Upcycled Leprechaun Treat Cups

Oriental Trading provided product for these upcycled leprechaun treat cups but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love to surprise my kids with a little holiday fun and although we don’t go all out for St. Patrick’s Day, we do wear green, eat corned beef, and try to get in our fair share of pinching {wink}!  And it’s always fun to have a little holiday treat for the kiddos.  These upcycled leprechaun treat cups are made with paper plates and cups, they’re really simple, and the kids will love ripping them open to find golden treats inside!

To make these leprechaun hat treat cups or party favors, you’ll need green dessert-sized paper plates, green paper cups, black ribbon {no wider than one inch}, gold ribbon or buckles, plastic shamrocks, and gold coins or other gold or rainbow candy to fill the treat cups.

You can keep the plates the size that they are but they look just a bit too big for the cup size so I like to trim them a little.  Use a large lid to trace a circle onto the back of the plate and cut it out with scissors or place the plate on a cutting mat and cut around the lid with a craft knife.

You’ll want the circles to be big enough that they stick out about an inch all around the cup.

Embellish the cup next.

Turn the cup upside down and use hot glue to attach black ribbon all the way around the edge.  Add a gold buckle.  I used a webbing style gold ribbon and just cut one of the squares out for each buckle {I always like to try to use what I have around the house} but you could use a small gold buckle found in the notions section at a craft store, a piece of gold paper trimmed to look like a buckle, or even some gold duct tape cut to size.  Use a dab of hot glue to lay it over the center of the ribbon then, with hot glue, attach a shamrock above it.

Fill the cup with the treat of your choice then add hot glue all around the rim of the cup …

… and attach it to the center of the plate quickly before the glue hardens and cools.

If you’re handing these out at a class party or playdate, set them up on a table and let kids grab them as they leave.

And when the kids are ready for the treats inside these leprechaun treat cups, simply pop the cup off the plate and enjoy!

For more fun and simple ideas for St. Patrick’s Day, be sure to check out these washi-tape embellished treat cups …

… a St. Patrick’s Day treat and printable …

… and a cute shamrock mason jar with a printable tag {perfect for filling with pot of gold popcorn}.