March 15, 2021

Kim Crawley’s Fun St. Patrick’s Day Party Guide

Tips to enjoy St. Patrick’s Day at home with your household or favorite online community.

St. Patrick’s Day is an annual event to celebrate Irish culture and have a good time at your local bar or pub. Unfortunately, the COVID19 pandemic means that going to your local Irish pub might not be practical this year. But fortunately, thanks to the internet, you can enjoy a St. Patrick’s Day party at home on your big screen TV!

Here are my tips to have a great party at home.

Invite your household

While you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at home, make sure to only have people who live with you in your living room. If you have friends you’d like to join, invite them to connect with you online through Twitch and YouTube events, Slack, or streaming video meetings through Zoom or Google Hangouts.

Bring out the drinks and food!

This pandemic has really had a dreadful impact on bars and restaurants. Since you’re not going to visit your local Irish pub in person, you should try to support them by seeing if they can deliver delicious Irish pub fare to your home through apps like DoorDash, or Uber Eats. A lot of restaurants and bars have started online delivery services so they can operate during the pandemic, so try to give them your business that way.

Quote by Kim Crawley, Cybersecurity expert and author: "Consider buying a MasterCard or Visa prepaid gift card rather than a bank-issued credit card to pay for your food delivery and online streaming tips."

I’m not Irish, but I’d love a vegan Irish Stew or Sheppard’s Pie. Your local Irish pub could deliver your favorites right to your door!

Next comes the drinks. Irish beer such as Guinness is especially popular for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. But you could have people who are below legal drinking age in your home, people who prefer to abstain from alcohol for medical reasons, or people like me who prefer alcohol to taste like soda pop. If anyone like that is at your party, I’ve got a non-alcoholic (otherwise known as a “mocktail”) and alcoholic cocktail recipe you can make in your kitchen to serve at your party. Play bartender for the day!

Kim’s Good Luck Cocktail

Ingredients:

  • Green Apple Koolaid, Lemon Lime Koolaid, or Green Apple or Mint Italian soda syrup, according to what’s available in your area and your personal preferences
  • Club Soda or carbonated water
  • Vodka (for the alcoholic version only)
  • White wine (for the alcoholic version) or white grape juice (for the non-alcoholic “mocktail” version only)
  • Fresh mint and/or a lime slice for garnish (optional)

Directions:

  • Prepare Koolaid or Italian soda according to instructions, substituting plain water with Club Soda or carbonated water.
  • Pour the prepared Koolaid or Italian soda into a Highball or Collins-style glass, filling the glass about halfway. Your glass should be half-empty or half-full depending on your luck!
  • If you’re making a non-alcoholic cocktail (“mocktail”), fill about 20% of the glass with white grape juice. If you’re making an alcoholic cocktail (adults only, and please drink responsibly!), fill 10% of the glass with white wine and another 10% with vodka.
  • Garnish with a sprig of mint, a lime slice, or both for extra luck!

St. Patrick’s Day events on Twitch and YouTube

There’s sure to be plenty of Irish music events on Twitch and YouTube that you can enjoy on your big screen TV at your party. While you enjoy an event, consider tipping your Twitch or YouTuber as a way to thank them for the entertainment. Here are some of my online event suggestions.

Twitch:

  • p4ddymusic is a small channel, but they’re sure to have some great music for you on St. Patrick’s Day!
  • GgPrime will certainly play some traditional Irish music on St. Patrick’s Day as well.
  • If you’d prefer some esoteric music from a pair of Toronto-based goth music Djs, check out prophecy_online’s St. Patrick’s Day stream.

YouTube:

Privacy and safety tips

Now that you have great pub fare at home and some good entertainment for your party, we at Startpage want to make sure you’re protecting your privacy online. Here are my tips:

  • Consider buying a MasterCard or Visa prepaid gift card rather than a bank-issued credit card to pay for your food delivery and online streaming tips. That way if your card data gets exposed in a data breach, the worst that can happen is that you lose $20 rather than expose your sensitive financial data to cyber attackers.
  • Consider using a VPN when you stream online entertainment.
  • Finally, you should sign up for a data breach notification service such as HaveIBeenPwned or Firefox Monitor. If you’re ordering delivery food online, you’ll want to know if your home address gets exposed in a data breach so you can take action and change the password you use with your favorite online food delivery service.
  • Make sure to have fun on St. Patrick’s Day! And if you drink some Guinness beer or an alcoholic Kim’s Good Luck Cocktail, make sure you rest for several hours before you get into the driver’s seat of your car. You should never drink and drive! If you must travel by car soon after drinking, call a taxi instead.

 

Was this article helpful?

Go Private

Make Startpage your
default search engine

Set as default