"Kiss me, I'm Irish!"

Or don't, but happy St. Patrick's Day anyway.

Whether you celebrate for luck, for love, for St. Patrick or just for fun and shamrocks, put on some green and shake it like a Leprechaun: It's St. Patrick's Day, all day and all night long.

"It's the green beer, it's got to be the green beer," said Jake McCaleb, general manager of the party supply store Party City, 32 Colonnade Way, about the St. Patrick's Day mass appeal. "Even if you aren't at all Irish, it's a good holiday for the younger bunch. It's fun. It's a party. What could be better than that?"

In State College, people can embrace the celebration with plenty of Irish-inspired help from local businesses.

"We open our doors at 8 a.m. on St. Patrick's Day," said Michael Fullington, manager of The Phyrst Inc., 111 1/2 E. Beaver Ave. "It's the only holiday that actually promotes drinking and partying, and this whole town loves to drink, no matter what day it is. So we have green drinks, and of course green beer, and we just have a good time all day."

Many students take advantage of the bars' early openings, and begin celebrating with Irish-inspired food, dress and drinks.

"People order a lot more Guinness on and around St. Patrick's Day," Fullington said. "And we sell a huge amount of Irish car bombs as well."

Anthony Sapia, owner and manager of Tony's Big Easy, 129 1/2 S. Pugh St., said his bar and bottle shop also see an increase in sales of traditional Irish beers, such as Guinness and Bass, at this time of year.

"Guinness is the No. 1 beer on St. Patrick's Day," Sapia said. "It's Irish and it tastes great. That's all people need."

For other tastes of Ireland, The Big Easy is offering an Irish menu on St. Patrick's Day.

Doors will open at 9 a.m., and Sapia said The Big Easy would feature fish and chips, Irish stew, shepherd's pie and the traditional corned beef and cabbage, as well as the non-traditional Guinness brownies and ice cream.

The Big Easy will also feature St. Patrick's Day-inspired drinks, with a "Big Easy twist."

"For St. Patty's Day we'll feature New Orleans-style hurricanes and Cyclones -- they are a festive green," Sapia said. "But there's no green beer. One year I served green ketchup with the fish and chips and no one wanted to eat it. I'm all for tradition, but sometimes it's just psychological. Some people don't like to drink the color."

Although green may not be the food color of choice, McCaleb said Party City has been selling out of all things green in anticipation of the holiday.

"We had people buy a lot of green beads and St. Patrick's Day hats to wear out for the holiday," McCaleb said. "All the items people can wear out are very popular, and we have been selling a lot of bows and banners and signs as well. All the St. Patrick's Day merchandise is going out the door pretty quick."

While McCaleb said it's the green beer that brings the crowds, Sapia had other opinions on the holiday's appeal.

"I think people enjoy St. Patrick's Day because it's one of the few holidays that is considered an all-day event," Sapia said.

So an Irish toast: Sláinte! (Good Health and Cheers!) to the little bit of Irish in us all today.