Make this St. Patrick’s Day special for your loved ones by sprinkling their day with little notes of luck and inspiration! Special coins are hidden in secret locations where they will be discovered throughout the day. It takes a tiny bit of preparation, but the shouts of surprise when someone finds a secret present from the leprechauns are well worth it!
Age
School-age, Tweens, Teens, Adults, SeniorsNumber of Players
1, 2, 3 to 4Prep Time
20 minutes or moreTime Length
Indefinite (as long as you want!)Difficulty
Attention, please! (a few rules to follow)Indoor/Outdoor
EitherSpace Needed
Small (a clearable open space the size of a 1-car garage), Medium (a clearable open space the size of a 2-car garage), Large (gym, outdoor field, reception hall)Noise Level
QuietMess Factor
Dustpan, pleaseSupplies
Setup
1. If you like, use our pre-worded coins, or print up our blank coins and write fun things like
“I love you,” “You’re special,” “Good luck with your test,” “I believe in you,” etc., on each coin with a felt-tip pen.
2. Cut out the number of coins you wish to hide.
3. If you like, you can use a glue dot to attach a real or candy coin to the back of each cut out coin.
4. Print out our explanation “poem” (or write your own that explains the premise of this coin hunt), and adhere the first coin to the card.
How to Play
1. The night before St. Patrick’s Day, hide all of the coins in various locations where you know your loved ones will find them. It’s great if you can hide them in places you know they will find them at different times throughout the day. For example...
A. Place the explanation note with the first coin next to the person’s bed, where they are bound to see it when they first wake up.
B. In the bathroom by the toothpaste (or on the mirror)
C. In the sock drawer
D. Between two towels in the bathroom
E. At the breakfast table
F. In their backpack or pencil case
G. In their lunchbox
H. Between the pages of a book you know they will use that day.
I. In a drawer at their desk
J. In the shoes they always wear
K. Attached to their homework.
You will need to know the places they go during the day, and then hide the coins accordingly. Do they set the table every night for dinner? Then hide one in the cutlery drawer! Do they feed the dog? Place it in the pantry with the dog food. Do they practice an instrument each day? Put one in the case or on the music stand. The more places that are personal places, the better!
2. Enjoy the results of your hard elfin work.
Tips
1. It doesn’t hurt to keep a list of the number of coins hidden, and the places you have hidden them... although it’s also fun to find those missing coins at later dates. Sometimes they turn up weeks later, which is always a delight. (If you’re using candy coins, you should probably keep track of them, though!)
2. If you have multiple people that you are hiding coins for, you may want to print the coins on different-colored papers. You can then designate which color coin is for which person. Or you can just let it be a free for all!
3. Always have a few extra coins that can be placed in an instant for those who are less observant. I’ve seen kids look straight at a coin and miss it entirely! Sometimes it’s fun to place a coin right in front of them when they look away or get distracted by something, then when they return their focus, they find the “magically appearing” coin.
