Elf on the Shelf has become a popular Christmas tradition for several families. I was never a huge fan of it but my mother bought it for my kids a couple of years ago so of coarse my family participates in the magical elf tradition.
If you don't know what Elf on the Shelf is, basically you read a story to your children that describes how the elf works, name your elf, and watch as your elf magically moves around the house making messes and having fun.
Each night your elf goes back to the North Pole to tell Santa if your children have been good or bad. If the elf is touched then the elf disappears back to the North Pole. You can find Elf on the Shelf at almost any retail store around Christmas time or buy it HERE on Amazon. I've also seen people use a random stuffed elf they find at the store.
My children are finally at the age where they understand what is going on. Every morning they search the house trying to see what Luna was up to the night before. One day when Luna hid really good, my daughter was in my room as soon as I was up because she couldn't find her anywhere so insisted she had to be in my room... she wasn't...
A benefit of Elf on the Shelf is you can use it as a way to reinforce good behavior around the holidays - "Luna is going to tell Santa if you are bad."
Another benefit is the joy or child gets in the magic of Christmas and the Elf on the Shelf. My kids swear they saw their elf move.
A downfall to Elf on the Shelf is your elf may sometimes "forget" to move - "Maybe Luna was too tired to play last night." or "You must have misbehaved yesterday so Luna didn't move."
Another downfall to Elf on the Shelf is that as my children get older they are starting to ask more questions which means mommy needs to get creative with her answers. Some questions I've been asked are "Why doesn't so and so have an elf?", "How does Luna get into the house?", "Why didn't Luna clean up her mess?".
Funny story, at a relative's house with random elves in the tree, I was asked: "Are those Elves real?"
*Relative touches elf "Do you think they are Real?"
Later I was asked why the elves didn't leave since they were touched. I had to explain that Santa has several different elves and those are decoration elves so they help decorate for Christmas... Nice Safe!
I know there are thousands of Elf on the Shelf ideas out there and some of these may even be floating around but in case anyone's elf needs help coming up with something to do for the kids that is pretty easy, here are some ideas!
These Elf on the Shelf ideas are pretty basic since my kids are all under the age of six, but Luna informed me that she will do more advanced stunts the older the kids get so I can't wait to see what she has up her sleeve. Hopefully nothing too crazy!
The Adventures of Luna - December 2019
In case you missed it, our elf's name is Luna. Luna went on many different adventures this past December. Check them out below! Hopefully, Luna will help inspire your elf on the shelf!
Luna hid behind our DVD cabinet, peeking out by the couch. The kids had trouble finding her this day. I guess they didn't look hard enough...
The kids found Luna hanging upside down from a basket that stores our winter hats.
***Check out the No-Sew Bendable Elf on the Shelf Hack HERE!!!***
Luna was found by the garage door driving around with Barbie. Guess she was a "Barbie Girl" for a night!
Luna must have gotten hungry in the middle of the night because we found her like this in the morning. At least she kept the kids in mind during her midnight snacking!
The kids had trouble finding Luna this day. She hid in a toy behind the door with some Superheroes. Across from them on the dresser were the bad guys. I guess they got into a battle during the night - good guys vs. bad guys.
My kids said that their action figures moved during the night because they were on the floor and now on the dresser but somehow missed Luna behind the door with the rest of the action figures until later in the day.
On Tuesday the kids found Luna wrapped in a taco shell along with some other taco ingredients. I guess she wanted tacos for dinner and yes, we ended up having tacos for dinner!!!
One day Luna hid in the front window. The kids couldn't find her anywhere and thought she didn't come back. I guess she got back late and barely made it in the house.
When we went to leave for church the kids finally found her.
Luna hid all around the house. She hid in or behind several decorations. She built herself a ball pit out of the magnetic blocks and rallied up all the dinosaurs for some fun.
Luna decided to help with the party decorations by re-decorating the Christmas Tree to look like Olaf from Frozen for my daughter's birthday party.
On my daughter's birthday, Luna brought some Christmas tree treats for everyone to have.
Luna gathered all the bath toys together and wrote "Let's Swim" on the bathroom mirror with Expo markers. Needless to say, we didn't go swimming since it's cold in the middle of December.
Luna filled the blender with a variety of candy and tried to make an Elf Smoothie.
The next day Luna got into the ribbon and made herself a Christmas skirt.
Luna disappeared mid-day because it turns out the kids got into the Elf Smoothie candy from the day before, lied, and tried to hide the evidence.
Santa is always watching...
Luna left a note with the evidence by the Santa Cam on the Christmas Tree. The note kind of goes to the song "Winter Wonderland". Don't mind the spelling errors, Elves were taught to wrap gifts, bake, play in the snow, take care of the reindeer, decorate, and help Santa not to write...
Luna fell off of a reindeer decoration twice in one day. I guess she was showing off or being silly?!? The next day Luna arrived with a head bandage, a pink cast on her leg and a pink cast on her arm to match my daughter's cast.
With Christmas Minnie as her doctor, she was better a couple of days later, just in time to join us Christmas Eve.
I think Luna chose a pink cast to match my daughter, how sweet!
On Christmas Eve, Luna arrived in a clear container with a note that said, "Take me with you!". She wanted to celebrate Christmas with the family.
My daughter snatched her up and carried her all over the house Christmas Eve morning. She was so excited to show Luna around. The kids then brought her with us on our road trip to celebrate with family.
My daughter snatched her up and carried her all over the house Christmas Eve morning. She was so excited to show Luna around. The kids then brought her with us on our road trip to celebrate with family.
Overall the kids had a blast trying to find out where Luna was hiding and seeing all the adventures she went on. Every time they see a picture of her or an elf friend they yell, "Luna!".
I hope the adventures of our elf, Luna, helps your elf come up with some easy and simple adventures to go on and places to hide. All of these adventures are pretty easy, fun, and toddler friendly. I hope that your kids love their elf as much as mine do. Hopefully next year Luna will return with some more fun adventures.
Drop your favorite Elf on the Shelf hiding place in the comments below!
Check out these posts for more toddler-friendly Elf on the Shelf ideas:
Check out these posts for more toddler-friendly Elf on the Shelf ideas:
1 Comments
christmas 2020 is coming! Maybe I missed it, but where did you find the cute elf?
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