St Patrick's Day - The Lucky Family Box

Are you feeling lucky? Well then, let's tackle a holiday that is coming up.... St Patrick's Day! One of the great opportunities you have for making each day special in your own family is in how you choose to celebrate.  Your children don't have to be brand new babies to start a family tradition! Creating traditions now will stick with your loved ones forever. We start new traditions all of the time in our home and my children are currently 11, 8 and 2. You can celebrate the famous March holiday by going all out with explaining Irish history, turning your foods green and wearing green clothes. Or you can pick and choose what works best for your family or go with a simple celebration that is just for fun. No matter what you choose to do, the point is that simple celebrations at home create valuable moments of quality family time and memories.
One of our favorite St Patrick's Day traditions is what we call The Lucky Larkey Box. It is a simple FREE activity that any family can do. For us, the Lucky Larkey Box represents the special things/moments/aspects of our lives that we feel lucky about. It is another way of showing and teaching gratitude.

Prep work/Gathering Materials: (This will take less than 5 minutes of your time, assuming you know where these items are). Gather the following items: any size shoe box/photo box/any box will do. Grab your glue, scissors, paints or markers, and 8 pieces of green construction paper. Most families with school-age children will have these supplies in their home so it won't require shopping time or money spent. If you do need green paper, glue, etc, run over to your nearest Dollar Store or Walmart and grab some. Once you have these items at your table, call your family in to let the celebration begin!

Quality Family Time: (this could take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour or two depending on your family).  Now that you have your family gathered at the table, you'll want to explain that you're hosting a fun, creative tradition for your St Patrick's Day family Celebration. Let them know this activity, the creative portion, is actually part of the celebrating. A celebration doesn't begin once all the streamers are in the place and the food is out on the table. A celebration begins even in just dreaming up the concept of a reason to celebrate and creating the display like a Lucky Family Box.
There are 5 sections of the box that you'll be decorating (the 4 sides and top of the box). Mom or Dad will cut the pieces of green paper to fit each of those areas.This doesn't have to be perfect. Just freehand that cut with the scissors and voila, you're ready to decorate! Then, give each member of the family one of those papers to decorate. They could put on stickers, draw gold coins, a pot of gold, leprachauns, paint it or anything their wonderfully creative minds can come up with. For the person who is decorating the paper that will go on top of the box, you can use markers or any kind of paint to write "The Lucky ..... Family" or something similiar. Mom or Dad will also need to cut a slit on the top of box and on the paper that is being glued to the top of the box to put our Lucky Slips in later. Once each person finishes decorating their side, it can be glued onto the box and you are done! You have created your own Lucky Family Box.

Now, you'll take 2-3 more pieces of green paper (or any color you'd like) and cut them into little strips or squares. These slips will be for each family member to share what they feel lucky about in their life. We call them the Lucky Slips.
There are several different ways to enjoy The Lucky Family Box.
1) You can create this box on St Patrick's Day and all sit around the table and share what each of you feels lucky to have, be, or do in their life. Once you've shared it, you can slip the paper into the box. Make sure to display your box somewhere that your family can be reminded of their creativity and all the wonderful things they are lucky for!
2) You  can create the box at the beginning of March. Each person will write what they feel lucky for on the slips and put them into the box each day leading up to St Patrick's Day. On St Patricks Day, your family can open the box and go around the table with each person reading one strip and the rest of the family trying to guess who felt lucky for that. It's a great after-dinner activity and sends your kids off to bed with feelings of being loved and grateful.
3) You can create a different box year after year or keep your first one to bring out each year and it can become a treasured family heirloom. We enjoy keeping the previous years slips in the box so we can open it the following year and see all the stuff we were grateful for then. Then, I'll put those papers into a manilla envelope, write the year on the front of it and store it away in a file drawer or family memories bin in the garage. You do not have to keep these though. You can throw out the box and slips each year and do this wonderful activity fresh every St Patty's Day! Make It Happen for your family however it works best!

Make It Happen Tip: If you wanted to take your celebration up a notch while still keeping it cheap and simple, you can go to your local dollar store and buy a green table cover, a pack of green cups and plates. That costs only $3 and will make your party extra exciting for the kids! Whatever other trinkets you may find there (like Shamrock Headbands, 4 leaf clover necklaces, funny green clover glasses, or a little pots of gold to put your coins in) are just icing on the cake!!

 

Congratulations! You MADE IT HAPPEN!