Leprechauns, pots of gold, four leaf clovers...you get it...St. Patrick's Day is upon us. But how will you celebrate? In LA, there's no shortage of bar crawls, pub crawls and douche bags so drunk they may or may not be crawling on the ground by the end of the night. While there's nothing wrong with indulging in green beer at an Irish watering hole, it may be difficult to escape bros taking down Irish car bombs with shirts that read "Kiss me, I'm horny." In that same spirit, here are some other ways to ring in the green holiday.
1. Run a race. No, I'm not talking about the LA Marathon. Besides the fact that it's sold out, more than likely, you'll be too wiped out to walk to the refrigerator, nonetheless take part in holiday festivities. So instead, on Sunday at 8am, take it a little easier on yourself and head down to Redondo Beach for the St. Patrick's Day 5K Run/Walk put on by the good folks at Village Runner. Race cost is $40.
2. Sing and dance. If you want to get your Irish jig on, the Shamrock "N" Roll on the Queen Mary is the place to be. Listen to Celtic rock and Irish party songs while you eat your face off with classic Irish food the night of Sunday. Tickets are only $15 (or $20 at the door).
3. Bake some cupcakes. Even if you plan to drink yourself silly at the bars, you'll want to sober up at some point with some sweets. Duff's Cakemix allows you to do this with an instructional hour-and-a-half class where they supply all the tools to decorate your cupcakes like your back in grade school. The class goes from 4-5:30pm on Monday and costs $27.
4. Get stoned and laugh. For only $5, you can head down to UCB Franklin and watch Toke Talk with Allan McLeod on Tuesday. McLeod (yes, he's Irish) will be talking all things green with his fellow stoner comedians and special stoner guests. If you're 420 friendly, this may be your St. Patrick's Day event.
5. Parade it up. If you bleed green, then you'll figure out a way to call in sick from work and make it to the St. Patrick's Day Noontime Celebration at Pershing Square. This free event that wraps it's way through downtown will include food trucks and beer garden. If you can't escape your day job, then head down to the South Bay for the Hermosa Beach St. Patrick's Day Celebration on Saturday while the fraternity/sorority crowd is still passed out.
6. Go family friendly. One Colorado St. Patrick's Day Celebration in Pasadena rings in the holiday on Sunday with crafts, dance lessons and traditional Irish music as the sun starts to go down...all for free. This is ideal for a family—or if you live in the Pasadena area and don't want to have beer sloshed all over you at some cramped bar.
7. Bunnies...yes, we said bunnies. If you've never been, then the open house on Tuesday at the Bunny Museum in Pasadena is the place to be. It's free and adorable.
Still wanting to mix it up at the traditional Irish pubs?
RECOMMENDED: Our guide to St. Patrick's Day in Los Angeles