Luck under Pressure

Generally speaking, we don't make a big deal out of St. Patrick's Day. We have a few decorations that get put out at the beginning of the month. Most of the family will wear something green on St. Patrick's Day. Occasionally we do a craft or make a special treat, but nothing has become a tradition for us when it comes to March 17th.

So, you can imagine my surprise when one excited little girl clambered into my bed yesterday morning, inquiring whether or not the leprechauns had come. Huh? I didn't know this was something I needed to make happen. I've got the Santa act down pat (except for that one time) and I am becoming a pro at finding fun (not naughty!) new things for our Elf on the Shelf, Coconut E. Butterfly to do. The Easter Bunny always visits our home each year. Our newest special friend, the Tooth Fairy has even put in a couple of appearances.

But leprechauns? They're not really in my repertoire -- although I did make rainbow cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day a couple years back because Mia kept asking about leprechauns and wondering when they were going to bring her some gold. At least then she had given me some advance notice so I could come up with a plan! This time, she gave me no warning that she was expecting leprechauns. She simply believed that they would show up and cause mischief at our house because they had done that last year in her kindergarten classroom.

Well, one thing was for certain. There were not going to be any shenanigans! If some leprechauns did happen to come to our house, they were not going to make any big messes for me to clean up. (Remember, Coco doesn't do naughty things because that sets a bad example.) Why would I make my life unnecessarily harder?

I thought about this off and on throughout the day. I alternated feeling guilty for not making a bigger deal out of St. Patrick's Day and feeling like I shouldn't have to make a big deal of it and that maybe it was okay to let it slide because if I did make a big deal, then it would become an expectation to always make a big deal. (See, being a mom is so hard! There's always something to feel guilty about and blow completely out of proportion.)

At the end of the day (Think 5 minutes before we walked down to the bus stop!) guilt won out. Logan was busy eating a snack, so I grabbed the green paint and ducked into the bathroom where I dashed off two little "leprechaun foot prints," using my fist and finger tip. It didn't seem like quite enough, but I was not about to make a whole bunch of foot prints. I didn't have the time, and it would have violated my no-BIG-mess/no-shenanigans policy.

Then, I realized I had a couple small items set aside... that were probably meant for Easter baskets, but I'll deal with that later. Next to the leprechaun prints, I quickly set an Angelina Ballerina Uno game (from a garage sale) and a Lightning McQueen pencil pouch (clearance find). All that was left to do was wait for a lucky little lass and a lucky little lad to discover what the leprechaun left for them. And, speaking of luck, I was lucky that I was the only one who noticed the green paint on the cuff of my sweatshirt!

{Quick, simple, and cheap solution to an unusual problem.}