What to Write in a St Patricks Day Card
Most St Patricks Day cards are a pun about luck. That is fine for almost everybody and wrong for the one person the day genuinely means something to.
- For most recipients a light card is right. For someone far from Irish family, it is the wrong register entirely.
- The day is a diaspora tradition as much as an Irish one, which is why home is the strongest subject to write about.
- Quoting an Irish blessing is fine and it is what everybody does, so add something of your own after it.
- Do not write in Irish unless you can check it. A wrong phrase in permanent ink sits on a mantelpiece for a fortnight.
- Avoid the drinking joke when you do not know how it will land.
There are two St Patrick's Day cards and they are barely the same object.
The first is light, funny and about luck, sent between people for whom the day is a nice excuse. That card is easy and there is nothing wrong with it.
The second goes to somebody for whom this day is genuinely about where they are from, and who is not there. That card is harder and it is the one worth getting right.
Work out which one you are writing
The test is simple. Would this person have somewhere specific in mind if you said the word home.
If yes, write the second card. If no, write the first and enjoy yourself.
The reason this matters is that the day as most of the world marks it is a diaspora tradition. Parades ran in St Augustine in 1601, Boston in 1737 and New York in 1762, while Ireland's first was Waterford in 1903 and Dublin had no official state celebration until 1931. It was built by people who had left, as a way of holding onto something, and for their descendants and for anyone currently far from home it still carries that.
A joke about luck sent into that is not offensive. It just misses.
The light version
Keep it short and commit to the joke. A card that is half funny and half sincere reads as a person who could not decide.
One pun, one warm line, done. The same rule that applies to a Halloween card: the card front is already carrying the theme, so the inside should sound like you.
If you want a structure: the joke, then something specific about them, then a plain sign-off. The specific line is what makes it a card rather than a greeting.
The version for somebody missing home
Say the thing directly. This is not an occasion that needs approaching sideways.
Something like: Happy St Patrick's Day. I know today is the one that makes you think about home, and I know you would rather be there. Thinking about you. Come for dinner this week.
Or, for a parent or grandparent who emigrated: Happy St Patrick's Day. I have been thinking about the fact that you left at nineteen and I have never really asked you about it properly. I would like to. Can I come round.
That second one is not really a card, it is an opening, and in my experience it is the one that gets a phone call back.
About Irish blessings
Quoting one is completely fine and it is what most cards do. May the road rise to meet you and the rest.
The only thing I would add is that everybody has read them, so a blessing on its own is close to a printed card with a signature. Use it and then write two lines of your own underneath, which is where the card becomes yours.
Do not write in Irish unless you can check it
This applies to any language and it applies here more than most, because Irish spelling and grammar are genuinely unforgiving and the phrases people reach for are often reproduced badly online.
If you know it, write it. If you do not, write in English warmly rather than in Irish approximately. A wrong phrase in permanent ink sits on a mantelpiece for a fortnight and the person receiving it will notice on day one and say nothing.
The drinking joke
Very common and worth a moment of thought.
For a friend where you both find it funny, it is funny. For somebody Irish who has spent every March receiving that joke from people who think it is original, it is wearing. For somebody who does not drink, for whatever reason, it can land badly in a way you will never hear about.
I would not write a rule about it. I would say: if you cannot picture their face reading it, pick something else.
What the day is actually about, if you want a line
If you want the card to say something other than luck, the real material is better than the mythology.
Patrick left two texts in his own hand, the Confessio and a letter, and the Confessio opens with him describing himself as a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. He writes about being taken prisoner at around sixteen and about his father and grandfather by name.
A card that quotes that is a genuinely unusual card, and it suits somebody who is tired of the plastic version of the day. It also has the advantage of being true, unlike the snakes, which never existed in Ireland for anyone to banish.
If you are sending it late
The post between Ireland and North America is slow enough that a card posted in the second week of March is a coin toss.
Send it anyway and say so. Something like: this is late, which I think is traditional. Then write the real part.
A late card that names its own lateness reads as warm. A late card pretending to be on time makes the reader do arithmetic about when you thought of them.
For a child
Write about the story rather than the shamrock. Irish myth is genuinely strange and wonderful and it beats the sanitized version, so mention the Children of Lir or the Táin and ask if they know it.
Or write about their own family, if there is Irish family to write about. Children find emigration interesting when it is about people they know and dull when it is not.
For what goes with the card, St Patricks Day gift ideas. The what to write hub has the other occasions, and what to include in a personalized song is about picking the detail that makes any message land.
Frequently asked questions
What do you write in a St Patricks Day card?
It depends who it is for. For most people a light card with one joke and one warm specific line is right. For somebody far from Irish family, write about home directly, because for them the day is genuinely about that and a joke about luck simply misses.
Is it fine to use an Irish blessing?
Yes, and it is what most cards do. The only issue is that everybody has read them, so a blessing alone is close to a printed card with a signature on it. Use it, then add two lines of your own underneath, which is the part that makes the card yours.
Should I write in Irish?
Only if you can check it. Irish spelling and grammar are unforgiving and the phrases people reach for are frequently reproduced badly online. A warm message in English beats an approximate one in Irish, because a wrong phrase in permanent ink sits on a mantelpiece for a fortnight.
Is a drinking joke appropriate?
Sometimes, and it is worth a moment of thought. For a friend who finds it funny it is funny. For somebody Irish who receives that joke every March from people who think it is original it is wearing, and for somebody who does not drink it can land badly in a way you never hear about.
What should I write to an Irish grandparent?
Use it as an opening rather than a greeting. Saying that you have never properly asked them about leaving, and that you would like to, tends to produce a phone call rather than a thank you. The day is explicitly about Irish identity, which makes it the natural excuse.