, pork-n-beans, fried tomatoes, soda bread, hot cross buns, etc. 
Decorations:
Flags – My youngest daughter had so much fun making Irish flags out of construction paper. We hooked the flags to skewers. My son made a flag on the wall and wrote down what each color of the flag means.
Centerpiece – We made a simple centerpiece using a vase with paper flags surrounded by the cupcakes with shamrocks on them.
Wall decorations – We searched “free coloring pages Ireland” and found castles, maps, selkies, lighthouses, fairies, and leprechauns. (Sometimes you have to be very specific and type “free coloring pages leprechauns.”) My kids colored them and hung them up on the wall with masking tape.
Points of Interest:
We checked out books about Ireland. The “fast fact” sort of books are great for a night of teaching history, climate, famous places, famous people, food, and culture. The internet also works great. Here are a few key things you may want to teach…
- the location of Ireland and it’s size
- the Irish Flag
- main crops of Ireland
- Why is Ireland called the Emerald Isle?
- Who is St. Patrick?
- Why aren’t there snakes in Ireland?,
- What mammals are in Ireland?
- What happened during the famines?
- horse racing
- Gaelic football
- Phoenix Park
- Blarney Castle
- St. Patrick’s Cathedral
- Robert Boyle- father of chemistry
- John Tyndall- why is the sky blue?
- Bram Stoker-Dracula
- Oscar Wilde–The Picture of Dorian Gray
- James Hoban- designed the White House
- Riverdance Company and Celtic Woman
Hint: search “famous Irish people” or “famous Irish places”
Ancestors:
Our kids’ four greats grandma was born in Ireland. It was fun to look at a picture and tell our kids a little bit about her. We will follow up with the rest of her life story by using the idea in our post Cereal Box Syndrome.
You may want to see where your ancestors are from…maybe that is the next place you should “visit”.
Videos:
Search the internet for a video of Ireland landscapes.
We also loved watching the Celtic Woman group sing and Riverdance dance.
We invited another family to our house to visit Ireland—that makes it twice the fun.
Most of all have a great time. Let your kids help with the preparations. It doesn’t have to be completely authentic. Relax and let minds be opened to new places, foods, and ideas. Enjoy.
(the featured image on this post came from pixabay.com)
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