I survived my first week with Elf on the Shelf. It was surprisingly wonderful and I feel like my approach of outlining 24 ideas and keeping them simple and easy was a great start. Week 1 was a hit and even I felt a bit of that holiday magic!
My kids were with us when we purchased our generic elves (which I think look much cuter) from Michaels so we had to come up with a way for the Elves to get their magic. We had the kids write a Santa letter and leave it overnight, hoping that Santa would leave our elves some magic! I created the template below which you can download here and it will print on regular size sheet of printer paper.
The kids then got to work writing their adorable letters. I love this template because it is easy for the kids to fill in the blanks and check boxes and also because it highlights items the children want, need, could wear and read. My son wants a MIP robot and my daughter wants Elsa. My son also said he needs pencils which I thought was super sweet of him.
We left those on our kitchen island and went to bed. When we awoke, low and behold the magic started!
In our home, donuts are breakfast and we are not ashamed of that. Our elves brought some yummy breakfast with a cute note on day 1!
Day 2 was a sleepover with some favorite toys in our holiday hats! This was where it all really became fun for me as the parent. That morning my son was struggling to get up and ready for school. I told him that he needed to head downstairs and see if he could find our elves. He moseyed around and I worked on packing bags downstairs. I plugged in the tree and went to load up the car with all the bags. When I came back in he ran up to me and said, “Mama I found the elves sleeping under the tree with the lights on!” I told him the lights are not on honey, I just checked and he said “YES THEY ARE COME SEE!” We ran over to the tree and he was so excited and smiling from ear to ear! Oh it was the best!
Day 3 was a bit tougher. We had told the kids they could not touch our elves, but the 2 year old just does not get it and wanted to play with her elf. So they were hidden amongst the toys. My son almost cried when he struggled to find them the next morning so I had to help him look without making it obvious. Our elves enjoyed a nice horse ride and once they were located my son was very happy and giggly.
Day 4 was awesome, particularly for the little one. The elves decided to have a tea party with the cast of Frozen. I told my kids that they must have heard us talking about going to see Frozen on Ice that day and wanted to join in and celebrate too! My littles even sat down and had some “tea” with them. It was super cute.
Day 5 was a bit of a slacking moment for me. The elves were supposed to decorate our felt christmas tree with lights but I fell asleep on the couch the night before and had to rush to have them do something much simpler. I took a quick peek at my list and decided that tree climbers would have to work.
Day 6 I got back on track and the elves got tied up and held hostage by our nutcracker friends. I had to do this one quickly because I forgot to move the little guys the night before. This was the fun to showcase our big family outing to The Nutcracker ballet that day!
Day 7 our elves decided the kids play felt Christmas tree needed some lights. So they added some for fun!
This past week was fun and exciting. I am proud of myself for keeping the magic going but even more than that, I am so happy to see my kids light up each morning and laugh and enjoy the little things in life. I hope you keep following along through the next couple weeks! There is so much more planned.
What is the funniest position you have seen the Elf on the Shelf in?
