Leprechaun Trap

When I picked Hayden up from school last week she mentioned that they were going to be building a Leprechaun Trap in her class. It brought to mind a totally adorable and creative blog I saw a few years back that was done by I gal I used to go to high school with. Feeling inspired, I decided to look on line to see if there were any other fun ideas we could do at home with Hayden. There were tons (of course) on Pinterest. Chris is a super creative guy and a pro at executing that sort of stuff, so I knew we'd have a stellar end result.

 We spent all day Sunday baking cupcakes and cutting out construction paper shamrocks, pots of gold, and rainbows, getting everything prepped for the trap we were going to set.  It was a really great little family project that we were all able to work on together. We set a trail to the "pot of gold" with gold and green shamrock coins. Hayden really got into it.

Once Hayden was tucked into bed, Chris and I really got to work. I dyed a couple of raw eggs green. Swapped the pink Kool Aid for green and added some green food coloring to the milk. We even dyed our toilet water green. Chris left a trail of Lucky Charms and Shamrocks all over our living room and kitchen floor. He worked tirelessly making the streamer rainbow and demo-ing the trap. We created little clues for Hayden to follow. Starting where the Leprechaun "got away."

First Clue:
The girl who made this trap is quite the inventor,
But she hasn't found me yet, she should try the refrigerator.

Which led her to this:

And the 2nd Clue:
I drank your milk and turned it green,
Now this little Leprechaun needs to pee!!

This led her to the bathroom and her 3rd and final clue:
You're a smart Lass and this chase has been fun,
Once you find the rainbow, your prize will be won!

Behind the rainbow was a green bucket full of little green goodies the Leprechaun left just for her.

She was elated and we were thrilled by her reaction. I headed to work and Chris made her green scrambled eggs for breakfast before taking her to school with a load of cupcakes for her class.

 We both worked really hard to create this memory for her. But Chris, the hardest. I went to bed by 11:30 and he stayed up nearly all night making sure everything was perfect and in it's place. He's a VERY special Man and Father. Hayden and I are both incredibly lucky to have him. Chris and I both agree whole heartedly that seeing Hayden light up in the way she did is worth every ounce of energy it took. She will only be little for a short while. And things like this will cease to be magical in the all too near future. And I want to savor every chance I get to see that "magic" in her eyes.