How do elf on the shelf work

Stuffed animals are great for making creative scenes with the elf. Set up a Christmas countdown involving the elf. If you get the elf started early, you can start a Christmas countdown by using small treats like chocolate to spell out the number of days until Christmas. You can make it look like the elf set out the treats, or have a few chocolate wrappers surrounding the elf—like it ate some of the treats!

You don't have to do this every night, but you can do it on major milestones like 1 month, 12 days, or 1 week until Christmas! Sprinkle packets of hot cocoa mix into the pan to coat the bottom. Then, position the elf in the pan to lounge along the side. Remember to place the umbrella next to the elf to shade it from the sun! Use a round cake pan to create a smaller beach, or cookie sheet for a bigger one.

You can get as creative as you want with a beach towel, doll-sized surfboard, or a mini drink for the elf! You can if you like. The book offers an easy way to give your kids some background on how the elf is supposed to work.

Yes No. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 5. According to the official Elf on the Shelf rules, no family member is supposed to touch the elf unless there are special circumstances. For example, if the elf falls down from wherever it was sitting, an adult can pick it up with some tongs and put it back where it was.

And, of course, parents get to help the elf find a new place to hang out after the kids are in bed! Not Helpful 1 Helpful 6. The elf needs a human to move it from one place to another and put it in different poses. Not Helpful 18 Helpful 4.

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Most children who are old enough to know the story of Santa will also be excited by the elf. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. The first week is important for showing your kids that the elf is really going to come every day and is watching them for Santa. Set an alarm on your phone every night to remind yourself to move the elf.

An alarm will help you remember to do it quickly before bed. Related wikiHows How to. How to. About this article. Co-authored by:. Our elves arrive on 1st December, with advent calendars and a few other Christmas goodies. They also bring with them a letter saying they have come to our house to learn how children celebrate Christmas to help their work in the North Pole.

Other families I know reinforce positive behaviour — so the elves will tell Father Christmas all the good things the child has done. Some elves bring special treats on some days — Christmas activities to do, such as books or crafts, or tickets for family days out. Maybe he can have assumed a new position when you get home from school, or when your child wakes up from an afternoon nap.

The biggest thing that helps me is to set a little reminder to beep on my phone at 10pm every evening, just in case. Elf on the Shelf is what you make of it. We covered our elves with stickers. It took about 30 seconds. We put them in the pockets of the oven gloves. That took about 10 seconds. We sat them on a toy fire engine. Again, that took about 10 seconds. Wrapping them in loo roll took less than a minute, as did hiding them in the branches of the Christmas tree.

It helps to be prepared, so create a Pinterest board with ideas, follow the hash tags on Instagram or Twitter elfontheshelf elfonashelf , save a couple of articles with ideas to your phone, join an Elf on the Shelf Facebook group, or make your own list and brainstorm ideas so you have something to refer to on those days when inspiration is low and life is busy.

Or perhaps spell out a goodbye with magnetic or Scrabble letters, rather than a formal letter. Or maybe your elf sneaks away with no fanfare at some point on Christmas Day when your child is distracted with their new toys.

Have you taken part in Elf on the Shelf before, or are you planning on doing it for the first time this year? Any questions? I saw this a lot last year. And it seemed fab that everyone was doing and talking about it. By week 3 though it got a tad tedious. Advent calendars make a great gift from the Elf on the Shelf. You are going to need to give your elf on the shelf a name on their first visit to your home.

It is the kids job to name their elf. Our elf is named George Twinkle! Check out this awesome list of Elf on the shelf names! We have girl elf names and boy elf names! The fun starts after your kids have met their elf and given them a name! Then it is time for the daily elf fun to begin! Every day your Elf on the shelf is going to fly back to Santa at night after everyone is sleeping. The next morning the kids will wake up to see what fun the Elf did at night when they returned.

Remember you do NOT need to go crazy every single night! There have been times when things were crazy and George was a little less creative.

He ending up hiding in the toilet paper roll, pulling breakfast out or my coffee or just hiding in the pile of stuffed animals. I have found that just him being here has brought a smile to their face in the morning! Check out this Elf on the Shelf Ideas calendar which makes it sooo easy to know what you are doing each day for your elf fun! I am also going to suggest that you also check out Reasons your Elf Did not move … it might happen sometimes!

You will also have to decide if your Elf is going to have a pet. It is super easy to introduce a new Elf on the Shelf pet! Just have the new Elf on the Shelf pet join your elf one morning when he comes back from his Santa visit the night before.

If your kids have an Elf Reindeer that joins him when your elf comes, there is also this super fun and gross Reindeer Poop Slime that the kids would love to make!

If you are looking for more fun with Elf on the Shelf there are a lot of different activities that you can get. Elf on The Shelf Letters to Santa. Once it is time for the Elf to go home, you can write a letter to your kids from the elf! Just fill out the form below! One issue we ran into is that our kids saw the Elf in the hallmark store. We told them that elves in stores are knock offs. We let them know they are not the real elves with magic.

And that the magic is in the Elf that is just for our house. It worked for us. We have told ours there is a waitlist for the elves, and that it is long. So they know that not every child will have one because they have to get off the waitlist.

But I also know that not every parent is going to do Elf on the Shelf. My daughter has also told me one of her friends was sad about not having an Elf. I know it is not always in the budget for everyone and the waitlist idea helped.

My daughter made her feel better by telling her that there is a waitlist for Elves and that maybe she would get off the waitlist soon. There are so many tasty Christmas treats that the kids will love and they are all perfect for any kids Christmas parties that you might have. But you can check out the full list of Kid Friendly Christmas Treats and pick out your favorites to make with the kids! If you are looking for cookie recipes we have you covered there too! If you want to have even more fun you can get Personalized Text Messages each day from Santa!

If you are looking for a totally fun activity to do with the kids, reindeer poop slime is always a BIG hit! Hey There! I am Lauren, a short mom 4 foot 10 to be exact! With amazing recipes to help the home cook become a home chef, along with fun family travel, fun crafts and More! Grab a cup of coffee and join me! Read more