12 Yummy St. Patrick’s Day Snacks for Kids

If you are looking for some festive green treat ideas for kids, look no further. These snacks are great for the classroom, at home, or anywhere St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are taking place.

St Patrick’s Day Snacks

1. St Patrick’s Day Hugs on Pretzels

A picture of St Patrick's Day hugs on pretzels.

Ingredients:

Checkerboard, windowpane, or roundish heart-shaped pretzels
✓ 1 Large Bag Green M&M’s
Hershey’s Hugs chocolates (The green candy shows up much better on the white chocolate hugs)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
  2. Open the bags of pretzels and place them on a parchment or waxed paper-lined cookie sheets in a single layer.
  3. Unwrap Hugs… place one on each pretzel, repeat for an entire cookie sheet.
  4. Place cookie sheets in the preheated oven, bake 4 MINUTES FOR THE SHEET OF pretzels and HUGS. When removed from the oven, place a green M&M in the center of each hug. (You’ll find the Hugs continue to melt after they come out of the oven, so place candy carefully)
  5. Place cookie sheet in the freezer or refrigerator until the chocolate is reset. If this is a gift…wrap either in cellophane bags, a tin or a candy box. (Photo sample by KidActivities)

2. Leprechaun Pudding

Ingredients:

1-ounce box of instant pistachio pudding for every 5 kids
✓ Per child use 1/2 cup of milk
✓ 1 small resealable plastic bag per kid
✓ 1/2 cup measuring cup
✓ spoon

Instructions

Put a tablespoon of pudding mix in a sandwich bag and milk, then close the baggy and have kids shake and squeeze. Eat! Enjoy!

3. Pineapple Pistachio Pudding

A picture of pineapple pistachio pudding.

Ingredients:

✓ 1 large can undrained pineapple chunks (20 oz size)
✓ 1 small box pistachio instant pudding mix
✓ 1-1/2 cups Cool-Whip
✓ Handful of mini-marshmallows
Optional: several broken pecans and/or cherry halves. Green cherries would be nice for St.Patrick’s Day

Instructions

  1. Mix together the undrained pineapple chunks and dry pudding mix.
  2. Stir until the liquid begins to thicken.
  3. Add the Cool-Whip, mini marshmallows, and nuts or cherries. Cool in refrigerator for an hour or two. 
  4. Add a few mini-marshmallows and shredded coconut was added to the top as a garnish.  

4. Pot of Gold Potato Bar

Ingredients:

✓ (1) Baked potato per kid
✓ Sour cream
✓ Green onions
✓ Broccoli florets
✓ Guacamole
✓ Butter
Gold foil wrap
Black cauldron

Instructions

  1. In advance prepare one small, baked potato for each child.
  2. Wrap the potatoes in gold foil or gold foil gift wrap.
  3. Keep them warm in an ice-cooler–till needed.
  4. When served, pile them up in a black plastic cauldron or a bowl…make them “look like a leprechaun’s pot of gold.”
  5. Fill bowls with various “green” toppings. (Green onions, tinted “green” sour cream, broccoli florets, guacamole–don’t forget the butter. Add shredded cheddar if desired!) Eat! Enjoy!

I did this many years ago at summer camp and the kids really liked it! With many programs/classrooms so large now, it could be a good cooking club activity. This would also be something fun to do at home! (Barb)

5. Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cookie Pops

Ingredients:

A picture of easy St Patrick's Day cookie pops.

✓ (20) Vanilla wafer cookies
✓ 1/2 cup peanut butter
✓ (1) 12-ounce bag white chocolate chips
✓ Green and yellow decorator sugar
Green food coloring
✓ Ice cream or lollipop sticks
✓ Wax paper or paper plates

Instructions

  1. Spread peanut butter onto the flat side of the cookies.
  2. Place an ice cream stick into the peanut butter on half the cookies.
  3. Top with another cookie so the stick is sandwiched between the two cookies.
  4. Melt chocolate chips in the microwave, one minute, then in 20-second increments, stirring until smooth.
  5. Before melting, separate the white chips into two bowls. After melting, add a few drops of green food coloring to one of the bowls of white chips to make green chocolate. To the other sprinkle with the green sugar after dipping.
  6. Dip cookie pops in the melted chips, covering completely. Sprinkle with green and yellow sugar and lay or stand on waxed paper or paper plates.
  7. Place in refrigerator to chill. Source: fabulousfoods.com

6. Sweet Shamrock Tortilla Shapes

A picture of sweet shamrock tortilla shapes.

Ingredients:

✓ Flour tortillas
✓ Butter
✓ Brown sugar
✓ Cinnamon
Shamrock shaped cookie cutters
Optional: Parchment paper

Instructions

  1. Using small SHAMROCK shaped cookie cutters cut shapes out of a flour tortilla.
  2. Place on a nonstick cookie sheet (or line with parchment paper) and lightly brush with a little butter.
  3. Lightly sprinkle (you only need a little) with a mixture of 1 part cinnamon and 3 parts brown sugar.
  4. Bake in a moderately hot oven for 10 minutes for a sweet and crispy treat.

KidActivities added ‘Jimmies’ to the top of the shapes towards the end of baking. I wish we had ‘green sprinkles or green sugar to add…but they still were nice.

7. Green in the Center Cake

A picture of a cake with green glaze and green center.

The green in this cake shows off best by using a plain white cake mix–however my family likes pudding pound cake. The following recipe is what I used. When you make this cake–use your favorite white or yellow recipe. It’s the layering of the green that makes the cake special for St. Patrick’s Day!

Ingredients:

✓ 4 eggs
✓ 1 pkg. (2 layer size) yellow cake mix
✓ 1 (3-3/4 or 3-5/8 oz.) pkg. instant lemon pudding
✓ 3/4 c. water
✓ 1/3 c. cooking oil

Instructions

  1. Beat eggs until thick and lemon-colored.
  2. Add cake mix, dry pudding, water, and oil; beat at medium speed 8 minutes.
  3. Pour 1/2 to 3/4 of batter into buttered Bundt pan. Add green food coloring to the remainder of the batter and pour evenly over the first batter in the pan.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees about 40 minutes. (I followed the recommended time on the cake box–however I’ve seen other recipes that say to bake about 50 minutes. ) Bake until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
  5. Cool cake in pan on wire rack about 15 minutes. Invert onto plate. After the cake is completely cooled, frost with glaze.

This cake recipe would also be wonderful on St. Patrick’s Day using Pistachio instant pudding mix. Just mix it all together for a green cake!

8. Green Glaze

Use this for the Green in the Center cake above, or use it on cookies.

A picture of green glaze, perfect for cookies, cakes, bagels, and more.

Ingredients:

✓ (1) can white frosting
Green food coloring

Instructions

  1. Briefly microwave the frosting in a small bowl until it becomes the consistency of a glaze.
  2. Add green food coloring and stir.
  3. With a spoon, drizzle glaze over the cake.
  4. After it sets a bit, drizzle again.

TIP: When frosting or glazing cakes, put small pieces of wax paper around the bottom of the cake. It catches all the drips and drops. When complete, gently pull out the paper beneath the cake. Also–a couple of cake mix companies now sell glaze mix. That would work wonderfully!

9. Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

✓ 3 cups all-purpose flour
✓ 1 tablespoon baking powder
✓ 1/3 cup white sugar
✓ 1 teaspoon salt
✓ 1 teaspoon baking soda
✓ 1 egg, lightly beaten
✓ 2 cups buttermilk
✓ 1/4 cup butter, melted

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9″x5″ inch loaf pan.
  2. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Blend egg and buttermilk together, and add all at once to the flour mixture. Mix just until moistened. Stir in butter. Pour into prepared pan.
  3. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Wrap in foil for several hours, or overnight, for best flavor.

Variation: 1 cup raisins, craisins, citron or dried fruits and a few tablespoons caraway seeds may be added.

10. Store-Bought Green Snack Ideas

 Green food coloring can be added to nearly any food to change the color!

Put some in your kids’ pancake/ waffle batter, in milk for cereal or to drink, butter, mayonnaise/sandwich spreads, scrambled eggs, white cake, and cupcake batter, cream cheese, white frosting, rice Krispy treats, mashed potatoes, etc. (Green Cream Cheese Image by KidActivities.net)

A collection of 25 green party food ideas.

List of Green Snacks from the Store

11. St Patrick’s Day Ice Cream Bar or Ice Cream Social

Ingredients:

✓ Ice cream (Pistachio, Mint Chocolate Chip, Lime Sherbet)
Green M&M’s
Green Gummy Bears
Green Sprinkles
✓ Green Shamrock Cookies
Green Maraschino Cherries
Chocolate Syrup
✓ Whipped Cream

Set up the ingredients in bowls on a buffet table for the kids to create their own sundaes. YUMMY! 🙂

In Summary

Whether your kids are having a pot luck at school or you are a teacher looking to make some green-themed treats, we hope you have found some inspiration from this list. Which one did you end up making? Did the kids absolutely love it? Make sure you check out our kids St Patrick’s Day drinks too!

Other fun St Patrick’s Day Pages

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