St. Patrick’s Day has quietly turned into a pretty big event at our house.
Not because we’re doing anything elaborate. It’s mostly because my kids were very confident that this was the year we’d finally catch the leprechaun (spoiler alert: it wasn’t).
For the last few years, there’s been a full planning phase leading up to March 17th. Traps are discussed. Designs are debated. Materials are gathered from around the house. At some point a shoebox usually gets involved, along with construction paper rainbows, gold coins for bait, and at least one very questionable ladder made out of popsicle sticks.
The whole thing has a very “small engineering project” feel to it.
The funny part is how seriously everyone takes it. There are long conversations about where the trap should go, what leprechauns like to eat, and whether or not they can jump.
Personally, I think the leprechaun has a pretty good scouting report on our house at this point.
Every year he manages to sneak in, cause a little chaos, leave a few clues behind… and get away clean.
This year the planning was a little less intense than usual. We had a bit of a stomach bug make its way through the house last week, which slowed the operation down a little. But the discussion still happened.
With four kids there’s always something going on in the house anyway. Someone’s building something, someone’s negotiating about bedtime, someone’s explaining a very detailed story that started at school and now somehow involves dinosaurs. Meanwhile our youngest is quietly pursuing whatever object in the room they definitely shouldn’t have.
So a leprechaun trap actually fits right in.
Waking up to a triggered trap with no actual leprechaun inside was disappointing, but the good news is the kids are already talking about improvements for next year. Better bait. A stronger box. Maybe a more strategic location.
He’s been getting away with it for a few years now…
…but eventually our odds have to improve. 🍀
