Elf on The Shelf
We believe in magic.
We believe in "Christmas Magic".
We believe in whimsical, child-like magic that gives you warm fuzzies.
There is something so intoxicating about seeing your child's face
when you've created magic for them.
The Elf on the Shelf holds that magic.
He flies every night to the North Pole to report to Santa on
whether your child was naughty or nice.
(The first time I heard this...I thought...genius.
I need that kind of motivational magic with three kids!)
He used to be the kind of magic that only my "super fun mommy friends" knew about.
We had to buy him and his book online or in the back corner of Hallmark.
Because he was special...and a secret.
Now you can find him at his own display table in Barnes and Noble,
and the end of the aisle at Target,
where moms are dodging and weaving so their child doesn't see.
He is SUPPOSED to come from the North Pole!
Our elf BOB (yes, they named him in caps), likes to take things to the next level.
Sound familiar?
Here is the book if you aren't familiar with Elf on the Shelf.
When Michaela first started the elf magic, she wrote a letter that she could deliver to her boys. It just made him so magical that he could come with a letter, that said "READ ME".
She happily shared the letter with me when my elf was soon to arrive.
We are happy today to share it with you.
You can download the letter and the "READ ME" tag at the bottom of this post.
Last year, I captured with a photo each day BOB came to our house.
He became quite the celebrity on my personal Facebook page last year,
and now has a following!
We hope you enjoy some of these whimsical and fun ideas,
and be inspired to spread a little "Christmas Magic" with your kids.
Day 1- North Pole Breakfast
I found this idea from Pinterest last year from Little Pumpkin Grace. Have a North Pole Breakfast on December 1st. Everything served in the breakfast is "white". Powdered donuts, Hot cocoa with marshmallows, Frosted Flakes. BOB left some fun little gifts too.
Day 2- Calgon....Take me Away!
Day 3- Gone Fishing
Day 4- Got Milk?
I have to warn you with this one.
Only one of my kids was brave enough to drink it.
You have to be willing to waste a whole gallon of milk.
The sound of their giggles was worth it.
Day 5- Let's Decorate!
Day 6- Halloween Candy
That naughty elf! He even has chocolate on his cheeks.
Day 7- Words with Friends
Yes, this took a ridiculous amount of time.
Glad I can share it with you, so you can go to bed at a reasonable hour.
Day 8- BOB is crafty!
How is he holding the scissors you ask?
A small dab of hot glue.
My BOB has been through the ringer, and it shows.
He's my Velveteen Rabbit.
Day 9- Couch Potato
Yes, that popcorn is blue.
I found it at the grocery store and hid it for this special night.
Day 10- I "Mustache" You a Question!
Draw a mustache on the kids' photo with a dry-erase marker.
The older two loved this one,
but, this is where my youngest decided that BOB was being too naughty.
Day 11- A new Christmas movie
We are HUGE Muppet fans and I found A Muppet's Christmas Carol for $5 at Target.
It was in the DVD player ready to go.
Muppets and magic....a perfect Saturday morning in our house.
Day 12- Elf Kisses
I found this printable on Kims Kandy Kreations. You print out the bag topper and fill a sandwich baggie full of Christmas Hershey kisses.
Fold the bag topper over the bag, staple and you're done!
Day 13- The toys are getting jealous!
Enough said.
Lotso Huggin Bear holding the sign is just Disney-inspired elf perfection.
Day 14- Snow Angels!
Day 15- Mirror Mirror
I left it there all day for the kids to look at and laugh.
It took me an hour to get the dried toothpaste off.
I will never do this again. I'm just being honest.
Day 16- Extreme Sports
Create a "zipline" somewhere in your house.
We used string and a paperclip.
We attached him to the paperchip with some hot glue.
I loved that he was "zip lining" to the Christmas tree.
Day 17- The Elf Express
The train was running as they came down the stairs that morning.
The best part about this one was the giggles my hubby and I had the night before,
trying to get him to stay on the train,
trying to video it to music,
trying not to wake anyone up.
The giggles we had, was the magic that night.
Day 18- A major food group!
If you've seen the movie Elf, you'll know where this comes from.
Buddy: " We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup."
Day 19- Storytime!
Day 20- Elf self-love
Found this idea from Pinterest.
So hysterical.
So worth every second it took to do that.
Day 21- Countdown to Christmas!
Day 22- Homesick!
Day 23- You've been Rudolph'ed!
My kids are really heavy sleepers, so this might not work for you.
I was glad we were on Christmas vacation because the only red I had
was Revlon "colorstay" lipstick. It took some scrubbing to get it off!
Day 24-The reason for the Season
No words needed.
Day 25- Goodbye!
Christmas Morning.
I found this elf printable stationary last year from Piggy Bank Parties.
You can download it here.
I'm not sure who has more fun with BOB....me or the kids.
"Those who don't believe in magic, will never find it." -Roald Dahl
Here is the link for you to download our Elf Letter and Read Me tag
Click here
Fabulous! This will be our first year for this and loved your ideas!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy every second of this magical time!
DeleteOh my goodness, such awesome ideas! Please link it up to my Elf on the Shelf collection. I want all of my readers to see your cute elf at work. http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2012/11/elf-on-shelf-ideas.html
ReplyDeleteThank you Laura! Just added us and tweeted the link! We are also now following you on Facebook!
DeleteHi Amy - I just added you to the mega 350+ Elf collection of ideas. This is great! I also just started following you on FB. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.busykidshappymom.org/2012/11/elf-on-shelf-round-up.html
Kristen @ Busykidshappymom.org
Thank you Kristen! We appreciate it so much!
DeleteThank you for the cute ideas. This is our first year and I was trying to think of cute ideas.
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome! And I hope you have as much fun as they do!
DeleteI am laughing like a fool over here. This is so cute and so fun. I am always asleep before they are, but I'll definitely have to bring it up a notch to make our elf do fun things. Right now, he just kind of hangs around. The most I've done is make him a bed and have him sleeping in late. thanks so much for inspiring!
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome! This time goes by too fast! Make the most of it! Merry Christmas!
DeleteThanks for sharing all the great ideas. My husband and I are doing the Elf this year just for the fun of it as our girls are all grown up, I now have a few ideas to try out when it's my turn! I love your blog and will come back often, your ideas are just my style.
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you for reading! I think there is a lot of fun in being a "whimsy maker". We make magic because we BELIEVE in magic! I think BOB will ALWAYS come to our house in December, whether I have kids there or not!
DeleteI love your creativity and your generosity in sharing your elf ideas and the wonderful letter too.. Elf on the shelf is new for us this Christmas and it marks the start of a new family tradition for our family and a foster children. Thank you for sharing with your readers and merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteHi Melanie, Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy your first year! Come back and let us know what they named him/her! Merry Christmas to you!
DeleteI think this is great. But I want to know, when the kids wake up and see the elf, do you leave him there? Because I know my daughter would try to touch him. What happens after the kids see these set ups?
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to do this. Last year he just moved from place to place and I occasionally took a picture of him doing something naughty. But this is so much better.
In our house, my hubby and I are the only ones who can touch BOB. I have heard of moms who don't move their elf the next night because the kids touched them. My kids have never wanted BOB to lose his magic so they've left it up to me. When they were really little, I would never have BOB in a place that would be too tempting to touch! Only in recent years has he showed up in "touchable" places.
DeleteI, too, have questions about the elf being touched. It says in the EOTS book that he can't be touched or he'll lose his magic. How do you handle this?
ReplyDeleteHi! Read my response to Tara above....remember that YOU are the whimsy maker! If you say its OK for moms to touch, then its OK! :)
DeleteHave fun and Merry Christmas!
I can't wait to do this with my 7 year old! She's going to really enjoy this..thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou are SO welcome! My six year old has a stack of letters waiting for BOB's arrival. It's so cute....and they really do miss him when he's gone!
DeleteGreat ideas! I am going to do the "Calgon Take Me Away" tomorrow! Here are some of the pranks my elf has pulled off http://www.hawaiidiscountblog.com/elf-on-the-shelf-ideas-christmas-traditions/
ReplyDeleteAny chance we could get a copy of the letter without the name paragraph? We got our elf last year but I would love to put the letter out with him again this year to remind the lil's the rules!
ReplyDeleteJacie, we would be happy to help! Send a message to our email at makinglifewhimsical@gmail.com. Glad we can help bring some whimsical magic to your holiday!
DeleteThis are such great ideas! I pinned your idea about words with friends! My kids will get such a kick out of that!
ReplyDeleteHi Heather thank you! I remember sitting there with my hubby trying to make it all fit! So glad you can use it too! Enjoy!
DeleteI Love all your creative ideas! I am a teacher and can't wait to implement your ideas! I am going to take pictures and put them on my blog so you can see them. I will put a link back to your adorable blog!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! You seem like an amazing mom! We need more moms like you!
Jaimie Knudson
kinderworldway@blogspot.com
Thanks for reading Jaimie and you are too sweet! Can't wait to see what magic you create!
ReplyDeleteHow old/new is this tradition? This is the first year I've seen this and heard of it. It's so cute and looks fun- but my kids are 12 and 15 :( I'm thinking about doing it anyway because it's so cool. It may not make my kids behave any better but maybe will give the whole family a good laugh everyday. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteWe know of many friends who have teenagers and still do it for the love of it. One of my kids is 14, and although she "knows", she giggles and gets a kick out of what BOB will do next! Having fun with your family and getting a good laugh is the perfect recipe for a stressful month like December! Let us know if you start it and what they thought!
DeletePlease be sure to Like our Elf's page!!! This is Snitch's first year with us as well and he's been SO much fun... The kids look forward to waking up and hunting the house for him every morning!!!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/SnitchSchwartz.EOTS
Deleteforgot that part >.<
Thanks for stopping by! Love that you made your elf a Facebook page!
DeleteMy kids love for me to log into facebook because it comes up as his page!!! It's a whole new level of excitement for them <3 It's also how I showed my husband that Snitch had done his makeup while he was asleep HAHAHAHAH
Delete.. That one was a fun experience lmbo!
I love ALL of these ideas! Bob is having a blast!
ReplyDeleteHe sure is! Follow us on Pinterest! He's up to more shenanigans this year!!
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteLove these ideas! Can you share how you were able to print the many elf pics in the frames?
Sure! I looked for a place in my house that had a lot of frames...and took all the pictures out of them. Then found an image of BOB (or anyone's elf) on Google images and printed out different sizes of him. Once you save an image onto your computer and drop it into a document, you can change the size of it. So depending on the frame, each picture was a different size. It generated a TON of laughs! We left it like that for DAYS!!! Enjoy!
DeleteOh my gosh, i have enver heard of this before but even though it is Easter in a weeks time I am looking for this book to do with my kids, i say kids, one is 16 and one will be 10 by Christmas '13. Even at this age I am determined to start this gorgeous tradition - and, like you I may have more fun than the kids, I might even take it into my xhildren at the school where i work. Loved BOBs diary, thanks for sharing it :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my kids is 15 and even though she "knows", she still smiles when she sees what BOB has been up to! She would never let in on the magic to her brother and sister! I hope to keep him around for a LONG time! Thanks for reading!
Delete