St. Patrick's Day Decorations Decorating Party Ideas

As just about everyone knows, St. Patrick's Day is a holiday celebrated originally in Ireland, but has gained universal recognition. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. There are many myths and legends about St. Patrick, but unfortunately it is difficult to glean what is fact and what is imagination and embellishment in these stories. Most scholars today have faith in these facts about St. Patrick: 1) when he was sixteen, a band of pirates stole him away from the British Isles and sold him into slavery in Ireland; where he escaped after six years and fled back to the British Isles, 2) he became a priest because of a dream he had about the Irish people calling him to bring them to Christianity, and 3) while bringing the "good word" to the Irish people, he was thwarted by the local pagan priests.

We all know how this story ends, don't we? St. Patrick converted the Irish so we, hundreds of years later, can celebrate his feast day by drinking green beer, hosting large raucous parades, and making great St. Patrick's Day luminaries for decorations. If you are not sure what a luminary is, Wikipedia says it is a candle lantern usually made with a votive cup inside a paper bag full of sand and is used to line a driveway or sidewalk.

The luminaries being talked about in this article are going to be made from glass beer mugs and can be placed anywhere inside or outside.

Pre-planning

In order to know what you need to gather together to make your St Patrick's Day luminaries, you need to determine where you are going to place them and how many you will need. If you are going to line a sidewalk or driveway, you will need more than if you are going to place them on your snack or dinner table. If you are going to place them around your home for mood lighting, you may need to buy more than if your plan is to use them as a centerpiece. The number and location of your luminaries is completely up to you and your budget.

Materials

To make your luminaries you will need the following supplies: glass beer mugs, votive candles, green craft sand, green and/or white tissue paper, tape, scissors, a long wand lighter, and optional decorating items such as - ribbon, beads, faux jewels , sequins etc.

Where to Purchase Materials

Taking the concept of "Green" beyond the Irish green for the holiday, you can recycle the glass beer mugs by purchasing them at second hand or thrift stores such as Goodwill and Salvation Army. These types of stores often have tissue paper, scissors and votive candles as well. If you don't have any of these stores in your area, typically these materials are reasonably priced in discount stores like Dollar Tree and Dollar General.

Making Your Luminaries

Once you have all of your materials gathered, it is time to start making luminaries. This article is going to describe three different kinds of luminaries you can make ranging from easy, to a little more work, to the most work. Take your pick.

Easy Luminaries - Fill the bottom of your glass beer mugs with craft sand (about 2" of sand), place one of your votive candles in the sand, use your long wand lighter to light the candle, and voila' you have luminaries.

A Little More Work Luminaries - Cut your green/and or white tissue paper so it is the right size to encircle or wrap around each of your beer mugs. Wrap the tissue paper around your luminaries and use tape to attach the tissue paper around each mug. Pour about 2" of craft sand (or any kind of sand or pea-rock because the tissue paper covers it up and you can't see it) into the bottom of the beer mugs. Add a votive to each mug and once again, you have great luminaries.

The Most Work Luminaries - Follow the same steps as described in the "A Little More Work" process, BUT before you attach the tissue paper to the beer mugs, draw 2 or 3 small shamrock shapes on the tissue paper and cut them out. These cut-outs will let more light shine from your luminaries and just all in all be pretty darn special. When you have your shamrocks cut-out follow the rest of the steps outlined in the - "A Little More Work". After you have finished all of the steps, you can add a little more flair to your beer mug luminaries by tying a ribbon around them. In fact, you can get very creative with the finishing touches. The sky is the limit.

When you are finished making your luminaries, all you need to do is sit back, drink a little green beer, and enjoy the light show.