8 of the Best Elf on the Shelf Ideas

Depending on when your Elf returns from the North Pole, you still have a few weeks to spend with him.  I thought it would be nice to give you a few ideas of what you can do with him...er, a few ideas of what shenanigans he may pull while he's in your home.

Last year, our elf, Snowflake, introduced himself though a Magic Door in our living room. My kids were skeptical at first but, they each grew to enjoy seeing where Snowflake would be the following morning. Truth be told, I had a lot of fun with it, too!

{I got the door from Michael's, spray painted it white, sprinkled with LOTS of glitter and nailed to the wall. The little wreath is a mini wreath that I found a 6-pack of, also at Michael's. The string of lights is a necklace from Walgreens that really lights up! Finally, the door mat is a scrap of Christmas burlap that I sewed and then made fray a bit on the edges. }

Last year I had every intention in making Snowflake bendable. Because I never got around to it, he was limited in what he could pull off. This year I'm not holding back! I'm going to follow the directions in this tutorial and make it happen!

Wanna see what Snowflake may be up to this year? Here are a few great ideas I found!

We'll call this one Chocolate Lover. Imagine the looks on your kid's faces when they come down to see their elf digging into the chocolate chips!

This naughty elf replaced all of the stockings with the family's undies. {even a baby diaper!} Do elves get put on the naughty list??

How many Charlie Brown's Christmas fans do we have? Set up this "the elf is in" booth for your kids to enjoy.

Have a little wintry fun indoors with your elf and one of his best pals. Create a couple Lego walls and have them "throw" marshmallows at one another for a good old fashioned snowball fight!

Elves get hungry, too. This elf was making it pretty clear to his family that he was in the mood for a sweet snack. He said please. I wonder if he ever got his cookies?? You'll have to click through to the original blogger to see. 

My kids have a horrible habit of blaming it {whatever "it" may be at the moment} on their brother or sister...whoever isn't in the room gets the blame. Every time. How funny will it be when the roles are reversed? This Blame Game WILL be played by our very own Snowflake!

Your turn. Leave me a link with your best elf shenanigans. I may put together another round-up of ideas and feature yours!

**There are a couple of affiliate links within this post. This simply means that when you purchase from said links, I get a small percentage of your purchase to help support my family.

Snowflake's Shenanigans {the final chapter of 2013}

Snowflake made himself right at home while he was with us in December. So much so that he may have upset the natives...


After we set him free he made the kids some snowman donuts.


The last shenanigan by Snowflake that I thought to photograph was this one...well, it was the reindeer really.

Those naughty reindeer made quite the mess! And Snowflake made it pretty clear that he was NOT cleaning it up! :o)

What kind of trouble did your elf get in to? I'd love to see! Will you share a link to your blog post in the comments?

I can't wait to see what Snowflake gets in to next year!!

Snowflake's Shenanigans {the Elf on the Shelf}

as i thought they would, the kids LOVE snowflake the elf. we're only on day two and they couldn't wait to see where snowflake would be next in our house.

well, snowflake came in from the north pole last night and tp'd our christmas tree. for real!



hubs is totally creeped out by this little elf but, HE was the one that was super excited to show the kids what snowflake got in to last night.

*****

this morning i couldn't wait to get on the computer and create what was bouncing around in my head last night.

the idea behind the elf {if you read the book} is that he watches the children all day and then goes back to the north pole and reports to santa whether they've been good or bad. well, i like the idea of that and it's really working on my kids but, i want there to be some sort of positive reinforcement with that. i looked on etsy and found a few printables that would come from the elf or santa but so many of them say "be good or NO toys for christmas." REALLY!?!?!? good or bad, my kids are getting presents. kids are never perfect angels. and i don't want them disliking the elf. we truly do it for the fun of it anyways.

so, i made this printable that is a progress report and is positive. i'm excited to get them printed and have snowflake bring them back from the north pole later this week!!

you can get one, too! head on over to my etsy shop and pick one up. it's a digital file that will be delivered right to your inbox. you can print it as often as you'd like and use it year after year! tell your friends! spread the word! :o)


{your final product will NOT have the watermark.}

will you share a picture of your elf and his progress report when you use it? i'd LOVE to see!