Move Over Gingerbread Houses, Leprechaun Traps Have Arrived

If you thought St. Patrick’s Day was a holiday for adults, think again

You’ve finally recovered from Elf on The Shelf season and can look at a marshmallow with shuddering. Just when you think you’ve got a break before you have to start planning Easter baskets or Passover, there’s a St. Patrick’s Day craft craze that’s lighting up Pinterest. Once your kids hear about it in school, they’re not going to let you rest until you make one.

Welcome to the world of leprechaun traps.

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The trend was born from Irish folklore, which says that since leprechauns have so much gold, if you trap one you’ll be rich too. The idea is to design a trap for them the night before St. Patrick’s Day in hopes that you’ll wake up to find your very own living endless ATM captured in your trap. Silly, yes, but it’s not all that different from leaving cookies out for Santa.

Erecting an elaborate leprechaun trap may seem over the top for what isn’t a big holiday for many of us. But unlike the Elf on the Shelf, baking cookies for Santa or even getting a reward from the Tooth Fairy for a lost tooth, the genius part about a leprechaun trap is that your kids can do most of the work themselves. Imagine an hour hour of quiet (fine — twenty minutes if we’re being realistic, but still) while your kids construct the perfect trap. Exactly. Time to go dig up an old shoebox and some markers.

You could lose yourself for days on Pinterest finding ideas for traps, if going all out is your thing. Or you could just let the kids have at it.

This trap is no joke. This family watched Home Alone, and they took notes.

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Here’s a Lego version, for kids that are too cool for construction paper and crayons.

You know you’re addicted to coffee when your kid makes their leprechaun trap in the form of a miniature Starbucks.

Could you imagine if a raccoon accidentally got stuck in there overnight?

When your kids wake up on the morning of St. Patrick’s Day and find the trap empty, you’ve got options. Some parents leave a note from the leprechaun congratulating the kids on their effort but explaining how they escaped the trap. Some leave chocolate covered coins for the kids to find in the morning. Others use it as an opportunity to prank their kids, courtesy of the leprechaun.

Yes, those are tiny green footprints on that toilet seat. No, let’s not think too hard about what makes them look so…sticky.

Are leprechaun traps yet another way we’re making every holiday over-the-top magical for our kids? Perhaps. But they’re also adorable, and as easy as you want them to be. Plus, it’s a built-in excuse to buy Lucky Charms, so we’re in.