It’s almost time for the Elf on a Shelf madness to start!
Whether you love them or hate them, I imagine it’s going to be almost impossible to avoid these little fellas from next Tuesday when they will descend on households across the country.
If you haven’t already got your elf then there are plenty of ways to take part in the Elf on a shelf tradition without spending a fortune buying the (creepy looking) elf and all of the associated paraphernalia.
Have a look here for my budget version of Elf on a Shelf:
Once you’ve got your elf and you’re ready to go then you need some ideas for what to do with him. Now the idea is that your elf will do something mischievous every day but ours is a good guy and is only occasionally naughty while he’s staying with us.
I’ve written a HUGE list of ideas for what your elf can get up to so whether you want him to be naughty or nice, there’s at least a couple of ideas for every day.
- They can introduce themselves by bringing being there on the morning of the 1st December with the advent calendars and a note from Santa.
- Steal a chocolate from the calendar later in the month.
- Have a mini marshmallow fight with another cuddly toy.
- Have a bit of a cookie and a glass of milk.
- Hang the kids’ (clean) pants on the Christmas tree.
- Wrap the tree in toilet roll.
- Write a message in lipstick on the bathroom mirror.
- Sunbathe on the windowsill with a cocktail umberella.
- Turn all the books on the shelf upside down.
- Have nerf gun fight and leave nerf darts everywhere.
- Hang from a ceiling light.
- Sleep in the freezer because it’s missing home.
- Open a packet of sweets and scatter them around the elf.
- Hide a shoe.
- Hide in a school book bag, peaking out as if he wants to go to school.
- Take a ride in a Barbie/Action man car.
- Turn the books on the bookshelf upside down.
- Sit in the washing machine as if he’s stuck.
- Have a tea party with some other toys.
- Sit and play on the ipad.
- Play a board game with the other toys.
- Create a lego tower.
- Take the batteries out of the Xbox controller.
- Take selfies.
- Colour in their colouring books.
- Empty the toybox everywhere.
- Pretend to fly on a paper aeroplane.
- Go back to bed after the kids have got up.
- Sit and watch TV with the remote control.
- Play with a favourite toy.
- Hide the kids’ electronics.
- Get dressed up.
- Bring in some leaves from outside.
- Unwrap a present.
- Write the kids a note saying how nice/naughty they’ve been.
- Open a can of pop and drink it with a straw.
- Try on some costume jewellery.
- Cut up a note (a not every important one obviously)
- Be waiting in the car for the school run.
- Sleep in the dog bed.
- Stick post it notes everywhere.
- Take some of the baubles off the tree and put them somewhere else.
- Fill your child’s bedroom with balloons when they get up in the morning.
- Put the chairs on the dining room table.
- Make elf footprints out of flour.
- Bake a cake with some flour scattered and a wooden spoon.
- Draw faces on a picture (use a framed one with a dry wipe marker to draw on the glass).
- Swap your Christmas stockings for underpants or tights.
- Sharing a drink with Barbie (1 glass, 2 straws).
- Turn the advent calendars upside down.
- Use glow sticks as hula hoops.
- Read a book to the other cuddly toys.
- Teach the other toys as if he was a teacher.
- Lock him out of the patio doors.
- Leave a message using scrabble tiles.
- Let him ride a reindeer if you have a decoration like that.
- Wrap the toilet in wrapping paper.
- Make a tyre swing using a big Lego tyre.
- Make him poorly – tuck him up in bed with some Lemsip.
- Make a swing out of an empty toilet roll.
- Make him a fishing rod and he can fish at the sink.
- Play Connect 4 with a doll.
- Make a bed out of marshmallows.
- Play Twister with the other toys.
- Ski with candy canes.
- Make him a superman cape.
- Have him eat the dog biscuits and leave a note saying ‘Worst cookies ever!’.
- Peg him out on the washing line.
- Have a snowball fight using cotton wool.
- Have a disco with the other toys.
And for even more ideas and inspiration, have a look at my Pinterest board here:
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Image credit: Shutterstock, S_Photo
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Shilpe says
Nice post
actuallymummy says
Thank you! I was totally out of ideas!
I love the batteries out of the XBox idea 😉
Joanna says
Great post full of fab ideasi have saved this so that when Blake is older I can have some elf on the shelf ideas as I want to have a go one year with him.
Hazel says
That's only 69 ideas! You've got turning the books upside down twice! Still, 69 ideas should be enough for anyone to be getting on with. Ours is arriving (being fished out of the cupboard and dusted down) while DD is at school tomorrow. Can't wait! X
Lucy says
OK so obviously I've been living in some other world because I've never heard of Elf on a Shelf before – found the link to your website on my Facebook page this morning! Oh my goodness, I just have to do this 🙂 My daughter is 15 but she has Down's syndrome and will absolutely love this with all the joy of a 3-year-old 🙂 Gotta go now – only have a few hours to make an elf before she comes home from school! Thanks for the great ideas!
jenniferhowze156 says
I'd never thought of our Elf on the Shelf doing things while we slept. What great ideas!
babybudgeting says
We dont do thsi BUT I absolutely love traditions and think its great you make such a lovely effort with your kids cass xxxxx
Louise Lloyd says
We have never actually done Elf on a Shelf, we do have other Christmas traditions that we do daily but I love watching what ideas people come up with. I love this list and now Teddy is going to know more about Christmas his year it’s time for us to introduce new traditions!! Thanks for the tips Xxx
michelletwinmum says
We have a gorgeous knitted oen too and whilst I've nto done Elf on the shelf for the last couple of years as the kids are older, I do think it is fab fun. Mich x
Jennifer says
What great ideas! We introduced our Elf a couple of years back and the children love him, I don’t always go to a huge effort as they are happy enough when he just moves about the house, but it’s lovely to do something a bit special sometimes. Thanks for sharing!
Mari says
I am an Elf fan, in fact I did it two years ago when he was still quite unknown over here. The twins LOVED him and it was a lot of fun dreaming up new ideas. However I did find it quite exhausting. My advice to any parent planning to do Elf on the Shelf is to use your ideas and put a plan in place so you don't run out of ideas before the 24th
Northumberland Mam says
hehehe! I think I will be using a few of these ideas! Thank you 😀
maggy says
Oh my goodness, what a great list! Something for every elf lover! 🙂
Amanda says
I love our elf Rosetta and it's all part of the fun of the build to Christmas for us. I really need idea, so I'll definitely be pinning this 🙂
Elaine Livingstone says
may I make a suggestion for a thing for him to do?
Take himself out into the garden, start a bonfire and jump in it………
sorry Elf is not for me. Never understand why some daft people have him make a horrendous mess that they then have to clean up
cassfrugalfamily says
I know they're not for everyone Elaine but some people, including us, enjoy the Elf on a Shelf tradition.
We don't make a huge fuss over ours and stick to the low key ideas but if others want to do more then that's up to them as far as I'm concerned.
Also, ours is a beautiful homemade elf that a fellow blogger knitted for us so I think I'll hang on to him rather than setting him on fire. Poor Jingle 😉
Mtbikemommy says
LOL, but you cared enough to read and respond. LOL