Let's talk about Elf on a Shelf

Libby Pritchett

Libby Pritchett

New member
Ok, so I've never done the Elf thing even though I have a general idea of what's involved. Basically, the elf finds himself in mischief in various places throughout the house for the month of December. Is that right?

Are there typically any gifts or treats involved? What's the story with him?

And at what age do you think it's best to start the Elf stuff?

Chloe (who will be 3 in Feb), is SO into the holidays this year. She's totally loved every aspect of halloween from the tv specials to the actual trick or treating. She's already talking about Christmas and how she can't wait to go "sit on Ho Ho's yap" and say "Hi Ho Ho, I'm Chloe. I would like a bicycle please." LOL

We're anticipating a FUN Christmas season with her this year, so I thought an Elf might add to the excitement for her.

Any thoughts or advice?
 
I'm wondering the same thing. I have a 3-year-old too, but I wasn't sure if she would be into the whole elf thing.

I think there are some variations where the elf doesn't get into trouble, but just moves from place to place and the kids have to find him. Or where the elf encourages kindness or positive behaviors.

It seems like a really cute idea, but I'm not sure if I have the time/energy/interest to invest in it yet!
 
Chloe is the PERFECT age! I think this will be our 4th Christmas with our Elf. I can't recall, but the girls STILL look forward to seeing him every year. I would start with the book/Elf and then the movie, too. Go from there. The biggest thing is to remember to move him. We keep our elf high or out of the way from the girls.

He keeps his antics pretty simple. He has notes that he holds or jokes. He always shows up in the same place as soon as the decorations are up. He'll play games, date Barbie and so on. Pinterest is good for ideas, but I pretty much wing it from time to time. The good thing is that I have a hubby that will step in and get creative when needed. We do leave a note and an elf present (something Elf related) for the girls on Christmas Eve. :)

She's at the perfect age!! :)
 
He doesn't have to get into trouble, in the book it just says he is somewhere different each morning.

This will be our 4th year, so Cooper was 3 and my kids love it & talk about skippy throughout the year.

She just can't touch him or he looses his or her magic.

Sometimes I get small things for the kids from him. Like an elf on the shelf ornament, he brought the tiny nerf guns one year, 'sewed' new pjs, because they needed new ones, lol



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I think L.J. was 5 when we started, but I think at 3 would be great and at that age you can keep it pretty simple. I'm already planning my list of ideas for this year. I'm pretty sure L.J. is aware that I do everything, but he has so much fun with it that he won't admit it. :)
 
Yeah, if we do it, I think simple is best for this year. I can always add to it later. She'd be happy just to look for him each day!

I think I'll get the book & dvd and talk to Jeff about it! :)
 
This will be our third year -- your little one is the perfect age for it! My kids LOVE it!

Our Elf (who is named Michael) comes on the 1st with a letter that talks a bit about what's he's been doing for the year and then talks about expectations (be good, grateful, kind, etc.).

He's a good elf who doesn't get into mischief. He hides sometimes, but he also does a lot of kind things, like gathering canned goods for donation, making cookies packs to give out to friends, addressing cards for us to send out to far away family, and planning family activities (leaving a Christmas DVD and popcorn on a Friday for a movie night, for example).
 
We started ours when mine were 5 and 2 and I have so much fun with it. Last year we added a girl elf..mostly b/c I wanted to be able to give each of them their own one day to take with them. But ours sometimes gets into a little mischief but they're never really "naughty". Some days they bring little gifts or fun stuff. Some days they're just hiding..depends on how much prep I've done lol
 
This will be our 3 year, I think... so that would mean started when J was 4.

Our's doesn't get into trouble... when J was 4, he didn't like books like Skippy Jon Jones because the Skippy would get into trouble and the mama had to yell at him... so Elfon (that is what J named him - as in "elf on"... so original. haha!) is the nice elf... then we added Landon (named after a kid in one of his Y classes, the second year, that is a bit naughty and gets Elfon into trouble)... J liked to say that Landon makes bad choices and will tell Elfon to be good. ;)

They come on the 1st... I usually wrap the box (gift set you can get with the doll and book - just saw them out at Target in the book section today)... and hubby will go ring the door... and I tell J to go answer it... then we read the book and get ready for the fun! It works awesome when J does get into trouble and a "note from Santa" has to come... I totally want to bring Elfon in throughout the year! haha Then Christmas Eve, Elfon writes a good bye letter and thanking J for all the fun and that he will see him next year...

My advice is to set up a calendar with what you want to do every night and have some very easy back ups of things todo for those nights when you forget or are too tired to do anything too elaborate.
 
Ok I like the idea of the elf not always being naughty. I don't mind a little silliness, but I think I like the kind approach and the random notes/gifts, etc.

SO fun!! Thanks for the ideas, girls!
 
I started elf on the shelf 2 years ago when my daughter was 3 yrs old. We have Christopher popinkins though as the original elf scares the bejesus out of me.

Our elf does funny things that I know will make her laugh when she finds him in the morning. I have more fun I think look and thinking of new things, but for the month of december we have perfect behaviour as Christopher is watching and reports back to Santa at the north pole EVERY night.

She truly believes that the elf comes alive and does all these funnt things- its so cute and fun.

However you sometimes have to think on your feet, the first year we did it we was out somewhere and she started playing up a little and I said to her, watch your behaviour as Christopher is watching, To which she replied he cant see me he is at home. Thinking on my feet I said he has a magic telescope which he gets out when we leave the house and that telescope allows him to see you wherever you are.

So to cut a long story short, Chloe is the perfect age to do this and you will both have so much fun. :)
 
Libby Pritchett said:
Ok I like the idea of the elf not always being naughty. I don't mind a little silliness, but I think I like the kind approach and the random notes/gifts, etc.

SO fun!! Thanks for the ideas, girls!
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Our elf also has a few nights where he will bring a christmas dvd or christmas crafts for us to do, and he brings us christmas baking kits.
 
I could talk about elves all day. :) This will be our 5th year with our elves. Ours is not the 'Elf on a Shelf' brand. Ours are two plush elves (a boy and a girl) made by Fiesta. Libby, you can see them on the layout I just did for you. ;)

Our elves came with elf bio pages telling a little about them and letters from the North Pole Elf Division explaining the 'Operation Child Watch' program and why the elves would be visiting. They arrived Thanksgiving evening the first year packaged into a big manilla envelope. A red truck pulled up, honked, put them in our mail box and drove off. Then, of course, the kids had to rush out to the mailbox to figure out what was going on. Very fun. :)

Our elves are brother and sister and have a whole back story. They also have a facebook page and will communicate with the kids through it from time to time. They are fun and a little mischievous. They, unlike Elf on the Shelf, love to be held and hugged. They just have to be left alone at night so that they can report to Santa. Some days they email him or Skype with him while other days they actually return to the North Pole for their reports. Ours have brought back food treats from the North Pole and they leave a gift on Christmas Eve for the kids. My kids are 9 (in a week) and 12 and still totally believe in the elves.

Anyway... we also have a Christmas angel. Her name is Noel and this will be her 12th Christmas with us. She first came to us when Caitrin was 18 months old. She leaves notes with bible verses and the story of Jesus' birth. She reminds the kids to be kind to one another, to do nice things for others, etc. She was with us long before the elves, obviously. She knows Santa and visits with him sometimes, but mostly she is there for the religious side of Christmas. However, SHE brings gifts. You know all of those Christmas themed things that are so cute during the season but that make no sense after Christmas? Noel brings those things. She brings Christmas pajamas (and we get them early in the season because I like them to be able to wear them more than once and they don't wear them after Christmas Eve), Christmas movies, Christmas themed cake mixes with holiday potholders, etc. Just about anything holiday related you can think of, she has probably brought it at one point or other. Sometimes its something little like Christmas themed bubbles. Sometimes its a holiday board game.

At times the two (Noel and the elves) overlap. Noel will visit, leave her note (she always leaves a note!) and talk about how she visited with the elves. If she leaves a gift sometimes they will decide to wrap it, hide it, use it, etc. ;)
 
Oh, and our elves aren't purposely mischievous. They just seem to get caught at the wrong moment. ;) One year Ivy decided to bake her brother Jolly a birthday cake. Boy did she make a mess with the flour. The cake was yummy though. :) The kids swear they saw Jolly chewing!

This year I bought an elf for work! Ha! I can't wait to start playing with that one! My co-workers will follow our elf antics on facebook and comment to me later about how much fun it looks. This has been kind of a tense year at work so I'm going to bring in the elf and see if he can liven the place up a little. :)
 
Who ever mentioned a calendar... definitely makes life a lot easier when planning!! Having done this for 4 years already it would be really easy to duplicate things. I don't want to do that or my kids might catch on. I browse pinterest and also write down ideas as they come to mind. The more elaborate things I do on the weekends now that I work full time and can't stay up as late at night. All year long I think of elf antics and then write them down in a journal that stays hidden. Sometimes I forget something I need or I just don't have time to do something I've planned so I pull out something easy from my bag of tricks. The kids much prefer the more elaborate set ups though. Declan actually told me "Mom, Ivy and Jolly weren't as much fun last year. They were kind of boring sometimes". LOL I told him they were probably didn't feel well or something. Then I made a mental note to step it up this year. ;)
 
Since there is a DSD peek thread, I can share... here is what our elves look like.... I find them cute and cuddly as opposed to some I have seen that are kind of creepy.

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I hate the creepy looking elf too! I had no intention of doing an elf on the shelf at all, I have so much going on at Christmas anyway. But Lexi came home from school last year on Dec 2 bawling and crying, why didn't an elf come to our house! Why didn't Santa send an elf to her, every other kid in Grade 1's elf showed up the day before and she didn't get one. She was devastated and so pathetically sad, I had to go out and get one! They love it, he doesn't do much, some days I kind of forgot but oh well, I guess it is worth it for them to be still caught in the sense of wonder at Christmas! (even if he does give me the creeps!)
 
LoriJ said:
I hate the creepy looking elf too! I had no intention of doing an elf on the shelf at all, I have so much going on at Christmas anyway. But Lexi came home from school last year on Dec 2 bawling and crying, why didn't an elf come to our house! Why didn't Santa send an elf to her, every other kid in Grade 1's elf showed up the day before and she didn't get one. She was devastated and so pathetically sad, I had to go out and get one! They love it, he doesn't do much, some days I kind of forgot but oh well, I guess it is worth it for them to be still caught in the sense of wonder at Christmas! (even if he does give me the creeps!)
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That's terrible, Lori!

My kids have asked. I tell them it's creepy so they agree with me. :D
 
Ugh. I can see that being an issue, Lori. When we started we were the only family we knew doing the elf thing. Honestly, I had never even heard of Elf on the Shelf at the time. I found those plush elves on Amazon and thought they would be cute. When we created Noel so many years ago we had a glass angel figurine that we would move from place to place but it wasn't the same. Caitrin never caught on that the angel was the figurine. A plush toy is so much easier to believe. ROFL Anyway, when my son was in 1st grade they had an elf in their class. At that point there still weren't very many people we know doing them. I'm seeing a lot more now.
 
I don't get the creepy vibe. :D I think they are cute! But, we don't do Elf on the Shelf in our house. My kids have never asked and I kind of feel like... why add something else to do on a daily basis on the busiest month of the year if I don't have to do it? I am torn though... in December when everyone posts pictures of their elves I do think it looks like a lot of fun! Kids seem to love it!
 
I am thinking we will be starting Elf on a Shelf this year too. Kennedy is 3 going on 4 so I think it's the perfect age. And personally I can't wait to start doing the fun parts of it. I've been dying to do it for several years now but knew she wasn't quite old enough to understand. So this will be our first year. I want to do the book and DVD as well.
 
YepBrook said:
I don't get the creepy vibe. :D I think they are cute! But, we don't do Elf on the Shelf in our house. My kids have never asked and I kind of feel like... why add something else to do on a daily basis on the busiest month of the year if I don't have to do it? I am torn though... in December when everyone posts pictures of their elves I do think it looks like a lot of fun! Kids seem to love it!
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This is why I haven't even attempted December Daily yet. There is just too much to do during the month! I did make a book for my kids, from the elves' perspective, about their first visit with us. I hope to make a book for each year but I'm obviously 3 years behind now. ;)
 
Totally keep it simple. I did a lot the first year with our elf...and was so over it after that...but had to keep up with it since I set the bar too high. lol
 
For those of you starting a word of advice. Keep it simple! You've got a lot of years to go. We're only on year 3 and my girls are old enough to know what's really going on (12 and 15) but I used all the best elf tricks my first and year and now they are like, oh yeah...the elf. I think moving him around day to day and treat or something funny once a week is perfect. Then you don't need 25 fabulous ideas and/or extra gifts. Just a few. Kids remember far longer than you can...so write down or take photos so you don't repeat.
 
LOL, sitting on Ho Ho's lap... that is precious! :wub:

I saw a reindeer to go with the Elf at Target today. I wasn't aware they were making "accessories" for the Elf!
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We did the elf thing for the 1st time last year. Julia was 8 yrs old. This year, I'm not sure if she will fall for this again. She saw the elf kit in the store and she bluntly asked me if I bought the elf. I had no choice but to admit it. She still thinks that elf "comes" to life at night and moves around the house. I think it will be hard this year since she is skeptical.
 
This will be our 3rd year with our elf "Buddy". he does get into some mischief but nothing major. The kids' favourite last year was when he made a zipline from our dining room chandelier into the living room area (open concept) and to the tree!! They thought he was SO clever (they are 5 and 13). My son knows now that he isn't "alive" but our DD still thinks he is. It's so fun and this year, DS will help with ideas!

Our elf brings a "hi I'm back" note with him from Santa and when he leaves, he gives the kids some little Christmassy treat or small gift. (chapstick, mitts, candy, stuff like that) and says "goodbye" also in a note.

It's fun!! I have a ton of ideas this year from Pinterest. Can't wait to start.
 
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Jenn Barrette said:
Totally keep it simple. I did a lot the first year with our elf...and was so over it after that...but had to keep up with it since I set the bar too high. lol
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Yup!! I started it when I was a SAHM and had plenty of time on my hands. Then I went back to work (part time) and it was a little harder to pull off some of the stuff. Last year I went full time and... well, I told you all how my son said the elves were boring last year. This year I am planning well so that I can pull out the stops and do it up right again. Right being my kids' idea of right. ;)
 
Our elf is lazy and doesn't show up until December 10th. I can't keep up for more than two weeks! He's in charge of training the reindeer so he has to stay at the North Pole longer. Ours just hides in the tree different places, he might go out and about this year though. His name is Santa Muffins. LOL

I love the idea of an elf for work! I'm going to do that - my office would get a huge kick out of it.
 
JoAnn's has a bunch of new Elf items. I'm considering getting the cookie pan.

Oh, and Dollar Tree has some cute elf items. It's not an official Elf on the shelf, just an elf design. But I've picked up some of these items to help our elf in his activities. And he is bringing elf pencils this year!
 
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I will definitely check out Joanns and Dollar Tree.
I just said to my mom today that I need to get on it and buy the Elf lol
 
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