St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun Gift Box

Looking for something a little different this St. Patrick’s Day? Grab the free printable and recreate this adorable St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun Gift Box craft! Create a few to hand out to friends and neighbors or to add to your St. Patrick’s Day decor!

St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun Gift Box

We just love how this gift box came out! He’s so cute and your friends, family, neighbors, and teachers would be happy to receive this little handmade gift from you or your kiddos. And when they’re done with the treats (or message) tucked inside they can put their leprechaun on display as part of their St. Patrick’s Day decorations.

This leprechaun character was super easy to put together when starting with the free printable template we have provided. So gather up your supplies, print out the template, and get started on this fun craft project!

SUPPLIES:

To get started, you’ll need to gather up your Leprechaun supplies:

An Empty (and clean) 1 QT juice, milk, or heavy whipping cream box

Cardstock or Construction Paper (we used a tan/skin color, green, white, orange, brown, black)

Gold or Yellow Construction Paper (or a foam sheet, gold ribbon, etc)

Thin, Black Ribbon (or a black marker, black construction paper, etc)

Small Brown Pom Pom

Scissor

Pencil

Black and Orange Markers

Glue Stick

Small, Clear Treat Bags (optional)

Chocolate Coins (or whatever you want to fill your gift box with)

Printable Leprechaun Template (found at the bottom of this post)

CREATING YOUR LEPRECHAUN

After printing out the leprechaun template found at the end of this post, carefully cut out each piece.

On your skin colored piece of construction paper, trace the circle and hand template pieces. Cut them out and set them aside.

On green cardstock paper, trace and cut out the hat shape.

Trace the rectangle leg pieces onto white cardstock and cut out each piece.

On black paper, trace both shoe template pieces and cut each one out.

ASSEMBLING THE HEAD OF YOUR St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun Gift Box

Now take your orange piece of construction paper and cut thin strips as shown in the below photo.

Cut those orange strips into smaller pieces, two to three inches long. Then, using scissors, curl your strips of paper like you would ribbon. To do this, hold one end of a strip of paper in your hand. With the other hand, place the blade of the scissors under the ribbon. Firmly support the blade with your index finger on the bottom and your thumb on the top of the ribbon.

While continuing to hold one end of the ribbon, use the hand supporting the scissors to slowly move the blade along the length of the ribbon until you reach the end.

These curled pieces will become the beard of your leprechaun. So grab your skin-colored circle and, using a glue stick, add a small amount of glue to the back of a curled, orange strip then glue it to the head piece.

You’ll want to start at one end and work your way to the other end of the head, cutting and fluffing each orange beard piece to fit how you want it.

Next, go back in and add additional layers of orange strips, giving your leprechaun’s beard a fuller look.

When you’re happy with your leprechaun’s beard, set it aside and pick up the hat piece.

Take your thin black ribbon and cut it just a little big longer than the length of the top section of your hat.

Glue the ribbon onto the hat and, flipping the hat over, fold and glue the ends of the ribbon to the back of the hat as shown below.

If you don’t have a black ribbon, you can get creative! Use a sharpie marker, a thing piece of black construction paper, or whatever else you have on hand.

Next, grab your gold construction paper and cut out a small rectangle to glue to the center of the thin, black ribbon to create the buckle.

Glue the hat to the top of your leprechaun’s head.

Use a black marker to add a face to your leprechaun. Tip: Start by drawing your face on with a pencil. Once you’re happy with your face, go over it with the marker.

Using an orange marker, add eyebrows and freckles to your leprechaun’s face.

Using glue, add your small brown pom pom to create the leprechauns nose.

Using your orange marker, draw stripes on the white leg pieces to make the appearance of striped tights.

Glue the shoes onto your striped legs.

Cut long strips from your green construction paper to create your leprechaun’s arms and glue the hands on.

Set everything aside and grab your 1 QT box. You can use a juice box or even a heavy whipping cream container. Just be sure it has a square bottom.

If you haven’t already, clean out your QT container and allow to dry before continuing.

Measure 2 inches from the bottom around your container and carefully cut the bottom off.

Measure and cut a piece of brown paper to fit around the outside your cut container.

ASSEMBLING THE REST OF YOUR St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun Gift Box

Glue your brown paper in place.

Glue the legs onto the bottom of your container as shown below.

Glue the hands to the front of the box as shown.

Then loosely wrap the arms around to the back of the box, trimming and gluing in place.

Now glue your leprechauns head in place.

FINISHED PROJECT

After the glue has dried, it’s time to fill your leprechaun box! We filled a small, clear treat bag with gold coins but you can add in anything you want.