One of my favorite videos ever taken of me and my little sister — taken when we were 8 and 6 years old, respectively — depicts us getting ready to go to sleep the day I lost one of my front teeth, proudly showing off our meticulously crafted tooth fairy trap.
Inspired by the first leprechaun trap I made all the way back in kindergarten, I continued constructing these mechanisms over the years. In fact, it became a tradition every time my sister and I lost a tooth. We would use old shoeboxes and crafts containers to create elaborately engineered and decorated traps, accompanied by bunny-shaped crackers and fancy rugs made from origami paper.
Then, when I was 10 — and nobody believes me when I say this — we almost caught a leprechaun. I saw its trail of glitter late at night, but was too tired to actually snatch it. It’s been more than six years since that day, and I’ve decided that it’s time … time to prove everyone wrong. I want to show that I can catch a leprechaun.
If I learned anything from my previous experience, it’s that a good trap must have great materials. Earlier this month, I procured a seemingly random assortment of goods to satiate any greedy leprechaun’s curiosity; however, these items were picked with careful thought and consideration.
For the base, I picked a random box from the Costco cardboard bin with a cheeky little boy on the side panel (you’ll see what I do with that in a second). I also found some sparkly washi tape, stickers, mini origami sheets, gum, dental floss, a plastic medal, jelly squishies, a die and a rainbow ring.
As for the materials to help me assemble my elaborate trap, I decided to use some markers, a pen, pencil, scissors (green, of course) and a glue stick.
Now, to first even attract my dear leprechaun to the trap, I decided to use a propaganda technique I learned in Mary Palisoul’s English 10 class: the bandwagon. I colored in the milk boy’s face a botched green in order to signify to the leprechaun a message: Hey, everyone else is partying, why aren’t you here too?
Plus, considering the amount of money the leprechaun has, he’d probably want to flaunt his wealth to the poor boy whose cosmetic surgery did not go to plan. Sorry, milk boy; my markers did not do you justice.
Then came the fun part: decorating. Even though I will be pillaging the poor little mini demon later, I figured he needed some luxuries. I used origami paper sheets to create two carpets, one green and one yellow. Hopefully, the latter would mimic a piece of gold leaf.
I also decided that, since I’ve grown older from my early leprechaun-hunting days, the leprechaun probably grew up as well. I threw a blue die onto the yellow carpet so that my foe could gamble a little before he’s ransacked.
Also, if I luck out, he might be a “Stranger Things” fan and use the yellow and blue setting to mourn Byler instead of being too upset with me. Sorry, my dude. A girl’s gotta do what she’s gotta do.
Anyway, I realized that the trap was looking a bit sparse, so I used my other materials to fancy it up a bit. I added my rainbow ring to the gold carpet, since there’s a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow! (Although, the last time I tried to chase the end of a rainbow it seemed to never end … what’s up with that?)
I used the plastic medal to add a sparkly golden touch to the room, along with some puffy stickers that shimmered a little.
Building on the bandwagon propaganda I set up earlier, I added my squishies around the room so that the leprechaun would realize just what he would be missing out on if he didn’t step inside. They also gave him a chance to flaunt his wealth while sitting slack-jawed and staring in awe.
Finally, I set up the first step to my plan … a singular box of gum. This box of gum would be the catalyst for my epic plan to seal up the leprechaun for good.
So what did I do with the second box?
This is where my wicked, insane, amazing plan came to play. I know, I know. You can get my autograph later.
I used a random green folder I had in my room as the claw for my trap. Then I tore off a piece of my sparkly tape to attach one side of a length of dental floss to the folder, and another piece of tape to attach my second box of gum.
I then placed the folder on top of the cardboard trap, ensuring that it was balanced to perfection.
If the world has shown us anything, it’s that the rich only want to get richer. I think this applies to leprechauns too.
Once the leprechaun gets a taste of my premium quality Japanese strawberry gum (courtesy of my good friend) he’ll naturally want more. So, he’ll take the bait.
By reaching for the second box of gum hanging from the dental floss, he’ll pull down the entire roof, trapping him inside the room. I’ll hear the commotion and rush over to snatch the green goblin, threatening him until he gives me his gold.
Well, maybe that’s a little mean. I think we’ll just take a selfie so I can flaunt it to everyone who doubted me wrong. Maybe he can accompany me to chemistry tests and badminton games for good luck. We can develop a friendship.
Or I’ll just pillage all his gold. Who knows.
