This post contains affiliate links to products for your reference. If you purchase via my links, I will receive a commission at no additional cost to you.
Easy St. Patrick’s Day Party Games
I never really cared about St. Patrick’s Day (not even wishing anyone a happy St. Patrick’s Day) until I got married. My husband’s family is part Irish, so somehow I inherited a need to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Like corned beef and hash, potato soup and all. I’d never even considered having corned beef until after we got married and now it’s a St. Patrick’s Day tradition along with other fun St. Patrick’s Day activities like this St. Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt! Since St. Patrick’s Day parties and actually celebrating seems to be here to stay, I decided to create some St. Patrick’s Day party games that are perfect for you to play at a party, with your family, or really anyone. They’d be great to do after something more quiet like St. Patrick’s Day bingo! They’re minute to win it style games and just a fun way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and super easy to put together. If you want something other than minute to win it games, I’ve got a great list of 27 St. Patrick’s Day activities too! And best of all, they work great as adult party games, games for kids, and even games for preschoolers! We did them with my entire family – age 5 to grandparents – and everyone loved them!
Minute to Win It Games 101
These games are all played minute to win it style, which means you can play them in one of three different ways depending on the group you’re playing with. Start here for more info on minute to win it games. If you have a large group, go with a team competition. And if you’re playing with a group of younger kids like preschoolers, you could just get rid of the clock all together and play an everyone wins style.
Version 1: Man vs. Clock St. Patrick’s Day Games
In this version, one player will be trying to beat the clock for each game. So for instance, they will have to try and get all of the Lucky Charms from one bottle to another within a minute (hence the Minute to Win It). If they do, they win a prize. If not, let someone else have a shot. If you go with this style, I recommend choosing a different person for each game.
Version 2: Head to Head St. Patrick’s Day Games
In this style, you’ll pick two players for each game who will going head to head against each other playing a game rather than trying to beat the clock. For example, you would give each person a bottle and see who can get the Lucky Charms from one bottle to the next first. The first person to finish wins the prize. Rotate through people for each game, repeating players as necessary.
Version #3: Team Competition St. Patrick’s Day Party Games
In this style, you’ll split your group into two (or 3 or 10 depending on the number of guests) teams. For each game, teams must choose one player to compete head to head in the game with the other teams. So for instance, each team will be given a bottle and the first team to finish will receive 10 points, the second team will receive 5, etc. This works best if you have quite a few people and is a good way to get everyone involved cheering for their team.
St. Patrick’s Day Games Supplies
This is the full list of supplies needed to play all of the games. If you’d rather play just a few of them, obviously just order the supplies you’ll need to play those individual games. I just put them all here in case you wanted a full list to shop from. Enjoy!
Two empty 2-liter bottlesLucky Charms cereal or a bag of these Lucky Charm like marshmallows work tooDuct tape – this green tape would be awesome!Mini leprechauns, leprechaun balls, or these mini Leprechaun porcupine ballsBooksGreen clothing, hats, socks, etc.Six-sided diceFree printable roll a rainbow cardColored ping pong ballsSt. Patrick’s Day bucket or fish bowlBlarney stone or small stonesLarge pot (a plastic kettle like this one would be fun)Green tissue boxesPanty hosePotatoesWater bottlesLittle Dixie CupsFour-leaf clover stickersIrish food/drinkGold coins (or even better if they’re multi-colored like these ones)CabbageLarge bowlsSpoonsLimericks, cut out into individual linesColored balloons (one color per team)
St. Patrick’s Day Games instructions
Watch the video below to see how fun these games are! They were perfect for our family of all ages!
#1 – Lucky Charms
Supplies Needed:
Two 2-liter bottlesTapeLucky Charms cereal
Prep: Fill a 2-liter bottle with Lucky Charms cereal (or get this bag of marshmallows and just use the marshmallows) then tape the filled bottle to another empty 2-liter bottle. How to Play: Make sure all of the Lucky Charms are in one of the bottles. Give the taped together bottles to the player and when you say go, they must shake shake shake the bottle to get all of the Lucky Charms to the other bottle. First person to get all of the Lucky Charms from one bottle to the other wins!
#2 – It’s Not Easy Being Green
Supplies Needed:
As many green items of clothing as you can findOne bucket per team
Prep: Find as many green items of clothing as you can and put them in a bucket for each team. How to Play: Have players stand on one side of the room and place the bucket of clothes on the other side of the room. Players must either hop like a frog, or if you want to use two players, must play leap frog from their side of the room to the bucket on the other side. When they reach the bucket, they must put on one item of clothing and hop back. The first player to successfully go back and forth five times, putting on an additional green item each time, wins. Or you can just say whoever puts on the most items in the minute wins.
#3 – Roll a Rainbow
Supplies:
These roll a rainbow cardsDiceMarkers or something to cross the cards off with
Prep: Print out enough of these roll a rainbow sheets either for everyone who will play to have one or one per team. How to Play: To play, players must use one die to try to be the first to “roll a rainbow” by rolling the number on the die associated with a color on the rainbow. You can get full rules and details here.
#4 – Blarney Stone Bounce
Supplies:
Blarney Stone replica (like this one) or fish bowl full of stonesBucketColored ping pong balls
Prep: Buy a little Blarney Stone replica (like this one) or just fill a fish bowl or buckets with small stones and put the bucket on one side of the room. On the other side of the room, put buckets with colored/numbered ping pong balls or just have people play at different times so you can keep track of whose ball is whose. How to Play: To play, players must stand on one side of the room and bounce ping pong balls across the room, trying to land one in the Blarney Stone bucket you set up previously. First player to land one successfully in the bucket wins.
#5 – Shamrock Shake
Supplies:
Green tissue box (for each player)Panty hose (for each player)20 ping pong ball per player
Prep: Before the game, empty a green tissue box for each player and tape a pair of panty hose on it so that you can basically tie the tissue box to your waist. How to Play: Players must put 20 green ping pong balls inside of the tissue box then tie the tissue box around their waist. Then as soon as the timer starts, players must shake their hips and do a “shamrock shake” to be the first one to get all of the balls out.
#6 – Catch a Leprechaun
Supplies:
Mini leprechaun figurines (or these Leprechaun porcupine balls – one for each team of twoTwo books (per team)Pot (per team)
Prep: Set one leprechaun and two books on one side of the room and a pot at the other side for the room. How to Play: This game is played in teams of two. Players must bat the leprechaun back and forth across the room using only the books to drop it in the pot. If they drop it on their way to the pot or around the pot as they’re trying to drop it in, they must go back to the beginning and try to catch their leprechaun again. If you’re playing with younger kids, feel free to just let them pick it up and start where they dropped it. First team to successfully land the leprechaun in the pot wins.
#7 – Potato Bowl
Supplies:
PotatoesWater bottles
Prep: Give each player a potato and six water bottles. Players must set up the water bottles in a bowling pin formation (3, 2, 1) on one side of the room. How to Play: Players must bowl the potato across the room to knock all of the water bottles over. Getting them over once isn’t too difficult, so players must knock them over a certain number of times or knock over a total number of pins within the time limit. First player to knock them over a certain amount of times OR player to knock them over the most number of times in a minute wins.
#8 – Four Leaf Clover Hunt
Supplies:
Little Dixie cups – 10 per teamNon-clear liquid of some sort, Lucky Charms, or other St. Patrick’s Day inspired edible item4-leaf clover sticker
Prep: Fill 10 little Dixie cups per team playing with a non-clear liquid of some sort, Lucky Charms cereal, or something else that says “St. Patrick’s Day.” On the bottom of one little Dixie cup (per team, so if you have five teams = 5 cups), put a 4-leaf clover sticker. Don’t put anything on the others. Line all of the cups up in a group on one table before the game. How to Play: Players must pick one cup and eat/drink the contents in it then look at the bottom of the cup to see if they found a 4-leaf clover. If they didn’t, they must continue picking and consuming cup contents until they’ve found one. First player to find a four-leaf clover wins!
#9 – Pot of Gold
Supplies:
TapePotPlastic gold coins (different color per team if possible)
Prep: Tape a large (like 6’x6′) square on the ground. In the middle of the square, place a large pot. How to Play: Players must stand outside of the square and attempt to bounce plastic gold coins to land them in the pot. I recommend using different colored coins for each team playing but if not, just make sure to pay close attention to see whose coin actually lands in the pot. The first person to land three coins in the pot wins. Players have to remain outside of the square at all times or else their bounces don’t count.
#10 – Cabbage Crawl
Supplies:
TapeOne head of cabbage per team
Prep: Tape a long piece of tape across one side of the room and then another one at the other side of the room. On the one side of the room, put one head of cabbage for each team. How to Play: Players must get down on their hands and knees and push their head of cabbage to the other side of the room using just their head, crawling on their hands and knees. The first player to have their cabbage cross the finish line wins. This one also makes a hilarious team relay! Watch the video toward the top of this post to see how funny this one can be!
#11 – Feeling Lucky
Supplies:
Lucky CharmsLarge bowlPlastic spoon
Prep: Fill a large bowl with Lucky Charms and place it on a table. Place a cup full of spoons nearby. How to Play: Players have to take a spoon and race to find one of each of the different Lucky Charms by either just using their mouth or using the spoon in their mouth (my preschooler liked to just use his mouth). First player to find one of each wins. This one is also really fun as a relay! Have one teammate run down and find a Lucky Charm marshmallow then run back with it on their spoon then the next person goes and continues until the team finds all the marshmallows! Watch the video in this post to see how fun this one can be!
#12 – Five Line Limerick
Supplies:
One funny limerick per teamBalloons – one color per team
Prep: Before the game, print out one funny limerick per team and cut each line of the the limerick so it is on a separate line (making sure to keep each limerick together). Place one line of the limerick in a balloon, repeating until you have five balloons with one line of the limerick in each. Do this with each of the limericks, making sure to use a different color balloon for each limerick. So when you’re done, you’ll have five balloons (with limerick lines inside) for each team. How to Play: Players must blow up and pop the balloons containing their limerick lines. Once they’ve popped all five balloons, they must put the limerick in order. First team to put their limerick in order wins.
St. Patrick’s Day Games Prize Ideas
You can’t play games without prizes! Here are some of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day prize ideas although you could totally go more traditional and do something like a gift card to an Irish restaurant or a decorated potato instead!
How to Catch a Leprechaun BookSt. Patrick’s Day SocksChocolate gold coinsPot of Gold chocolate collectionI’m Magical Rainbow TeeSt. Patrick’s Day Rubber Ducks (for the kids)Homemade rainbow soapRainbow unicorn poopRainbow color changing pillow
Other St. Patrick’s Day Games
If none of these work for you, here are some simple St. Patrick’s Day games you can just print and play! Or even better – do these before or after these more active St. Patrick’s Day games!
Lucky Leprechaun Scavenger HuntPot of Gold GamesSt. Patrick’s Day BingoSt. Patrick’s Day Scavenger HuntSt. Patrick’s Day Would You RatherGuess the RainbowSkittles Dice GameAre You Feeling Lucky Dice Game
