Leprechaun Elf on the Shelf: Ideas for St Patrick's Day

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Okay, you probably think I am crazy, why would ANYONE want to bring back a LEPRECHAUN Elf on the Shelf?

Chances are, you either love the Elf on the Shelf, or you hate it! There is not much in between. The idea is that a magical elf comes to your house during the month of December and reports back to Santa each night, whether your kids have been good or bad. You can’t touch the elf, or it will lose it’s magic.

Well, for those of you that LOVE the Elf on the Shelf, how fun would it be to bring back the Elf (or a leprechaun friend of the Elf) for 17 days in March, or even ONE day?

For those of you that don’t want to commit to the Elf on the Shelf for 25 days in December, this might be the perfect way for your kids to still enjoy the magic of the Elf, without the huge commitment.

The difference with this one, is that THIS elf, or leprechaun, will be asking the children to do acts of kindness for 17 days. That’s right, you can leave the leprechaun right where he is, and have the kids do all the work. Or, if you WANT to get into it more…feel free to move that leprechaun around and see what kind of shenanigans he can get into.

This post is all about ideas for the leprechaun elf on the shelf.

1. Leprechaun Stays in One Place-17 Acts of Kindness

This is such a simple activity, and you may even help get your house more clean/organized. Your leprechaun will arrive on March 1st, with a pot of chocolate gold coins. Grab your pot HERE or HERE and your coins HERE. Each day, your child(ren) will pick a task to do below, and after they’ve done the good deed, they can pick a chocolate gold coin. If you don’t want to reward your child for doing the good deeds, no problem, you can skip the gold coins, or just have the leprechaun bring those as a fun treat on the last day, St. Patrick’s Day.

Check out this FREE printable with the acts of service, for your leprechaun to leave each day.

1. Clean your room without being asked

2. Help with Dishes without being asked

3. Write someone a nice note

4. Draw a picture for someone else

5. Walk around the house and throw away any trash that you see

6. Call a relative and tell them hi

7. Write a thank you note for the mail carrier

8. Set the table for dinner

9. Gather clothes that don’t fit you anymore to donate

10. Gather toys you don’t play with anymore to donate

11. Gather books you don’t read anymore to donate

12. Read a book to someone

13. Tell someone how much you love them

14. Make someone else’s bed

15. Help make dinner

16. Write a thank you note to your teacher

17. Make a homemade gift for someone

2. Leprechaun Moves-17 Days of Shenanigans

Now, as the leprechaun is getting into different shenanigans, make sure that he is still bringing an act of service for the kids to do each day, using the printable found HERE. Here are some ideas below, with a few extras for you to choose from. It would be WAY too overwhelming to try and do all these ideas, so just pick a few, and keep it simple. The rest of the days, he can sit back with the pot of gold (see above).

1. Turns the milk green

My kids love this. Although, after a day or two, they don’t want to drink the milk anymore, so maybe do this with a half gallon of milk, instead of a full gallon.

2. Makes green pancakes

This is so simple, just add green food coloring. You can also do this to eggs, bacon, orange juice.

3. Over the Rainbow Gelatin Cups (see HERE)

This looks so cute and fun. Might take some time to let them all set, so plan accordingly.

4. Brings green candy

This could be a sucker for each kid. Keep it simple. Head to the store and see what is green. The leprechaun could even put them in the kid’s shoes.

5. Hiding in a potted plant

Leprechauns love 4 leaf clovers, so it would make sense that they want to hang out in the plants.

6. Sitting at the end of a rainbow

Print out a simple rainbow, or color one, and have the leprechaun sitting at the end of it.

7. Turns the toilet water green

Gross, but hilarious. Might take a lot of food coloring.

8. Creating a 4-leaf clover out of glitter (see HERE)

Very messy, but a cute idea. Just have fun cleaning up glitter for weeks.

9. Tape shamrocks to the wall

Grab some green construction paper and start cutting.

10. Bring a box of Lucky Charms

The leprechaun could be eating some cereal, or sorting marshmallows.

11. Bring green silly string

The leprechaun could silly string the kids’ doors, or beds while they sleep.

12. Bring green necklaces

This is a fun tradition, which ensures that the kids will have something green to wear on St. Patrick’s Day. The leprechaun could hang them all over the house.

13. Hide gold coins around the house

The leprechaun could hide gold coins in obvious places where the kids will find them (in shoes, on their pillow, near their toothbrush, etc).

14. Send the kids on a scavenger hunt (see HERE)

My kids LOVE scavenger hunts, so this would be a fun idea.

15. Leaves green footprints on the mirror (with a dry erase marker)

Grab some dry erase markers HERE and make tiny little footprints, a green hat, rainbow, pot of gold, 4-leaf clover, etc.

16. Swap out lightbulbs with green lights

Grab some green light bulbs HERE, and watch the magic happen.

17. Make a rainbow out of streamers (see HERE)

This is such a cute idea, and would be cute to do at your child’s door, or in a hallway. Grab some rainbow streamers HERE.

18. Swap out kid’s shoelaces for green laces

This would be so fun. Grab some green shoe laces HERE.

19. Magic skittles rainbow trick (see HERE)

My kids have done this and LOVED it. It really works, so grab some skittles and watch the magic happen.

20. Check out some more cute ideas from Elf on the Shelf HERE

3. Leprechaun Visits for One Day

This is a simple one, just have your leprechaun elf on the shelf visit for one day, on St. Patrick’s Day. He can bring the pot of gold with chocolate coins, or he can create shenanigans (using some of the ideas from above). He can also have the kids complete as many acts of service as they can in one day.

4. Which Leprechaun to Use?

Check out these cute ideas from Amazon for getting your leprechaun elf on the shelf. There are simple plush dolls, or

Elf on the Shelf has ElfMates you could use. These ElfMates would be fun to bring out at Christmas time, and then have the green one reappear for St Patrick’s Day.

Another option is The Lucky Little Leprechaun which comes with a book that tells the history of Saint Patrick’s day, and explains how to “catch” their own leprechaun. If you want to use an Elf on the Shelf that you already have, grab a cute St Patrick’s Day sweater from Esty, and call it good!

There are so many good reasons to continue on with a leprechaun Elf on the Shelf this March. This leprechaun will teach the kids about kindness and doing acts of service for others, and it’s incredibly simple. It will help them to understand the importance of service, and allow them to feel good about themselves while they are serving others. So what are you waiting for? Let’s serve!