Elf on the Shelf – Easy Peasy Ideas!

Last year The Elf on the Shelf joined our household. Our elf was named “Elvey” by the children and each day they would seek him out to find out where his new spot for the day was. For those who aren’t familiar with The Elf on the Shelf, (it’s a newish concept for most of us in Australia, even though it’s firmly established in the US.), our elf, like all other Elves who sit on shelves, is a scout elf. He sits and watches the children all day and at night magically flies back to Santa where he tell Santa what’s been happening in our household. (Oh yes, there were some naughty moments last year where I did point to the elf and then witnessed a miraculous behaviour shift.) There is a story book which arrives with the elf outlining all of this, and the book also makes it clear that to retain the elf’s magic you cannot touch the elf. (Sheer brilliance, it’s clear the author was familiar with children!)

Elf on the Shelf from Amazon

During December, we really had so much fun with Elvey. Mind you, I wasn’t always creative with his placement, (Hello! I had two year old triplets!) There was some mornings that I was secretly hiding the elf behind my back and scampering through the house to shove the elf in a new spot for the day. Thanks to the innocence of childhood, my children were delighted to see him even if he was doing nothing exciting, the thrill of finding him was enough for them. Exhibit A & B below!

Trent discovering The Elf on the Shelf was hanging from the fan.

Jonty looking at the elf simply sitting on a shelf!

Elf on the Shelf Hanging Underwear from the Ceiling Fan.

 Oh yeah. That cheeky elf looked very comfy hanging in the kids pants. Trent was a little disgruntled, but happily saw the joke eventually.

Sitting on a Shelf With Candy Canes looking Christmassy.

Hanging Out in the Bathroom and Plastering the place with Bows.
This was actually more complex then I expected! The bows just would not stay on and were dropping off everywhere! By the morning there was basically a pile of gift bows on the bench top.

 Elvey was hanging on the shower screen, but kindly offered the children the candy canes for a Christmas snack.

Hanging out with the Nativity crowd.

Getting spicy in the spice rack.
It took forever for the boys to find the elf this day, and the needed some substantial clues before they could locate him. Another example of how simplicity did not disappoint.

Hanging around Drawing
I gave my sister the honours of elf placement one night when she was visiting and this was what he ended up doing.

 Mixing it Up.
The elf on the shelf was in the playroom mixing an invisible something in the toy pots and pans this day. Trent ‘wrote’ (it was dictated) a letter to Santa and got us to put it on the Shelf with the Elf so he could deliver it to Santa when he flew back to the workshop that evening. (He got one thing on the list, Santa can’t deliver everything it turns out!)

Checking out the Aussie Animals Cards
Turns out even elves can get sucked in by Woolworths brilliant marketing ploy.

Wise Old Elf on the Shelf
Once more Elvey is on a shelf. This time hanging with the owls.

Another morning Elvey was riding the reindeer. As you can see, the boys thought this was funny.

Toilet Paper Mischief
It seems that scout elves often end up creating mischief in the toilet. Trent was aghast. Personally, I  would not be hanging out in our loo if I were an elf. Trust me. Little boys have bad aim. Our WC is not always a pleasant place to be.

In any case, The Elf on the Shelf was a lot of fun for our family last year and I’m looking at finding more places for Elvey to hide this year. It will be more fun for the triplets this year also I think.

I’ve got a Pinterest Board full of ideas of where Elvey can hang out – but would love to hear a suggestion if you have one! Have you heard of Elf on the Shelf? Do you have a scout elf at your home or do something similar? Are your kids starting to catch the Christmas spirit yet?

Linking with Essentially Jess