St. Patrick's Day is traditionally a time for parades, parties, toasts in your favorite pub, and time spent with family. Whether your family hales from the Emerald Isle or just wants to join in the festivities - planning an at home Irish party is very easy.

Traditional Irish cuisine is easy to prepare, very filling and well suited to sharing with friends and family. Traditional favorites include, corn beef and cabbage, Irish stew, soda break, potatoes - boiled, mashed, friend or made into boxy - a traditional potato pancake. Other variations consist of a traditional fried or grilled breakfast or a selection deserts and rich coffee.

The color of the day is green - so be festive and lay out a green tablecloth, napkins and plates. Jazz up your room with clovers and leprechauns and other St Patrick's party items and prizes. A super centerpiece could be your very own pot of gold!

Irish cookbooks and recipes are easy to find - either online or at your local library or bookstore. The ingredients for traditional Irish fare is easy to find at your local market or grocery store and in many cities you can even find an Irish import store or import items for a truly authentic touch.

It is one part tradition, one part fun, one-part friends and family and you have the best recipe for a successful St. Patrick's Day!

Fun Facts!

For many people when they think of a leprechaun, they think of the young boy who is on the Lucky Charms cereal box. He is young and playing games and his pot of gold is full of marshmallow treats.

Traditionally a leprechaun is a male fairy and is a hard worker - working a craftsman, saving his money and is generally thought to be thrifty and crafty. In many tales, they are known to indulge in a bit of mischief from time to time.

Leprechauns were thought to be wealthy - hiding their money in buried crocks - which has in modern times been called their "pot of gold." Their loot was not the product of trickery but rather through hard work and careful savings.

Legend held that if a human fixed their eyes on a leprechaun he could not escape - but the second the human gaze wandered - the leprechaun made his escape.

Today leprechauns play a role in the fun that is St. Patrick's Day - being a symbol of the festive nature of the day, which seems like a fitting nod to hard workingmen with a penchant for mischief from time to time.