Rock the Shamrock: 3 St. Patrick’s Day Crafts to Try This Year 

Try these creative St. Patrick’s Day activities to get into the holiday spirit and put a personal twist on your decor. Enjoy customizing these projects by choosing the style and layout for your designs. It’s all about adding your personal touch! By working with metallics, color gradients and tiny planters fit for a lucky leprechaun, you can create a St. Patrick’s Day decor setup to remember. Use these ideas from us at Pottery Barn to get started.

Golden Luck Glassware

Use metallic gold enamel paint, a thin paintbrush and a cotton swab to create four-leaf clover decor on glassware. Because both cocktails and beer are common St. Patrick’s Day refreshments, mugs and pilsner, martini or rocks glasses are all good options.

The process is simple. First, find gold enamel paint that adheres to glass. Acrylic paint often works well. However, you can also find specially formulated glass paints that are extra durable and smooth. Wash and dry your glasses. Then set up your crafting station with your supplies. Use the tip of a cotton swab dipped into your gold paint to trace round shamrock leaves onto each glass. You can fill them in with solid gold or leave just the leaf outlines for a delicate look. Add a thin stem with your brush, and you’re done. Feel free to sketch a few test runs on plain paper before painting on the glass. This way, you know exactly how much paint to use and how to create the shape you like.

Once the paint is dry, add an elegant twist to the holiday by serving your St. Patrick’s Day drinks with a gilded glint. Gold stands out beautifully against green, and green beer and green cocktails look wonderfully festive in these glasses. It’s also easy to use these customized beer and cocktail glasses throughout the year thanks to their simple, elegant design. Just remember that this shamrock decor probably won’t be dishwasher safe unless the paint you use is specifically formulated this way.

Emerald Ombre Tablecloth

St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration of gorgeous green. You can bring a variety of verdant hues to your dining table with a DIY dip-dyed tablecloth. Ombre dyeing results in a sophisticated, bright fabric that nods to the holiday theme. This tablecloth could make the ideal surface for St. Patrick’s Day games, too – think a green-tinged game of Beirut or a few rounds of poker using chocolate gold coins rather than chips.

Choose a plain white tablecloth in an easily dyeable fabric such as cotton or linen to get the best results. You’ll also get the best results using a soda ash bath first and using a much higher concentration of dye than what the package calls for – about 1/3 cup of dye concentrate for 3 gallons of water. To get started, mix up the soda ash bath according to package instructions. Add the tablecloth fabric. Let it sit for about 30 minutes. While the tablecloth is soaking, mix up your dye bath. Dip one end of the tablecloth into the container of dye. Then, gradually add more and more of the cloth over the course of the next few hours. You can choose to leave the very end white or give it a quick dip in the bath to turn it light green. The other end will be darker green thanks to its extended time in the dye. Rinse the tablecloth in cool water, squeeze out extra dye and hang the fabric to dry.

Charming Shamrock Terrarium

You may notice that some plant nurseries and grocery store floral departments start selling shamrock plants around St. Patrick’s Day. Belonging to the genus oxalis, these potted shamrock plants are super easy to care for and grow beautifully indoors, even in low light. They’re a great choice for a terrarium! This is especially true if you choose a large container with a wide-open top and enough space to add layers of rock beneath the soil for water runoff. To start, lay down regular potting soil. Layer some colored sand underneath to add more St. Patrick’s Day flair to the arrangement. Then, plant your shamrocks in the soil and have fun adding decorations.

This terrarium project is perfect for creating a leprechaun-themed fairy garden complete with a mini pot of gold and a small rainbow to accompany the shamrock plant. Moss, crystals and other fillers can embellish your green-themed terrarium planter. They also highlight the holiday theme even more. This is a fun craft activity to share with kids and adults alike. You can choose different decor materials based on kids’ ages and the look you envision for the terrarium. Moss is easy for younger helpers to work with. They can also have fun finding interesting rocks outdoors to add to the display.