How to turn a small flower pot and saucer into adorable leprechaun hats filled with lucky coin chocolate treats for St. Patrick's Day. This is such an easy and fun St. Patrick's Day craft to make with or for kids.

Everything you need to make them can be found at the dollar store so they are inexpensive to make too. Besides a St. Patrick's Day treat gift for kids, they would make cute teacher's gifts, table place card settings, guest favors, or table centerpiece embellishments.

Easy Dollar Store Leprechaun Hat Craft

But before we get started, I'm excited to be joining thirteen talented blogging friends for our When Irish Eyes Are Smiling blog hop today. Thank you Debbee from Debbees Buzz for hosting this event.

If you have popped over from visiting Kari from Me and My Captain, welcome! I hope you are enjoying the ideas shared so far on our St. Patrick's Day blog hop.  

If you are a regular reader and started the When Irish Eyes Are Smiling blog hop here, please don't forget to check out all fourteen inspiring St. Patrick's Day ideas at the bottom of the post. If you don't have time to browse today, click the heart icon on the right to bookmark your place to come back later.

What You'll Need To Make It

These are the dollar store flower pots and saucers I used to make the adorable leprechaun hats. Unfortunately, all I could find were clay saucers and plastic flower pots.

Plastic flower pots and saucers are a much safer option if you plan on gifting these to young children. Otherwise use clay flower pots and saucers.

This post contains affiliate links so you can see what products I used or recommend for this project. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from any qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Dollar Store Supplies

Small Flower Pots
Small Flower Pot Saucers
(3) 18 pc Packages Gold Coins (per hat)
Green Craft Paint
Acrylic Clear Coat (optional)
5/8-Inch Black Ribbon
Gold Craft Foam
Green Pipe Cleaners
Felt Shamrocks (optional)
Crafters Moss
Florist Foam
Craft Knife
E6000 Glue
Hot Glue Gun

Here's How I Made It

You should be able to find everything you need to make this easy St. Patrick's Day craft at the dollar store like I did. So let's get started.

How To Turn Flower Pots & Saucers Into Leprechaun Hats

If you are using clay saucers, you'll need to sand the glossy finish with 150 grit sandpaper first so the paint will have some bite.

Glue the flower pot to the saucer with E6000 glue and set it aside until the glue cures.

Paint Flower Pot Leprechaun Hat Green

Once the saucers are fully secured to the pots, paint two or three coats of a St. Paddy's Day shade of green both on the inside and outside of the flower pots. To speed the drying time between each coat, use a blow dryer or heat gun set on low.

I forgot to pick up some green paint so with acrylic craft paints that I had on hand I made a custom Leprechaun Green 😏  color. I didn't measure the paint ratio but it pretty much is Holiday Green with a few drops of Dark Yellow.

Once the last coat of paint is completely dry, protect the paint with one or two coats of a clear acrylic sealer.

DIY Leprechaun Hat Buckle

To make the leprechaun hat buckle, you'll need a 5/8-inch black ribbon, gold craft foam, a sharp craft knife, and a straight edge.

Use the ribbon as a guide for what size to make the gold buckle, mine are 1-inch square. Cut two slits in the middle and feed the black ribbon through the buckle as pictured above.

Shamrock Leprechaun Hat Embellishments

Wrap the ribbon around the flower pot and secure the ends with a dab of hot glue. Now we'll add a whimsy shamrock embellishment to the hat ribbon. I used a felt clover leaf garland that I found at the dollar store and green pipe cleaners for the stem.

What I Would Have Done Differently

I'm one of these jump feet first and figure it out as I go kind of crafters. Had I thought it through, alternatively it would have been much quicker and easier just to shape one end of the green pipe cleaner into a three-leaf clover.

I'll still provide the instructions below for using felt shamrocks or garland like I did, should you decide to do the same:

• To separate the felt shamrocks from the garland chain, gently tug on the ends where they are glued together.
• Fire up your hot glue gun and run a bead of glue along the stem of the shamrock and set a green pipe cleaner in place.
• Grab another felt shamrock to go over the previous one, making sure it is facing the same direction.
• Run a bead of hot glue on the backside and glue the two clover leaves together as pictured below. This is completely optional and just gives it a more finished look.
• Cut the pipe cleaner to shorten the steam and tuck it behind the ribbon on the right side of the hat.

A Pot Of Gold

Fill the leprechaun hat with lucky gold coins. The flower pots can hold a lot of chocolate coins so you may want to decrease the depth by adding a piece of foam to the bottom.

My recommendation is to use florist foam but I forgot to pick some up at the dollar store so instead, I used styrofoam that I had on hand. A very messy alternative!

Set the foam inside the pot and add a layer of crafters moss from the dollar store. Loosen the moss so it spills over the top of the pot. Make a cavity in the middle and fill the hat with chocolate coins treats. It took three packages of 18 coins to fill each hat.

Funny Story About The Lucky "Chocolate" Coins

Well, it turns out the lucky coins weren't so lucky for my grandchildren. When I bought the gold coins at the dollar store I had assumed they were just like the ones I used to buy my kids when they were little.

My three-year-old granddaughter was so excited about taking the Leprechaun hats home to enjoy the chocolate treats. When her brother got home from school they both excitedly peeled off the gold wrappers to dig into their chocolate morsels when they were met with...plastic!

What a letdown and believe me I heard about it. So be forewarned when shopping for your chocolate lucky coins, double-check that they are in fact the chocolate variety first.

My seven-year-old grandson decided not all was lost though as he plans on using them to make an enticing trail leading the curious leprechauns to his trap so he can take them to school for show and tell. Payback for the green pee they left in their toilet last year! 😉

Thanks for stopping by the Interior Frugalista today! I hope you were inspired by this leprechaun hat craft for St. Patrick's Day.

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If you enjoyed this leprechaun hat St. Patrick's Day gift idea, I'd be so thankful if you shared it with a friend and pinned it to your favorite board on Pinterest.

Now I invite you to click on the links below to visit all the talented bloggers on the When Irish Eyes Are Smiling Blog Hop. If you don't have time to browse today, click the heart icon on the right to bookmark your place to come back later.

St. Patrick's Day Flying Colors Tablescape | Panopoly
Top Of The Mornin' To You | Hyacinths For The Soul
A Table With Irish Knot Carolers | Life And Linda

Feelin' A Wee Bit Irish | Home Is Where The Boat Is
Easy, Hearty Irish Stew For St. Patrick's Day | Debbee's Buzz
St. Patrick's Day Copper & Green Table | Karins Kottage

Lucky & Blessed St. Patrick's Day Table | The Painted Apron
Copycat Red Robin Chocolate Guinness Shake | My Hubbard Home
Putting A Spring Into My Step On St. Patrick's Day | The Little Yellow Corner Store

St. Patrick's Day Blessings and Tablescape | Me and My Captain
Flower Pot Leprechaun Hat St. Patrick's Day Craft | Interior Frugalista (that's me)
How To Set An Elegantly Nonconformist St. Patrick's Day Tablescape | Mantel & Table

Enchanted Leprechaun Grove | Corner Of Plaid and Paisley
St. Patrick's Day Door Hanger Dollar Tree DIY | Zucchini Sisters

I share my projects at these inspiring link parties.