4 Ways to Make Money From St. Patrick's Day

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With St. Patrick's Day around the corner, you're probably anticipating things like parades, pub crawls, and all the green-themed festivities to come. You might even be looking forward to some of your favorite foods that show up around this time of year: McDonald's famous Shamrock Shake, Irish soda bread, and, of course, corned beef and cabbage.

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans planned to spend a whopping $5.3 billion for St. Patrick's Day 2017. Presumably, that number could rise for 2018 if past spending trends continue. Either way, St. Patrick's Day means big businesses for cities, venues and, if you play your cards right, people like you.

If you want to capitalize on all the ways people will be spending money for St. Patrick's Day, here are some ideas to get you started.

Create and sell St. Patrick's Day crafts

You can search for popular St. Patty's Day crafts that people are looking to buy on sites like Pinterest or Etsy. You'll find tons of ideas that will inspire you to get creative. People are often looking to buy party favors, home decor, clothing, knickknacks, and other accessories to make their favorite Irish holiday complete. If you can make some of these yourself, you could see the profits roll in.

If you're more of a designer than a crafter, you can start a tee shirt campaign with no money at all. Places like Bonfire, TeeSpring, and SunFrog let you design a custom shirt and presell it so the printing is fully funded. Once your shirt ships to your customers, the production platform takes a cut and sends the leftover profits to you.

Advertise your creations on social media or on marketplaces like Etsy, eBay, Mercari, or Offer Up. It's best to get started early so you have enough time to research your idea, create it, advertise, and make sales. (See also: The 5 Best Sites to Sell Your Arts and Crafts)

Ride sharing

With all the parties, parades, pub crawls, and related celebrations that usually take place around St. Patricks Day, there will be a lot of drinking. People who spend the day (and night) drinking will need safe, responsible ways to get to and from various locations. Plus, those who need to get around the crowds in major cities will need help with the hassles of parking or transporting small kids in the massive crowds. That's where ride sharing comes in.

As a driver for Uber or Lyft, you stand to make a decent profit in such a peak time. If you time your availability right, you could find yourself pretty busy on the weekend and weekdays leading up to St. Patrick's Day, when many celebrations take place. Make sure you are close to the action and get approved as a driver beforehand to make the most of this opportunity. (See also: How to Earn Extra Money Driving for Uber or Lyft)

Baby-sit

Again, from the party perspective, this gig could be the "gold at the end of the rainbow." Think about it. There's bound to be parents who'll use this opportunity to party hard without the kiddies in tow. Baby sitters can be pretty hard to come by in some places, so it's likely there will be a premium for baby-sitting around "hot" times like St. Patrick's Day.

Use online sitter marketplaces like Chime, Sittercity, or Care.com. It doesn't hurt to check pet care apps like Rover or Wag, either — pet parents will need care for their fur babies, too.

Start building your profile as early as you can. Go through the proper vetting and maybe even get a few jobs under your belt for reviews. This way, you will be a desirable candidate when parents (or pet parents) start their search for a sitter for St. Patrick's Day.

Be a hired hand

Many government and private citizens host St. Patrick's Day celebrations, which means there will be lots of extra work to go around. You can call down to your local city or village hall to find out what additional services might be needed during city-sponsored celebrations.

You can also put a listing in the "gigs" section of Craigslist or your local Facebook marketplace advertising any services you can offer. There are even Facebook groups where people sell recipes and crafts for holidays like St. Patrick's Day.

Whatever you're offering, there's bound to be plenty to do as many gear up to make the most of the fun times to be had on St. Patrick's Day.

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