27 St Patrick’s Day Party Ideas to Celebrate All Things Irish

St Patrick’s Day is celebrated by tens of thousands of people across the UK each year. It is a fun opportunity to celebrate Irish culture and history — wearing green and drinking Guinness is optional, but encouraged.

While St Paddy’s Day (as it’s affectionately known) officially takes place on 17th March, it is often celebrated on the surrounding days, especially if the actual date doesn’t fall on a weekend. This year St Patrick’s Day takes place on a Monday, meaning lots of celebrations will happen on the Saturday and Sunday before.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a small venue owner looking to bring in new business with a themed party, a community group keen on holding a big street party, or a professional event organiser creating a large-scale Irish cultural event, St Patrick’s Day is full of opportunity. And if you need a hand planning your St Patrick’s Day party, we’ve got lots of ideas.

Read on to get St Patrick’s Day party ideas for adults, unique activities to celebrate Irish culture, and virtual St Patrick’s Day ideas — plus some tips on how to throw a great St Patrick’s Day party wherever you are.

St Patrick’s Day party ideas for adults

Celebrate Irish heritage in your community with these St Patrick’s Day event ideas for grown-ups. 

We’ve given them ratings to indicate how complicated, expensive, and family-friendly these ideas can be. 

How we scored the ideas: An event with a difficulty of one 🍀 is easy to throw together at short notice, while an event with three or more might take months to plan.

In the same way, an event with one 💰 would be cheap to put together — you might even be able to do it with items you already have. On the other hand, if it has five, you may have to spend hundreds of pounds to pull it off. (Worth it, though.) 

Finally, an event with one 🎩 wouldn’t be very family-friendly at all — such as a boozy event for over 18s. Whereas an event with five could be a huge hit with children of all ages.

1. Host a pub crawl

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost:  💰💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩

Invite St Patrick’s Day revellers to join in a pub crawl in your area. Encourage local pubs and bars  to take part, offering drinks deals to attendees.

Tickets can get party-goers into all participating pubs and bars at no charge, perhaps you could negotiate drinks offers, too. If you want to make this a marketing opportunity, you can even offer a t-shirt for participants to wear. Food vouchers to nearby restaurants and giveaways can make your bar crawl even more enticing. 

Just make sure to partner with the local venues to let them know how many people are coming and when. 

Remember to think about hiring a photographer or content creator so you can get plenty of good-quality content for your social accounts to promote your events.

For inspiration, look no further than London’s biggest St Patrick’s Day Bar Crawl of its kind, hosted by London Party Pub Crawl. They’re offering free Guinness and St Paddy’s Day merchandise to the 1000+ crawlers, and have more than 10 participating bars promising to make the event a night to remember. Oh, and they’re running bar crawls on Saturday 15th March and Monday 17th March to really capitalise on this epic celebration. 

2. Make it a day party

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩

Not only will a day party have less competition with St Patrick’s Day events taking place in the evening, but when you start your event earlier, it can carry on longer. 

Hosting a daytime St Patrick’s Day party allows you to offer food and appeal to a wide range of event-goers. You could even tie it into your local St Patrick’s Day parade, so find out what’s happening in your area so you can sync. London’s annual St Patrick’s Day parade is taking place on Sunday 16 March, for example. 

St Patrick’s Day Fest in London, which runs between 2pm and 9pm on Saturday 15th March, and promises to be a celebration that “blends Irish spirit” with live bands and copious amounts of Guinness. The event is organised by Oktoberfest UK who certainly know how to throw a party!

3. Irish comedy night

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩

Make sure your St Patrick’s Day event is full of craic by hosting a comedy night to remember.

Whether you’re a seasoned comedy club host or trying something new in your venue to mark the occasion, St Patrick’s Day can offer an opportunity to bring in new audiences and acts. Here are some tips for organising a great comedy night.

For inspiration, look no further than East London’s Backyard Comedy Club where resident comedian Peter Flannagan has curated the Best In Irish Comedy to celebrate. 

Meanwhile in Edinburgh, The Comedy Cellar’s "The Good, The Bad and The Irish" stand-up gig plays every weekend downstairs at the Canon’s Gait pub with huge success. Is there a way to tweak a regular comedy offering and give it a St Patrick’s Day twist? 

4. Screen an Irish film (or two)

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩

Keep things cultured with a film screening. Guests can buy drinks and snacks — green popcorn, anyone? — and enjoy classic Irish films. Our recommendations for feel-good films are “The Banshees Of Inisherin”, “The Commitments”, “Once”, and “Killing Bono”. For something more historical and thematic, go with “The Wind That Shakes the Barley.”

Instead of popcorn and cinema snacks, consider serving some traditional Irish snacks like Keogh’s crisps.

5. Themed pop-up bar

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩

Celebrate St Patrick’s Day with a themed pop-up bar. Transform any venue or attraction into a St Patrick’s Day party and serve Irish-inspired craft cocktails. 

Consider partnering with local food vendors or restaurants that can offer some Irish fare. Just make sure to incorporate the theme into the party as much as possible. That could mean dyeing food and drinks green, playing Irish music, or even opening up a microphone so people can read their own limericks.

6. Sober adult events

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩

Of course, not all adults-only events have to include alcohol. Incorporating no and low options for attendees is really important and allows you to appeal to more event-goers. 

At Eventbrite, we know the sober curious trend is here to stay and shows no sign of slowing down. Low- and no-alcohol events grew globally by almost three-quarters (73%) on the Eventbrite platform between January and September 2023, compared to the same period in 2022.

Sober Events UK is hosting an alcohol-free party, Sober In Soho, in London to mark St Patrick’s Day. It promises Irish Music, Irish Dancing and disco beats to show you don’t need alcohol to have a good time. 

7. St Patrick’s Day silent disco

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀🍀
Cost:  💰💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩

St Patrick’s Day is an amazing opportunity to host a fun, themed club night. But in 2025, clubbing can be a little different. Enter the St Paddy’s Day silent disco.

Start by setting up multiple stations featuring Irish pop music, Irish rock, and folkloric Irish music so that your dancers have a wide range of sounds from the Emerald Isle. Then, you can pass out headphones at the event space entrance and leave guests in control of their own soundtrack.

From there, simply add in some Irish cocktails and Guinness, and you’ve got a night to remember. You could even turn this idea on its head and schedule it as a morning event — serving fresh Irish tea and smoothies instead of alcohol.

But you can also use your silent disco as a bolt-on activity to complement a wider event like an Irish cultural festival or pub crawl.

8. Irish drag show

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩

For something completely unique to stand-out from other events, why not host a fabulous drag night featuring Irish drag queens?

After all, Ireland’s most well-known drag queen Panti Bliss was the Grand Marshall of the London St Patrick's Day Parade in 2024. Other Irish drag queens of note include Pixie Woo, Candy Warhol, and Davina Devinne.

Drag queen Cherry Bomb will be hosting London’s Drag Bus experience over St Patrick’s Day weekend. This will be a sightseeing open-top bus tour like no other, as larger-than-life tour guide Cherry Bomb tells guests all about Irish history and culture – featuring a very special B*Witched rendition.

St Patrick’s Day party ideas to celebrate Irish culture

St Patrick’s Day isn’t all about green beer and parades. Ireland has a rich and unique culture that lends itself perfectly to party themes and activities — whether it’s celebrating Irish food, dance, music, art, or anything in between.

To inspire you, here are a few of our favourites:

9. Screen the Six Nations Rugby

On Saturday 15th March Ireland will play Italy in the Six Nations Championship – and what better way to celebrate all things Irish on St Patrick’s Day weekend than screening the match?

It’s a simple addition to your event and will make all the difference when drawing in the crowds. The match starts at 2.15pm and will be shown on ITV. And if you’re not screening it, you might end up with a slightly quieter event until the game finishes…

Take a leaf (of a Shamrock, preferably) out of Box Park’s book, who are hosting a Super Saturday event sponsored by Jameson Whiskey, including rugby screening, live music and DJs. Elsewhere, Weir Bar is hosting a Paddy’s Day Party on 15th March with live Irish music, dancing and — of course — the Six Nations. 

10. Céilí dances

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩

Irish dancing isn’t just for professionals. Learning céilí dancing is surprisingly accessible for people with a range of abilities. Hire traditional Irish musicians to accompany the festivities for an authentic touch. And don’t forget to provide some incredible catering experiences to round off the night.

You could even partner with a performer who can teach the dance, like Louise O’Connor, so everyone feels ready to go. If you treat it like a free trial class to get people interested, everyone gets to let loose without a steep cost. That can make this event appropriate for a wide range of audiences and event spaces.

Make sure you cater to your guests, too. The Town and Manor of Hungerford have nailed this, offering Irish whiskey on arrival and a portion of Irish Stew with sodabread. They promise lots of Guinness, too. 

11. Present Irish music

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩

Ireland has produced traditional Irish music and world-class contemporary acts: U2, The Cranberries, The Corrs, Sinead O’Connor, Westlife, Boyzone, Two Door Cinema Club, Snow Patrol, and the list goes on. Host an Irish pop music disco, playing tracks by Irish artists and bands, or stick to the same theme for a karaoke night.

For a live music experience, bring together a lineup of bands specialising in traditional or contemporary Irish music. 

All that singing and dancing will work up attendees’ appetites, so bring in vendors to offer food and drinks with an Irish theme.

12. Whiskey tasting

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩

For an exclusively adult event, hold an Irish whiskey tasting. Curate your own tasting flight of premium Irish whiskeys and introduce your attendees to new favourites. 

North London Whisky Club will offer five Irish whiskeys for tasting, while covering a bit of history, how each drink is made and some background on the Irish whiskey industry. Delicious.

If you’re hosting an event in person, why not hire an Irish fiddler or piper to bring extra atmosphere? Just make sure you pair the whiskeys with traditional Irish food to give your event an extra little bite.

13. Celebrate Irish literature and poetry

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost: 💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩

Celebrate Irish literature and poetry with an online reading or discussion event. The Emerald Isle has been home to some of the world’s most celebrated writers and poets, including James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, and Seamus Heaney. Create a space where participants can dive deep into the works of these literary giants.

You don’t need to book a literary great to celebrate Irish culture. Event organisers are great at thinking outside of the box to bring something unique to their audience. 

The Last Tuesday Society at Viktor Wynd's Museum of Curiosities is hosting an event with a difference. Its “Storytelling Craic Up" will explore a rich mix of Irish storytelling with Giles Abbott, who is “distinguished by his poetic flair for language and his rich speaking voice”. The event listing reads: “expect beautiful, mythic, epic and plain old Tom Foolery!”

For a more interactive experience, encourage attendees to read their favourite Irish poems or passages from Irish novels. Provide some background information about the author and the context of the piece to facilitate a deeper understanding and appreciation. You can invite an Irish literature scholar to provide expert commentary and insight into these works.

14. Celebrate Irish artists

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩🎩

Irish painters, sculptors, and photographers have blazed new paths in their respective fields, including Irish-born painter Francis Bacon, photographer Michael Craig-Martin, and cubist painter Louis Le Brocquy. 

Offer a tour that focuses on leading Irish artists at a local museum, or visit an online collection and see the world in a new way. Find sponsors for your art exhibition to make the event a success.

For something a little more hands-on, try a Celtic calligraphy class & shamrock art workshop like Sands End Arts & Community Centre. Here are some top organiser tips for hosting a successful workshop.

15. Stage a show with professional Irish dancers

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost:  💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩🎩

Host a dance recital featuring céilí dance demonstrations by traditional Irish dancers. Hiring Irish musicians to accompany the festivities will take your event to the next level.

This is the perfect opportunity to collaborate with local dance troupes. You could even take things to the next level and host a competition among professionals to add a bit of edge to your St Paddy’s Day celebration.

16. Learn some Irish

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost:  💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩

The Irish language has roots that are lost in the mists of time but can be dated back to at least the 3rd or 4th century. It’s related to the Celtic languages of the ancient Gauls, as well as to modern-day Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, and Breton. 

Introduce language lovers to the unique sounds and spellings of this venerable tongue. You might be surprised by how many Irish language academics would be open to sharing their knowledge online.

While there may not be many native speakers where you’re hosting your event, you can bring them in virtually to give your attendees the best possible experience. You could even focus the class on a theme, such as what people might say on St Patrick’s Day.

Family-friendly St Patrick’s Day party ideas

If you’re keen to host a family-friendly event, St Patrick’s Day presents a huge array of opportunities. It’s the perfect excuse to set up some craft stations, music workshops, and children’s activities to ensure that your event is appropriate for all ages.

Check out these family-friendly party ideas to get the creative juices flowing:

17. Set up green decorations and craft stations

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩🎩

For a family-friendly event, organise a St Patrick’s Day crafting workshop. This is the perfect way to inject something special into your event.

If you’re looking for ideas for adults to get involved, you could have attendees create shamrock wreaths or St Patrick’s Day hats. For children, you could help them create sock puppets themed around the day.

Hugh Lane gallery is hosting a Scampering Leprechauns workshop for 11-13 year olds, where they can make kinetic, electronic artworks using engineering and creativity. 

To make the day even more special, provide green snacks and beverages. Green food coloring is an easy way to add a festive touch to snacks. You can even make them related to the crafts they’re making, such as hat-shaped cookies and even a purple shamrock salad!

18. Hold a biscuit-decorating class 

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩

This is a fun activity to stage either in person or virtually. Bake Irish-inspired biscuits shaped like shamrocks and tinged with green food colouring, pint glasses, and rainbows. 

For an in-person class, arrange tables around your event space to ensure everybody’s got enough space to get creative.

If you’re going for a virtual or hybrid event, participants can pick up their biscuits before the event. Then, they’ll gather virtually to decorate Shamrock biscuits together. During the online session, everyone can learn how to bring the treats to life with colorful royal icing.

To make it even more special, you can forgo the shapes and make the biscuits themed with traditional Irish recipes or unique takes like using mint extract. Teach your participants about the history of the food, and let them decorate them with a modern twist! 

19. St Patrick’s Day treasure hunt

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩🎩

Adding a St Patrick’s Day-themed treasure hunt to your event is a great marketing idea. Give teams a list of green or Irish-themed items to take a photo of or bring back for the judges.

Teams receive points for each item found. Add more excitement and intrigue by creating clues on rainbow cards and having participants find a “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow. Make it challenging enough to keep attendees’ attention but easy enough for everyone to enjoy the fun.

Check out Treasure Hunt Tours, which hosts treasure hunts across the UK that double up as city tours. Participants follow a treasure map, search for clues and learn interesting facts about the area as they go. Why not give yours a St Patrick’s Day twist by incorporating Irish cuisine, history and culture? 

20. 5k or 10k St Paddy’s fun run

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩🎩

Get active this year with St Patrick’s Day events focused on fitness. A 5k or 10k can serve as a celebratory fundraiser and are super family-friendly, whether little ones cheer on the adults or get involved in the run themselves.

To prove just how popular these events can be, London’s annual St Patrick’s Day 5k is aiming for a world record attempt and has seen many famous Irish stars and influencers on the starting line since it began five years ago. In keeping with the Irish spirit, the run ends at a pub to allow runners to watch the Six Nations. 

St Patrick’s Day activities for work

As much as we’d all like to drop what we’re doing every March 17, it’s going to fall on a weekday for the next few years. Bearing that in mind, you might end up getting stuck at work on St Paddy’s Day — but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun!

Go green at work with these office-friendly St Patrick’s Day party ideas:

21. St Patrick’s Day quiz

Complexity: 🍀
Cost: 💰
Team engagement: 🤝‍🤝‍🤝‍🤝‍

Encourage everybody to put their tools down and take a break for an Irish-themed trivia session. This is easy to set up and organise, and it can be done in person in an office environment or remotely if people are working from home.

You’ve just got to dream up lots of questions about Ireland and Irish pop culture. To kick your trivia session up a notch, organise the office into teams and offer up an Irish-themed price for the winning team.

Make sure you swot up on your St Patrick’s Day and Irish history and culture while writing the quiz.

Want to use your St Paddy’s Day work event to do a little good? Turn it into a fundraiser and donate to a worthy cause.  

22. Irish cooking class

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰💰
Team engagement: 🧑‍🤝‍🧑🧑‍🤝‍🧑

With an Irish cooking class or dinner, attendees can learn a new skill and try something delicious. They can also learn how to prepare and serve classic dishes such as soda bread, colcannon, or traditional beef stew. If baking is more your thing, host an Irish scone-making class where participants can make their own sweet treats.

Irish cuisine offers a wide range of flavours and ingredients, so mix it up with adventurous dishes like black pudding and crubeens or showcase how to make a cheese such as Irish cheddar.

Just make sure you leave time for them to enjoy their creations at the end. You can put on Irish music and tell stories about the Emerald Isle as you wait for things to cook or cool. 

Virtual St Patrick’s Day ideas

Life is busy, and we can’t always get together as often as we’d like. That’s why a virtual St Patrick’s Day event is the perfect solution if you want to connect with lots of busy people to celebrate Irish culture.

Here are a few of our favourite online event ideas to get people in the spirit:

23. A virtual 5K race 

Complexity: 🍀🍀
Cost: 💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩🎩

Unlike an in-person running event, attendees from all around the world can participate and move to their own fitness abilities without the pressure of in-person competition. Plus, you also have the scope for more participants.

24. Virtual Irish whiskey masterclass

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost:  💰💰💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩

Host a virtual Irish whiskey tasting by sending attendees samples in advance so everyone can taste them together during a video call. Alternatively, provide free access but ask attendees to purchase their own bottle of the brand you’re featuring so that everyone enjoys the experience together. 

When Whisky Gourmet does their virtual tastings, they even take time to teach guests about the whiskey-making process so that attendees develop a holistic knowledge of Irish whiskey. 

This provides them with the exciting quality of an in-person experience, keeping attendees fully engaged in the virtual event, all from the comfort of their homes. There are many ways to make a virtual event stand out, find inspiration here.

25. Host a virtual tour

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost:  💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩🎩

You don’t have to visit Ireland to learn more about the country on St Patrick’s Day. Host a virtual tour of a museum or art gallery in Ireland. Or, partner with a local tour guide who can share videos and images of notable sites and landmarks virtually for your attendees.

Here’s an idea: When ThingsToDoDC hosted a virtual tour of Northern Ireland, all attendees received a recording of their experience. That meant that people who couldn’t see it live could replay it on their own time, and the ones who did attend live got something to remember it all with.

26. Create an online kids’ class

Complexity: 🍀🍀🍀
Cost:  💰💰
Family-friendliness: 🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩

Let kids learn about Irish history, culture, art, or music by hosting a class online. Make the class interactive to engage young attendees by playing games or doing crafts together. 

Make sure to have a good variety of things to do in your class. Singing, learning about history, solving puzzles, and learning vocabulary — or even some Irish — could all be great ways to make your class stand out.

How do you throw a good St Patrick’s Day party?

Whether you want to take to the streets, venture into a local pub or bar, or rent a venue, a party is a great way to celebrate Irish culture. 

When Tinna L. hosts St Patrick’s Day parties, they make sure to include the attendees in the entertainment, even turning it into a singles’ event with stickers that match attendees’ interests so they can easily find their match. 

Lean into the theme with St Patrick’s Day decorations, as well as:

• Serving Irish food and drink: There are loads of Irish dishes like Irish stew and boxty to choose from — but you can also make a big impression with basic party food, green beer, and chocolate gold coins.
• Hiring an Irish band to play traditional and contemporary Irish music: For classical Irish, think folk. But for a more modern take, try amazing music like Snow Patrol, Westlife, or The Wanted.
• Embrace the theme: Encouraging attendees to wear an Irish-inspired costume and offering an award for the best-dressed. 
• Running a Shamrock bingo game: Make sure to include Irish images like the Irish flag or Irish countryside scenes to mark off when called out.
• Decor is your friend: Use “Pots of Gold” for table centerpieces along with pictures of shamrocks and leprechauns. Make sure to use plenty of gold glitter on top of your table runner, and it’s worth using a rainbow theme to guide your decorating.

This can all get expensive quickly, so make sure to use an event budget template.

Bonus: St Patrick’s Day themes and origins

St Patrick’s Day was predominantly a religious celebration until 1903 when it was announced as Ireland’s national holiday. Festive celebrations took hold in Ireland and beyond. 

These days, the religious aspects of the day often take a backseat to public celebrations, parades, and festivals. Across the Irish Sea on the Emerald Isle itself, Dublin hosts its multi-day St Patrick’s Day festival with four days of traditional performances and rabble-rousing in Temple Bar.

Aside from the parades, what are some traditions of St Patrick’s Day? 

Nearly 700 iconic sites across 66 countries turn green every year to participate in Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening Initiative. It started in 2010 to encourage landmarks worldwide to illuminate in green for St Patrick’s Day. 

The Sydney Opera House and the Sky Tower in Auckland were the first to light up in honor of ancient Hibernia’s patron saint. In the UK, The London Eye, Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, St Bede's College in Manchester and Clifford's Tower in York have all turned green to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in previous years. 

How to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in your area

St Patrick's Day has long been celebrated in the UK by the Irish diaspora, with the earliest reported parades taking place in Birmingham and London in the 1950s. 

Birmingham hosts the largest parade in the UK, which has been known to attract up to 80,000 people along the two-mile parade. It is believed to be the third largest globally, after Dublin and New York.

London hosts another large St Patrick’s Day parade in the UK, with more than 50,000 people attending the parade in 2024. Manchester hosts a two-week Irish festival in the lead up to St Patrick's Day. 

But the celebrations don’t stop there. There are amazing St Patrick’s Day parties and activities happening all over the UK — and if you need a hand tracking them down, we’ve got you covered. 

Eventbrite lets you search for the biggest and best Irish-themed events happening in your town, county, or state, so why not have a look?

If you’re a business looking for a way to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, incorporate event ideas that celebrate culture.

Sláinte! Now you know how to celebrate St Patrick’s Day

St Patrick’s Day is about celebrating Irish history and culture in your community, and you can do so in many creative ways. Consider what types of events appeal to your target audience, and offer a celebration this St Patrick’s Day.

When you’re ready to plan and promote your event, it’ll help you use the number one search engine for people looking for events: Eventbrite. If you’re hosting an online event, you can integrate with Eventbrite’s virtual events platform, and if it’s in-person, you can advertise directly to people in your area looking for an event just like yours.