Actually, there is more to St. Patrick’s Day than the color green, although you may not be able to tell it from a cursory look around you. Since people expect to see rainbows during the holiday, because of the leprechaun’s pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow, you can use any color for desserts. These ideas of St. Patrick’s Day desserts may help you find desserts everyone will love without fear of their teeth turning green!

Colored gelatin can make a great St. Patrick’s Day dessert. Create a gelatin rainbow in a bowl. Make several flavors and colors of gelatin, then cut them up into small squares. Place them in a glass bowl so their colors can be seen and top the dessert with whipped cream. Children will love this idea.

Cupcakes are normally a hit for dessert. Make regular cupcakes but add some St. Patrick’s Day fun. Stir in candy shamrocks and bake. Frost with orange or yellow frosting. You can also make shamrock-shaped cupcakes by placing small balls of aluminum foil between the side of the baking dish and baking cup before pouring batter into the cup. When the cupcakes are finished, they will come out with the shape of a shamrock if you placed the aluminum balls correctly.

Nearly everyone loves home-made cookies. Find cookie cutters in the shape of shamrocks, leprechaun hats, pots of gold, Celtic crosses, or any other Irish icon. Let the children join the fun making the cookies and then decorating them. You can also make cookies and then fill them with green icing.

Adults often have a sweet tooth, too, so why not try this Toffee Shortbread cookie bar? You’ll need the following ingredients for the shortbread:

* 3/4 cup softened butter
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 2 cups all-purpose flour

For the toffee, you’ll need:

* 1/2 cup butter
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
* 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the topping, you’ll need the following:

* 1 6-ounce bag of chocolate chips
* Chopped nuts (optional)

Begin with the shortbread by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl. Stir in the flour until it is mixed well and then press that into a 9-inch square pan. Bake this for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Allow the cookie to cool.

For the toffee, melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining ingredients except vanilla and bring this to a boil. Continue cooking this for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, to ensure the mixture doesn’t burn. Remove from the heat and then add the vanilla. Pour the toffee mixture over the cookie which is still in the pan. Allow this to cool completely.

The topping is made by melting the chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler. Stir the chocolate until smooth, then add chopped nuts if desired, and pour it over the cooled toffee and cookie.

These are but a few St. Patrick’s Day dessert ideas you can choose from. If your family enjoys a particular dessert but you don’t consider it Irish enough, add green food coloring and it’ll work just fine!

Obviously, you’ll want to set aside St. Patrick’s Day for your party, if possible. If March 17 is on a weekday, you may want to have your party either the Saturday before or after so as many people as possible can attend. If you make the party during the evening, you may want to celebrate on the exact day.

Celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day began as early as 1737 in the United States; the first parade was celebrated in 1762 in New York City. Since that time, those of Irish descent and non-Irish descent have celebrated the holiday in a variety of ways. Some cities, such as Chicago, Illinois and Savannah, Georgia, dye their rivers green in honor of the day.

Why is St. Patrick’s Day celebrated March 17 each year rather than another day? It is said that the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, died on this date in either 460 or 493 A.D. Although not much is known about the life of St. Patrick and he has not been officially canonized, he is thought of as being very important for Roman Catholics the world over. You don’t have to be Irish or Roman Catholic to celebrate, however.

Maybe you can’t travel to Ireland to celebrate St. Paddy’s day, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some of the things they enjoy there. Make a Blarney Stone out of papier-mâché or Styrofoam; finding a large rock would also work. Since those able to kiss the Blarney Stone are supposedly given the gift of eloquent speech, you may want to see if that legend is true.

Create your own pot o’ gold filled with chocolate covered in golden foil. Have a child dress up as a leprechaun and guard the pot. Suggest they ask people wanting candy to sing a verse of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” “Danny Boy,” or another Irish song.

Decorate your home with shamrocks, rainbows, gold or orange and green flags. Prepare St. Patrick’s Day games or activities for children to enjoy while the grown-ups chat. Plan to have Irish music playing in the background to help with the ambiance.

Of course, you’ll want to offer up Irish or at least green cuisine. This could be as simple as using food coloring to dye various dishes such as cupcakes with green icing, green grapes, or chips with guacamole. You could actually prepare corned beef and cabbage, Irish stew, or Shepherd’s Pie. Offer green-dyed beverages as well.

There are so many things you can do when trying to come up with St. Patrick’s Day party ideas. You can use some of the ideas above, but you can also look on the internet to come up with others. The thing you want to remember is make the party fun for all and keep those Irish eyes smiling until next year’s party.