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Mar 2010  |  By Larry Green  |  Comments (1)

Leprechaun Traps: Can you catch the luck of the Irish?

Catching a Leprechaun is never easy.

But they do leave signs of their visits behind:

• The toilet water is green
• Gold covered chocolate coins often drop from their pocket
• They hide green jellybeans all over the house.

Still, catching one is a little tricky.

They are as elusive as the Tooth Fairy and as quick as St. Nick on his special night.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.

With St. Patrick’s Day just a week away, this is a great time to get your kids started on building a Leprechaun trap—a safe one because we don’t want to hurt the little guy even if he is known for occasionally being mischievous.

Leprechaun traps come in all shapes and sizes and are limited only by the edges of imagination. Some are made of egg cartons, some of cardboard boxes. Some traps have little ladders for the Leprechaun to climb (think of those ladders you get for your Parakeets). Other traps have little cheese cloth or string nets inside or strung across windows so once inside the Leprechaun cannot escape.

Some are disguised to look like little houses; others look like cleverly decorated shoe boxes or elaborate shamrocks. No two ever look alike. Get the picture?

Supplies you might want to have on hand include:

• A box or egg carton
• String
• Small piece of cheese cloth
• Tape
• Glue
• Construction paper
• Washable markers or crayons
• St. Pat’s Day stickers from the party store or Walgreens.
• Foil covered chocolate coins
• Green food coloring (well tell you about this in a few paragraphs)
• Green jelly beans

It is always good to draw or paint a rainbow on the outside of the trap since Leprechauns are known to look for them. You might bait the trap with some foil-covered coins. Other things that are known to attract them are four leaf clovers.

Set the trap up on St. Patrick’s Day eve. When the kids are asleep you might want to put a little green food covering in a toilet—even Leprechauns have to pee. And they are also known for leaving green jelly beans around the house, but they are always careful not to leave ‘em where the cat or dog can get them.

Remember to send Make It Better a picture of your Leprechaun trap so we can post it on our website.

And oh yes, everybody is a little Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. Good luck!