The Leprechauns Visit on Random Photo Tuesday

So I have this bad habit of starting new traditions… like I'll hear a cute idea and instead of thinking I should do this once I immediately jump directly to wouldn't it be fun to start a new tradition and do this EVERY YEAR? Don't ask me why.

A few weeks ago I saw this idea in a magazine about leprechaun catchers. Well first the leprechauns would show up at your house and leave behind all kinds of fun clues…trails of shamrock confetti, green footprints, green kiss marks on sleeping children's foreheads, green toilet water (Yep, leprechaun pee! A personal favorite.) So of course you would build this totally adorable leprechaun trap to try to catch one, right? I mean you would right? Am I alone here?

When I jumped on instant messenger and told my friend Wendy all about my latest brilliant plan, she saw the warning signs immediately… She may have mentioned something about barely being able to keep up with the Easter Bunny and Santa. Oh it's true that the whole Santa thing sounds like a great idea until 2am on Christmas morning when you're wondering what moron came up with the whole Santa thing. But then I sent her the link with the pictures of the leprechaun traps… because they were really cute traps, let me tell you… she knew there was no use trying to reason with me. Because I was already determined to build the one that looked like a leprechaun hat, yes I was!

Luckily Amanda's first grade teacher showed up in time to save me from myself. How? Well as room mom, I was asked to send out a letter to the class announcing that the leprechauns had arrived for a visit and would probably be causing all kinds of mischief. AND she asked the class to build leprechaun traps. Really? Yep. Oh and we were throwing a little party, emphasis on little, (complete with lots of tiny little green food like green finger jello and teeny mint ice cream cones) to celebrate our visiting guests. While I was getting ready for the party I found myself thinking these guys better show up.

So anyway, I… I mean Amanda and I… got to build our totally cute trap and display it at home until yesterday, but as far as the leprechaun thing… I just got to hear about their pranks every day (They messed up desks and moved furniture and left cute little notes, among other things) but I didn't have to do any of the work. Now I have another year to decide whether I want to attempt the leprechaun thing next year.

The kids set up their traps yesterday afternoon and I snuck in this morning to take pictures before class started. The leprechauns visited last night. They did, they really did! They were there… Well okay, they got away, but they WERE THERE I tell ya... I saw the little green footprints, I saw the little shamrock confetti… the teensy little trophies left next to each of the traps. I could picture them laughing, saying, "Nice try!" There was even a tiny little bathtub full of green water. And one of them left a tiny little vest behind. Actually it freaks me out a little to think of the little guys frolicking around the classroom naked. But who am I to judge?

So anyway, the before picture of our trap as it looked at home. The after picture shows how we found it this morning. Yeah okay, so maybe it doesn't exactly look like the work of a six year old? That's a whole 'nother subject which I'll save for a different blog post or a therapy session, which ever comes first. I can't take credit for the design. It's an exact replica of the one I saw in the magazine. Because I wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to go about building a leprechaun trap and because it was just too cute NOT to copy.
Let me explain how the trap works. Rumor has it that leprechauns aren't known for following rules, hence the "do not climb ladder" sign. The hope was that they would spot the hunk of gold on top of the hat. Okay the hope was that a little old near-sighted leprechaun would spot the wadded up foil left over from reeses peanut butter cups and hopefully thinking it was gold, or perhaps hoping there were more reeses peanut butter cups where those came from, would climb the little ladder (built from sticks Amanda collected from our backyard… 'cause she's crafty like that) and when he stepped on top of the hat to reach for the gold or the peanut butter cups… he'd plunge through the trap door and be stuck there 'til morning in the oatmeal container, just wishing there was actually some chocolate or peanut butter or something in there… because leprechauns get hungry too.
Unfortunately it appears that our wily little leprechaun escaped. Don't ask me how. I assume that somewhere there's a big -- okay probably a little -- party goin' on and some leprechaun is tossing back a thimble full of Guinness and laughing at the thought that someone was silly enough to think a Quaker Oats box could hold him.

That's Amanda holding the tiny trophy. I'll add more photos soon. I just had to get a couple in under my Tuesday deadline. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!