How To Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on a Student Budget

St Patrick’s Day at university is one of the biggest celebrations in the student calendar. But with green-themed parties, Irish jigging and lots and lots of Guinness, St Paddy’s Day celebrations can quickly add up! With our budget-friendly ideas below, including where to celebrate St Patrick’s Day for free at university, you can celebrate the luck of the Irish – without emptying your own pot of gold.   

Cheap St. Patrick’s Day Ideas for Students

Going out on St Paddy’s Day can be expensive, especially since venues and clubs like to whack up the cost of entry and roll out a selection of overpriced green cocktails. These cheap St Patrick’s Day ideas will suit even the tightest student budgets.

• Throw a St Patrick’s Day Party

  Bring the party to your home by throwing a St Paddy’s bash for your university pals and coursemates. You can pick up some inexpensive decorations at Home Bargains, including green balloons and shamrock bunting. Better still, make it an ‘all-green party’ and encourage guests to dress in every shade of green – the best dressed gets a pot of chocolate gold!

• Play St. Patrick’s Day Party Bingo

  With St Paddy’s Day ticket prices for Bingo Lingo and Bongo’s throw the roof, why not play your own game of Irish bingo? You can find themed St Patrick’s Day bingo cards online for free, or make your own using your best craft skills. Make sure to pick up some extra Guinness cans for lucky bingo winners. 

• Do Your Own Beer Tasting With Popular Irish Beers

  As great as Guinness is, plenty more Irish beers out there are worth a taste! With just 5-6 of you putting in £10 each, you can pick up a variety of great beers and do your very own beer tasting. Don’t forget to try:

  • Guinness (it would be rude not to!)
  • Rosie’s Pale Ale
  • O’Hara’s Irish Wheat
  • Smithwick’s Blonde
  • Kilkenny

• Cook a Traditional Irish Meal

  Another way to get stuck into Irish culture is to cook a traditional Irish dish. If you’re planning to stay in for St Paddy’s with your housemates, you could even rustle up a recipe or two! Many traditional plates are simple and easy to make, you can pick up the ingredients in ALDI to save yourself a few pennies. Some of our favourite traditional Irish dishes include shepherds pie, Irish soda bread and Guinness and beef stew.

• Make Jameson Jelly Shots

  Celebrate St Paddy’s with homemade jelly shots, perfect for parties or having alongside your Irish dinner. To make these shots, mix Irish whiskey, lime juice, sugar, fresh mint and gelatine, before leaving them to set in the fridge for a few hours. For those who aren’t drinking, swap the Irish whiskey for an alcohol-free alternative. Sláinte!

Free St. Patrick’s Day Student Events

If you book in advance, you might be able to get tickets for St Patrick’s Day events at a reasonable price. However, there are also plenty of free events for students where you can celebrate the Irish without paying a penny. 

• St Paddy’s Day at the Student Union 

  Every student union loves St Patrick’s Day! If you have an Irish society at university, you’ll likely find that they partner with the union to celebrate in style by putting on lots of events – including free ones. This could be anything from free Irish dancing tasters to shamrock jewellery making. 

• St Patrick’s Day Parades

  These parades are often the highlight of city celebrations, fusing Irish culture, colourful floats and lively music. You can catch performances from traditional Irish dancers and even marching bands, who take to the streets to celebrate all things Irish! Outside of Dublin and Ireland itself, the best St Patrick’s Day Parades are held in London, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Manchester. 

The Best Places to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as a Student

Sure, St Patrick’s Day in Ireland is pretty spectacular, but there are also plenty of other places in the UK to celebrate St Paddy’s as a university student! These are our picks of the best spots to catch a party.

• Dublin

  As the home of St Patrick’s Day, Dublin is one of the best places to celebrate. The five-day-long celebration includes traditional music performances, cultural events and parades – the march attracts over half a million visitors each year! St Paddy’s Day celebrations in Dublin start with the Greening of the City, where many of the city’s buildings and landmarks light up in green. 

• Liverpool

  Known as the “second capital of Ireland,” Liverpool truly knows how to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. After the iconic parade, head to many of the city’s iconic Irish spots for a pint of Guinness (or two!) like O’Neill’s, Baltic Market, Punch Tarmey’s Liverpool or Camp and Furnace. Don’t forget to make a stop at Liverpool’s first Irish bar – Flanagan’s Apple on Mathew Street. 

• Edinburgh

  Edinburgh is home to a lively Irish community who certainly know how to host a great St Paddy’s Day party. There are traditional Irish music performances, dance shows and of course, some of the best Irish pubs in the UK. Don’t miss the St Patrick’s Day parade

  that starts from the old town and ends at the Grassmarket – here, you can buy traditional Irish food and drinks at the special St Patrick’s Day market.

• London

  With one of the best social event calendars in the country, it’s easier to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in London than to avoid it! The annual London St Patrick’s Day Parade brings flamboyant pageantry and elaborate floats to the capital, showcasing marching bands from across the UK, sports clubs and Irish dancing schools along the 1.5-mile route. From 12pm to 6pm, the city’s St Patrick’s Day Festival in Trafalgar Square is well worth checking out.

• Manchester

  It’s true when they say that Manchester knows how to party, and the same goes for St Paddy’s Day! The Manchester Irish Festival Parade is a ten-day celebration with 200 activities to get involved with across the city and a parade that winds its way through the city centre. After this vibrant procession, head to Manchester’s St Patrick’s Day market, where you can buy traditional Irish food, drinks, and crafts. 

DIY St. Patrick’s Day Decorations for Student Halls

With strict landlord rules and regulations, decorating your student hall for St Patrick’s Day requires a little bit of imagination. These great DIY decoration ideas are not just landlord-approved, but budget-friendly, too.

• Pot of Gold

  Grab an old empty pot or container and fill it with crumpled up yellow tissue paper. Cover the top with green tissue paper and sprinkle gold coins on top! You can also swap plastic coins for chocolate ones from the supermarket. 

• Shamrock Garland

  Cut out multiple shamrock shapes from green paper, punching a hole in the top of each shamrock. Use string or ribbon to tie the shamrocks together, adding small green pompoms or beads to take it up a level. You can hang these garlands across windows and walls in your student flat!

• Cork Coasters

  Pick up a set of cork coasters from a craft shop and paint them in different shades of green and with famous Irish emblems like shamrocks, the Irish flag and gold coins. You can use these coasters for your St Paddy’s Day party to prevent drink marks on your furniture. </

St. Patrick’s Day Party Games

If you’re hosting a St Patrick’s Day party at university, this is your chance to play some great party games with your friends and coursemates. These games are great for both drinkers and non-drinkers.

• St. Paddy’s Day Scavenger Hunt

  Hide some stereotypical Irish-themed items around your home and make up clues as to where your guests can find them. Alternatively, make it a free-for-all and leave guests’ heads spinning! You can even take it up a notch by throwing in some red herrings.

• Irish Drinking Games

  You can’t celebrate St Paddy’s without some Irish drinking games! Whether you’re sipping on an Irish beer or something a little stronger, there are plenty of games to get the party started. Just buy a few cheap packs of cards in case someone spills a drink!

• Pin the Shamrock on the Leprechaun

  The St Patrick’s Day version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey is as much fun for adults as it is for kids! You’ll need a printed-out leprechaun, pins, a blindfold and a green shamrock to play.

• St. Paddy’s Quiz

  Everyone loves a quiz, especially when the drinks are flowing! You can find lots of free St Patrick’s Day quizzes online or else make your own with bamboozling questions like ‘How much Guinness is drunk annually in Ireland?’ and ‘what did St Patrick banish from Ireland?

From everyone at Ivory Research, Happy St Patrick’s Day. Sláinte!