17 St. Patrick’s Day Care Package Ideas

St. Patrick’s Day has always been a favorite holiday of mine. (Which is probably strange for a girl who has absolutely 0% Irish heritage in her DNA.) When I was in high school, my marching band actually marched in the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day. We marched in the rain. Then we toured the country and saw some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen in my life. I definitely fell in love with the Emerald Isle. 15 years later, I had the chance to spend two more days in Dublin as an adult. It. Was. Amazing.

Sending St. Patrick’s Day care packages can be a little tough, especially if your loved one is stationed in a dry country where the posting of alcohol isn’t just frowned on, it is banned. There are work-arounds, of course, but if you ask me, don’t do anything that would get your service member in trouble. It’s not fair to them and it certainly isn’t a good look for you, either.

I’ve pulled together a bunch of top-notch resources to help you plan fantastic St. Patrick’s Day care package for your loved one:

Care Packages:

• (Root) Beer Pong – I sent this care package to John when he was deployed to Afghanistan. Complete with cheesy puns, a six pack of root beer, and red solo cups, it was fun to put together and send. It’s also the first care package I created where I used a plastic table cloth as the liner for the box. (And it worked! You can see more about it when you click the link.)
• Kiss Me
• Irish You Were Here 
• Green Care Package 
• St. Patty’s Day 
• Another St. Patty’s Day 
• Mason Jar Package 
• Irish Package 
• Lucky to Have You 
• Plaid Package 
• Rainbow 
• A Toast 
• I’m So Lucky 
• You ShamROCK My World 
• Lucky to Have You 
• Kiss Me, I Love You 
• Four Leaf Clovers 

Gifts & Recipes

Okay, you’ve got your care package theme. Now to fill it! Here are a bunch of lovely gift ideas and recipes that you can make up and throw in the box. If you’ve got kids, you can include them in creating a bunch of these, especially the treat bags. (You might have to keep a few treat bags back for them… and for yourself, though!)

• I’m Lucky to Have You Printable
• St. Patrick’s Day Puns 
• Beer Labelizer 
• Beer/Soda Label Printable 
• Fake Scratch-Off Lotto Tickets DIY 
• Felt 4 Leaf Clover DIY
• Rainbow Treat Bags
• Pot of Gold Rainbow Treat Bags 
• Shamrock Pretzel Bites 
• Candy “Beer” Mug 
• Rainbow Card DIY 
• Paint Chip Shamrock Cards DIY 
• Bags O’ Gold DIY 
• St. Patty’s Day Candy Popper DIY 
• Lucky Charm Treats Recipe 
• Rainbow Snack Bags 
• We Don’t Need Luck, We Have Love Printable 
• Guinness Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe 
• Candy Wrappers and Gift Display Printable 
• Pill Box Rainbows DIY 
• Leprechaun Loot 
• Shamrock-Shaped Rice Krispie Treats 

While St. Patrick’s Day does not have the same amount of parcel and mail traffic that other holidays like Christmas or Valentine’s Day do, you’ll still want to get your package to the mail at least three-to-four weeks before the holiday if you’re shipping overseas. Of course, if you’ve sent other packages and know approximate mailing times, that helps too. After all, post office shipping guidelines are just that–guidelines. They can be faster or slower depending on where your loved one is deployed, what time of the year it is, and if there are any international incidents that occur.

Looking For More Care Package Ideas? Try These:

• 40 Ways to Save Money on Care Packages
• The Gigantic List of Free Care Packages for Deployed Service Members
• Here’s What Troops Really Want in a Care Package