St. Patrick’s Day Fun With Green Eggs And Ham

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Growing up my mom always celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by making green eggs and ham for breakfast.

While we were consuming all those green eggs, she read the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham to us. My favorite part? Near the end of the book when Sam convinces the other main character (why we were never given his name?!) to take a bite. At that point, my mom always put down the book. She told everyone to get a forkful of green eggs and ham. And we all ate that bite at the same time. 

During my elementary and middle school years, St. Patrick’s Day carried over into lunch too.

One year stands out more than others. When I opened up my lunch bag, I found lime green yogurt, green grapes, a green apple juice box, and a package of green Hostess snowballs for dessert. I remember how all my friends thought my lunch was hilarious yet cool at the same time. And I have to admit—my mom was pretty creative with her St. Patrick’s Day food endeavors.

The best part of all these years with green eggs and ham memories? My mom always tried to sneak it on us.

As if we didn’t know when St. Patrick’s Day was. For the elementary years, that was true. But here’s the real kicker—even when my brother and I totally anticipated our annual Dr. Seuss breakfast, my dad acted surprised. Every. Single. Year. We got such a kick out of dad being shocked over eating green eggs and ham for breakfast on St. Patricks Day again. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I realized my dad had been acting surprised for my brother and I all those years. 

Now that I’m a mom, I have the opportunity to set my own traditions and memories for my kiddos.

And Dr. Seuss green eggs and ham is definitely one that I’ve kept going. In fact, the first year I decided to make this special meal, I was 9 1/2 months pregnant with our first kid. I thought it would be a fun tradition to start since the following year we’d have an almost one-year-old on St. Patrick’s Day. Little did I know that 6 hours later my water would break, and I’d meet my son the next day. So green eggs and ham is already a big thing in my own little family.

However, instead of waking up even earlier to make a special breakfast, I’ve incorporated green eggs and ham into our St. Patrick’s Day dinner tradition. Besides making the egg dish, I also make green muffins, have a green fruit (grapes, kiwi, etc.), and serve green orange juice. Of course, this all involves using food coloring. But since I only do it once a year? I figure it won’t kill us.

St. Patrick's Day fun with Green Eggs and Ham Nashville Moms Blog

I love how this tradition has carried on to the next generation.

I’m pretty sure at least one of my kids will introduce it to their family when they get to this stage of life. The thing I love most about this silly and fun tradition is how many wonderful memories I have from it. I’m not sure if my mom knows how much I loved when she did this for us. (She does now because I know she reads my blog posts—so thanks, Mom!) I’m sure glad she did!

2 COMMENTS

  1. I got as much a kick out of planning and doing this as you guys got in listening and eating (and having to live through those lunches). Unfortunately, the green Hostess snowballs seem to be history. So sad. But, it makes me happy to know the tradition lives on.

  2. We love making green eggs and do it throughout the year. We put kale or spinach in the blender with a little bit of milk to chop it super fine and then mix it in the eggs. It turns the eggs a light green, the kids love it, and they get vegetables without even knowing it!

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