Make a Graham Cracker Leprechaun House for St. Patrick's Day

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, I've got a fun project kids will adore. It's pretty much a spinoff of a favorite Christmas classic, but geared toward St. Patrick's Day and the luck of the Irish. Instead of gingerbread, though, it's a graham cracker leprechaun house.

I remember when I was a little girl, and my mom and I watched Disney's classic, Darby O'Gill and the Little People. Remember that movie? Leprechauns and all the legend surrounding them just fascinated me as a kid. This would be the perfect movie to watch as you create your very own leprechaun house.

Before you get started making your own graham cracker leprechaun house, you'll need a few supplies.

Supplies You'll Need for a Graham Cracker Leprechaun House

Cake board or small white cardboard squares for house to rest on
Scissors
Box of graham crackers
Decorating Icing – I used Wilton Green Decorating Icing.
Spice Drops or gum drop candies
Skittles
M&M's
Mini crackers
Small green gummy candies
Rainbow sprinkles and decorating candies

How to Construct Your Own Graham Cracker Leprechaun House

Your first step is to prep your cake board. You can cut it into smaller squares or use a smaller piece of cardboard wrapped in white freezer paper.

Next assemble your leprechaun house using graham crackers and Decorating Icing. Now here's where it was a bit tricky for me in the beginning. Everything I'd read said to use Royal Icing, but I'm just going to be real here… I tried that, and it was horrible. It was horrible! A disaster of epic proportions. I'd bought a box kit, and I'm not sure what happened with it, but it just wasn't for me. I think it had more to do with me than the icing; I just didn't have the patience for it. But I was lucky that I actually had backup in the form of Wilton Decorating Icing. It worked great! And there was no mixing or hassle with it.

To construct your graham cracker house, I recommend following this wonderful tutorial from Happiness is Homemade. Just be sure you have plenty of graham crackers on hand.

Decorate Your Graham Cracker Leprechaun House

Once your house is constructed and has had a chance to meld together enough that it's not going anywhere, it's time for the fun part… Decorating! This is where all your candies and sprinkles come in.

There really is no set way to decorate a leprechaun house. But I do recommend LOADS of rainbow colors, in the form of spice drops (or gum drop candies), M&M's, Skittles, sprinkles, and more. Use your Decorating Icing to attach everything to your house.

You can use mini crackers as windows. I found small green apple gummies that I actually cut with scissors to hopefully look more like 4-leaf clovers.

You can create a door with icing and sprinkles. Skittles make a wonderful rainbow path through clouds of mini marshmallows. Just be creative and have fun with it! The decorating is especially fun for kids, though they may eat more than they decorate, fair warning.