Chasing Cadiebugs: To Catch a Leprechaun

Seeing so many posts about lephrechaun traps out there, I had to make some with the big kids here. I am surprised that this year was the first I had heard about them. So much fun!
Last week, we tackled 3 of them. Thankfully my mom was up for a visit so I had an extra set of hands for help!

The idea is simple, and really fun. There are different ideas out there for traps. I used what I had and what seemed to be age appropriate. I had a few cardboard canister thingees (hot chocolate, candy, etc.) that I had been saving for some unknown purpose. This seemed to be it. Leprechaun hats. Leprechauns are very vain creatures, you know, and are drawn to such grandiose things.
The shortest one had to be made taller just by wrapping thin cardboard around it first. We covered them with construction paper, taping a circle of it to the bottom. We added a black belt and yellow buckle, and then let the kiddos add the finishing touches.
I cut a semi-circle hole in the lid, then glued green tissue paper to it.
The kiddos glues foam "gold coins" to the lid to lure the leprechaun up the hat. The ladder, of course, makes it so easy for him to get to the top.
Chase was very excited to set out the trap on St. Patrick's Day eve (even though we did forget and had to rush down after he was tucked in bed!). We put it in the middle of the kitchen table. . .a place he would be sure to see it.

When Chase woke up in the morning, he was bursting to check the trap. It was so cute! I could tell he was a little nervous, though. We tip toed down the stairs, then he informed me that we should crawl along the floor lest the leprechaun see us.

As we crawled into the kitchen, there were markers all over the floor! "Who made this mess?!

We crept up to the trap, and Chase found 2 gold chocolate coins on his seat, then 2 more at the bottom of the ladder. "The leprechaun was here! He left us something!" The top of the trap had been broken through. "We got him!" Carefully we opened the lid. Was he in there? No, but there were 2 more gold coins and a note.
It appeared that the little leprechaun was none too happy about falling in the trap, so he got angry and made a few messes.

He knocked over coins in the kitchen, toys, and a box of oranges. He did, however leave some gold coins at each mess. Such a nice leprechaun, he even left some coins for our extra kiddos.

Chase was thrilled to share his discovery with Acadia when she woke up. They (re)discovered the messes and the coins. They talked about the coins and sharing them, and they cleaned up the messes without even being asked!

We celebrated the near catch by baking some rainbow cupcakes. We had our gold, we needed the rainbow (and cupcakes are much ~~easier~~ less time consuming than rainbow jello!).

We made a white cake mix, divided it into 6, and coloured each one a rainbow shade. I find that purple is easiest to get by using blue and pink, as opposed to red). Spoon a little of each colour into the pan, spreading it out as much as you can as you go. That will give you nice rainbow-y layers, not so much tie dye as mine turned out. Bake according to directed, and you will be blessed with cheerful rainbow cupcake goodness. My sister in law would be proud.