When I first had kids, I would see the countless posts of the Elf on the Shelf wondering why. Why are these parents doing this to themselves? What is the point of the Elf? Are the kids really getting this much joy out of it?
Fast forward to my third Christmas as a parent. I bought the coveted Elf, named him Dash, and started navigating this journey. I vowed that Dash would never be a misbehaved Elf, not naughty or unkind. Instead he would be fun and friendly.
Before the month got started, I wrote out a list of what he would do each night. This way I could easily move him around without having to scramble to get it done.
He arrived the first day of December with a Christmas breakfast to help bring in the holiday season. Then continued to make moves each night until Christmas Day when he said his final farewell.
It was important to me that Dash bring activities in addition to chaos. This included mini Christmas trees to decorate, Elf coloring sheets, and felt Christmas trees. As well as supplying all of the supplies for cookie decorating , and telling us to go pick out our family tree.
Incorporating the kids toys was also a really easy part of the Elf calendar. Dash spent some of his nights reading books to the dinosaurs, building a block tower, and making a trail of matchbox cars from Cam’s room to the tree. He also had a snowball fight incident with a TREX, got into the sticker collection, and slept in Cam’s bed while he was away one night.
Dash was never too mischievous, only creating chaos in small doses. He stole cookies from our Santa stash, rolled down the stairs in the toilet paper roll, made snow angels with flour, and created shaving cream snowmen on the mirror.
And sometimes, Dash would just hangout. Still moving from place to place but it very minor ways. From getting stuck in the oatmeal jar to watching a movie with popcorn on the couch. He kept the kids interest without ever being too over the top.
On his last day, Christmas morning, he left a farewell letter and we said goodbye.
Because I feel that I was quite successful in coming up with and acting out my ideas, I thought I would share them with my fellow mommas. We’re only as strong as our weakest link, so let’s not let each other fail at this Elf on the Shelf business.
This year we will be adding a second Elf, Dazzle, for Lily to also track and enjoy. I was unsure if having an elf for each child was necessary, but I want to make sure everyone is included. This limits the amount of rivalry created.
Feel free to use any of the above ideas and if you do, please tag me on Instagram @queenofthebeehive. I’d love to see how you made it your own!
