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I don't know about you, but our family has an Elf on the Shelf named Luna. Every December, she arrives on December 1st and leaves the night of December 24th to go back and help Santa. Each time Luna visits, she hides different places around the house and sometimes even does elf pranks. She likes to try to be funny.
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.
I personally don't like an elf running around the house getting into everything and making messes she doesn't clean up, but the kids really enjoy it. One of the first things they do every morning in December is go searching for Luna and they keep searching until they find her. They talk about what they think she will do next or were she may go. They also randomly tell her, "hi". Occasionally the kids have even said they thought they saw her move or blink. I think I even saw her run back to her spot this year. I think she is getting more comfortable being around our family because she moved during the day quite a few times this year.
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.
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 is your elf has to come up with fun things to do each night for entry-four days so may run out of ideas.
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 seven, 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 2020
Day 1 - Luna arrived in a parachute and wrote "I'm back" in some snow that she brought from the North Pole. It looks like her parachute was made from a cardboard toilet paper roll, some yarn, and a gift bag. These elves are super creative!
Day 2 - Luna was caught drinking some milk and eating graham crackers.
Day 3 - Luna was playing darts. Later in the evening I thought I saw something red run by the stairs. The kids went to check and Luna had moved positions. I wonder if she thought we had already gone to bed since we were all upstairs and was about to head back to the North Pole?
Day 4 - Luna was sitting on the Santa Cam keeping an eye on the kiddos.
Day 6 - Luna was caught playing with the kids legos. She tried to make a Santa, Christmas tree, and her name out of the legos.
Day 7 - Luna was laying on top of the window posing like the Santa decoration.
Day 8 - Luna was caught in the Twinkie box. The kids found a trail of Twinkies that lead to the pantry were they found Luna on the top shelf. They took this as Luna giving them permission to have a Twinkie as a snack.
Day 9 - Luna left a note on the dry erase board that said, "You better be good, you better be nice.". My daughter drew a picture of Luna and left it on the dry erase board for her to see.
Day 10 - Luna must have seen my daughter's picture because she drew our family dressed as elves and was found chilling in my daughter's stocking. I guess she really liked the drawing and drew a picture in return as a thank you!
Day 11 - Luna was in the boys room and had climbed on top of their new bunk bed with some of their super heros and power rangers. It looks like they tied a shoe lace to the top bunk and a Transformer was holding the end while everyone climbed up.
Day 12 - Luna went to my daughter's room the next night. She was hanging out with some of her dolls and stuffed animals.
Day 13 - Luna was having a science day and was found looking at a candy cane under the microscope. The kids misbehaved at lunch and threw their popcorn all over the place so Luna left them a note saying, "Be nice or I stay with Santa". She witnessed the popcorn fight and it must of made her sad because of the note and the sad elf face she made with the popcorn.
Day 14 - Luna hid in a plastic container on top of our kitchen cabinets. The kids thought she didn't come back after their behavior because they couldn't find her until lunch time. I wonder if she hid harder on purpose to make them think that???
Day 16 - Luna made snowflake butterflies and decorated the back door with them. She also left my daughter a note that said, "Happy Birthday!". My daughter had a virtual butterfly party so I guess Luna wanted to add to the decorations to help make her birthday be more special.
Day 17 - My daughter had a balloon arch to decorate for her party. Luna got a hold of some of the balloons and popped them with a pencil. She must of got the idea from my son who said he thought it would be funny if she popped the balloons.
Day 18 - Luna hid in a gift box and brought the kids a gift - a coloring book and a Hershey kiss.
Day 19 - Luna was hiding in our guest bathroom medicine cabinet. When the kids first found her, only her feet were sticking out the bottom. Throughout the day, she kept playing peek-a-boo because she moved multiple times.
Day 20 - Luna spent the day reading Christmas books. She was trying to get everyone in the Christmas spirit. FIVE MORE DAYS!!!!
Day 22 - Luna got into the nail polish. She randomly painted everyone's finger and toe nails and took pictures with them as proof. She left a note that said, "Mom pone". It took some time but we finally figured out she meant check mom's phone to see the pictures.
Day 24 - Luna was in a plastic container under the Christmas tree so the kids could take her around the house and play with her before she left for the North Pole. Luna must of brought some snow with her from the North Pole because we had a white Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!
If you can't tell, Luna had a busy and fun December hiding all over our new house. The kids loved trying to find her each day. I think they are enjoying the Elf on the Shelf more the older they get because she is starting to do more fun things. The kids drew Luna several pictures and would randomly talk to her. Our little one even got into the habit of trying to find Luna. He would point at her and then go get the Elf on the Shelf plush we have for them to play with. It was super cute.
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. Feel free to share this with your Elf on the Shelf incase they need some elf inspiration. Until next year!
Drop your favorite Elf on the Shelf hiding place in the comments below!
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