Happy St. Patrick's Day! {Picnic in Central Park}

Talk about a last-minute event! We sent out invites the day before, and luckily the wee lasses on E's guest list could all join us after preschool for a quick picnic in Central Park.  I actually loved this because I just did a walk around my apartment and collected things we already had on hand.  We had all the food on-hand too, and all I had to buy were the balloons and the candy for favors.

These girls are at such a fun age, and as we were walking to the park, I told the girls that a leprechaun dropped a box off on our doorstep and it was filled with magical things.  The girls loved every aspect of our little lunch because they thought they came straight from leprechauns just for them... not from some crazy mommy who can't control herself when it comes to events.

One of my favorite parts of our picnic was when I pulled a tiny bottle from the picnic basket filled with glitter- I told them to close their eyes and make a wish while I sprinkled "the luck of the Irish" from the leprechauns.  Their little wishes were so sweet. One was to "ride a pony" another was to "see a princess" and my favorite was "to fly."

And with that, I'll share my no-fail recipe for a successful party or play date:

• a theme (St. Patty's Day, obviously)
• a craft (this time we did 60 second manicures with stickers for hands, and we sprinkled glitter on faces)
• a festive lunch or a snack (pinwheels with turkey, cheese, and spinach wraps + rainbow fruit kabobs + a handful of Lucky Charms)
• a book that follows your theme (This is Ireland) to read while they eat
• a game or activity (feeding the ducks (I cut up bread and put it in glassine bags so they'd each have the same amount and not chuck an entire piece of bread in the water) + green balloons- the best part of the play date!)
• a treat (green cupcakes in gold baking cups)
• a favor (St. Patrick's Day Pot of Rainbow, I hid them and had them find them. Tutorial HERE) 

I recently made a Google Doc with all the birthday parties and play dates we have.  It's great to have a place to keep my thoughts collected (along with Pinterest, of course!), and it's a great place to keep a to-do list, supplies, shopping list, guest list, links to tutorials, menu, schedule, etc.  all in one place.  I'm excited to have it as a resource in the future.