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How to throw a St Patrick’s Day Hen Party

If you are planning a hen do or bachelorette party that falls mid-March, or if your bride is always going on about how she’s “1/4 Irish on my mother’s side”, or maybe she’s marrying an Irishmen?  For whatever reason a St Patrick’s Day is always a hell of a party, so here are some tips on how to add that party into her bachelorette.

Note: Like I always say when I am writing about a theme that references an existing, culture, country, or people, please try to do a bit of basic research and learn something about that culture before you adopt the commercialised version for fun. Here’s some easy-to-digest info on Ireland and specifically about St Patricks Day.

St Patricks Hen Party Games*

*any party really

Coin toss into “Pots of gold”

Image courtesy of Play Party Plan

You can either have several pots scattered around worth different amounts of points, or you can have one pot that everyone tries to bounce their coins into from a set distance. You can race the clock or race each other. The only thing that matters, is getting the gold coins into the pot



Pin the Shamrock on the hunk/babe

Is it even a hen without some kind of eye candy for the bride? Wherever her tastes lie, find a semi (or totally) naked poster that you know she will find titillating, get yourself some glittery shamrocks and some blue tac, and play “Pin the shamrock”. The rules are the same as ever, blindfold your players, spin them around and then ask them to place the shamrock over the poster’s “dignity”. The closest shamrock wins!


Top tip: Get each player to mark their shamrock with their initials, so you know in the end who scored what
.

Coin / Marshmallow stack


Simple race against the clock (or against each other) to see who can use a set of chopsticks (or straws) to build the highest tower of either gold chocolate coins or mini Lucky Charms marshmallows in a minute.


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How much in the Jar

This one could be played over the course of a whole weekend. Fill a jar with a ton of loose change (don’t pretend you don’t have a sofa full of it right now) but IMPORTANTLY, keep track of exactly how much is in the jar. Then ask the bride and your other guests to guess how much is in the jar. If you’re kind, you can give whoever wins a nice prize. Or you can literally give the jar to whoever wins and speculate on how the hell they are going to spend it.


 

Giant’s causeway

Basically, the floor is lava with an Irish twist. Split your group into teams and give them 10 mins to build a course that will allow all of them to cross without touching the floor. The team who crosses their “causeway” in the fastest time wins. If you don’t know what the actual Giant’s Causeway is, you can read about it here.

There are lots more fun St Patricks Days games over on one of my favourite blogs, Play Party Plan

St Patricks Décor

Green and gold everything.

This goes without saying really but you want everything from the tableware (technically it’s mint green but too pretty not to include), to the tablecloth, and balloons, to banners, to garlands, all to be in shades of green and gold to celebrate the emerald isle.

“Naughty” Hen Party Banners

To stop your guests from forgetting that this is indeed a hen party, you might want to combine the iconic symbol of St Patricks, the shamrock, with the iconic symbol of the bachelorette… You might not think such a product exists but my friend this is 2022 and this is the internet so I present you this banner.

Shamrock balloons made from heart balloons

This is a great hack for a great St Patrick’s Day decoration. Just get three green love heart balloons and tie them together at the base and voila! You have yourself a shamrock. Top Tip: You’ll need to use double-sided tape on the edges to keep them together or just taped directly onto the wall.

Candle jars with green base

You can either buy some vases of varying heights, dig out/ borrow a selection of various jars and vases or follow this full tutorial on making these hurricane style vases here. Once you have your receptacles, fill them with a green base of your choosing like green lentils, split peas, green sand or even green water. Pop a candle on top and you’ve got yourself some budget-friendly, understated St Patrick’s centrepieces.

This “Irish eyes” sign

 Download the image here, print it and insert it into a cheap Ikea frame for an affordable but classy touch to make your guests smile


Mossy Placemats

This whole table set-up is so pretty tbh and ideal for a classy St Patrick’s themed Hen. Follow the tutorial in the blog for some lovely mossy placemats that add an instant themed touch to any plate.

St Patricks Food and Drink

Gold bars

A childhood favourite of mine, Gold bars are a delicious and low effort way to nod at your theme.


 

Gold Oreos

Still sticking with the gold theme with a bit more effort this time, you can use edible gold paint to paint regular Oreos to look like gold coins!


Top Tip: If you use Golden Oreos you will need a lot fewer paint coats to get the right colour.


Green cocktails

If it’s not gold it’s green, and green drinks are usually pretty delicious in my experience. Check out this list of green St Patrick’s Day cocktails. 

Top Tip: Get some gold edible lustre dust to add to any drink to make it pretty AF and still very on theme.

Traditional Irish meals

Remember what I said at the start about actually learning a little about a culture before you use it as a party theme? A great way to genuinely appreciate Irish culture is to serve your guests some proper Irish grub. Check out these delicious Irish recipes.

Other St Patricks touches

“Pots of gold” favours


While I am sure your guests would very much appreciate literal pots of gold, I’m guessing that’s a bit out of budget. So get some of these mini cauldrons and fill them with either, gold hearts, gold coins or for something different, some herbs that they can take home with them. For full bachelorette novelty effect, get these ready-made “Naughty Pots” with personalised messages.

Personalised Guinness glasses

I am a big fan of personalised glasses as a gift right at the start of a hen party. They are really useful as they help everyone keep track of their drinks over the weekend and they are a lovely memento to take home. But since it’s A St Patrick’s Day theme, you know they must be Guinness glasses. You can either get them engraved or you can order vinyl stickers from almost any shop on Etsy and stick their names on yourself.


Photo props and accessories

If you are a snap-happy hen do crew then you will want to make sure you have St Patricks Day props and accessories to make your photos even more fun

Hen appropriate St Patrick’s confetti

It’s not a bachelorette if there aren’t penises involved* so sprinkle some of this very on – theme confetti around for a subtle but effective way to remind everyone that it’s not just any St Patrick’s day party.

*so long as penises are her thing

 

Hen appropriate St Patrick’s sweet bags

Because telling your friend to go suck a a bag d*cks has never been such a sweet gesture.  

Inflatable leprechaun outfit

Okay, so I have done my best to avoid leprechauns this whole blog because I don’t want to boil down a celebration of someone’s culture into a (sometimes offensive) stereotype. However, if you are going to include the iconic leprechaun, this inflatable suit is the way to do it. Get the bride into this and ask her to perform any number of games or tasks. Better yet, get one for everyone and try to do literally anything without collapsing in a fit of laughter.

However you decide to include St Patrick in your Hen Party celebrations, just be mindful that you are celebrating, not imitating or ridiculing someone else’s culture (unless of course you/your bride is Irish). May the luck of the Irish be with you!  

P.S – As an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission if you purchase via any of the Amazon links in this blog. Don’t worry though, there’s no extra cost to you and I only recommend things I feel are relevant to the topic at hand.

Happy Henning!

Hi! My name is Sherrie. I am a personal Hen Party Researcher and the Fairy Hen Mother behind How to Hen. I started this site because I wanted to create a space where bridesmaids and maids of honour could get inspired and feel confident in their ability to plan a bangin’ bachelorette (hen) party for their bestie.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed or lost on how to create a perfectly personal, unique bachelorette weekend for your bride, then you need the How to Hen Toolkit. it’s the roadmap that guides you through every part of the process and gives you everything you need.

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